A fantastic evening watching #StDavidsAwards presented in recognition of outstanding achievements & remarkable contributions to Welsh life. My warmest congratulations to all the winners – it was wonderful to see Mid & West Wales represented so strongly in all of the categories! pic.twitter.com/0RVDyiJBtb
— Eluned Morgan (@Eluned_Morgan) April 20, 2023
2023
April
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LEB Construction Limited Expansion
The Welsh Labour Government is supporting its operations at the town’s Glanyrafon Industrial Estate with a £537,000 investment.
To assist the company’s plans to expand, the Welsh Government is making a £537,336 property development grant available, which will enable the company to develop a new two storey 5898 sq ft modern office space, supported by the latest IT infrastructure.
As a result of the investment, the company will have the space they need to undertake a range of new functions to help them meet their ambition to develop and tender for larger contracts.
The Welsh Labour Government is committed to supporting our businesses to thrive. We’re doing all we can to help create and sustain good quality jobs in local communities, which helps grow our economy.
We are delighted that we’ve been able to support LEB Construction Limited with the investment they need to develop their new HQ building.
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New NHS Wales App
The new NHS Wales App will be at the heart of enabling people to engage digitally with NHS and social care services across Wales.
The app has successfully undergone private beta testing, involving 700 people from 10 GP practices across Wales, and it will now start public beta testing today.
The feedback from the first phase of beta testing was positive and helped to identify a number of minor bugs, which have now been addressed. Content has also been improved.
As we move to public beta testing, a version of the NHS Wales App will be published on Apple and Google app stores for download. It will also be available at NHS Wales App website (English) and Ap GIG Cymru (Cymraeg). This is not the final version of the app – the Digital Services for Patients and the Public (DSPP) team, which is developing the app, will be releasing functionality as it is developed. There will also be a way for users to provide feedback to help the team to continue improving the app.
Some app functions, such as in-app access to 111 and organ donation online services, will be available to all but others, such as appointment booking, repeat prescription re-ordering, and viewing a summary of a GP health record, will only be available later, once a person’s GP practice has enabled the functionality. The DSPP team is working with surgeries across Wales to help them manage this change over the coming months.
The NHS Wales App isn’t only for primary care, we are developing functionality to help people manage planned care and for other health settings. We intend for the App to become a single digital front door for all health and social care services.
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‘Oscar Wilde’ joins the Irish Ferries fleet!
I was plleased to learn that Irish Ferries has announced the addition of ‘The Oscar Wilde’ cruise ferry to its fleet.
With an impressive capacity of over 2,080 passengers, 134 cabins, and more than 2,380 lane meters for cars, coaches, and freight vehicles, the ship will be the largest and fastest passenger cruise ferry on the Irish Sea.
The ‘Oscar Wilde’ will be a fantastic expansion to the line and will enter service on the Rosslare / Pembroke route in early June, replacing the chartered Blue Star 1 for the busy summer period.
With the largest duty-free shopping space for any cruise ferry on the Irish Sea, it will be an ideal shopping destination for our Celtic neighbours as they visit and explore all that Wales has to offer!
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Consent granted for Wales’ first floating windfarm
The Welsh Labour Government has granted consent for Wales’ first floating windfarm located 40km off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Project Erebus will house 7 next-generation 14MW turbines on floating platforms, providing enough low carbon energy to power 93,000 homes.
Project Erebus will house 7 next-generation 14MW turbines on floating platforms, providing enough low carbon energy to power 93,000 homes.
Erebus is part of the first phase of a 4 gigawatt renewable energy development in the Celtic Sea, enough power for 4 million homes.
Future phases of the development could realise an additional 20 gigawatts of renewable energy, which will transform the way we power our homes and businesses.
Blue Gem Wind, the joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group is currently on target to begin operating the 100MW Erebus project in 2026.
The project is part of a move away from an energy system dependent on expensive fossils fuels and will contribute to the Welsh Government’s energy targets and improving our energy security.
We are ambitious for the floating offshore wind sector in Wales – we believe it has the potential to deliver sustainable sources of energy into the future and it is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity to open up new markets for local suppliers and to create thousands of high-quality jobs in Wales.
The Erebus project has the potential to show the world that Wales and the Celtic Sea can deliver renewable energy alongside the sustainable management of our marine resources.
In determining the marine license and the planning consents, the Welsh Government and our partners in Natural Resources Wales have enabled this project to move forward to apply for subsidy support from the UK government.
We now urge the UK government to do its part through the Contracts for Difference process to drive the industry forward by working with the Erebus team to secure the first floating offshore wind project in Welsh waters, bringing jobs and green energy to our communities.
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