GOVERNMENT support can only go so far to save jobs at a major Gwent employer, a Welsh minister has warned.

There are fears for the future of the Tillery Valley Foods factory, which is based in Abertillery and produces meals for the NHS.

Responding to cross-party calls to protect the business, economy minister Vaughan Gething said the Welsh Government would “look at options to safeguard jobs” and establish a taskforce with Blaenau Gwent council.

But while there was “a note of some optimism about what we can do”, the minister said that had to be “balanced with the realism that we’re not in control of the company”.

As reported by the Argus earlier this week, factory staff fear a “devastating” closure would wipe out hundreds of jobs and “permanently impact” Abertillery. 

Mr Gething said there were “challenges about cash flow” at the business, partly because of rising energy costs and inflation, but the government was “not able to inject a large amount of cash into the business”.

“We need the business to work with us to be able to map out a sustainable future for the hundreds of jobs and families that are reliant on it,” he said.

Support could include intervention from the Development Bank of Wales or, if the business cannot be saved, retraining for workers via the government’s ReAct+ scheme.

The priority for Mr Gething, however, is “wanting to get the business to engage with us as openly and as constructively as possible”.

He added: “We stand ready to work with them, with all the levers that we do have available, together with partners.”

Blaenau Gwent representative Alun Davies, from Welsh Labour, said Tillery Valley Foods was “one of the biggest employers” in the area and “won't be easily replaced” if it closed down.

Laura Anne Jones, from the Welsh Conservatives, said it was “absolutely critical that this government does everything in its powers to save the potential loss of these jobs”.

Plaid Cymru’s Peredur Owen Griffiths, meanwhile, said he had “grave concerns” about the future of the business, which would cause “utter devastation” to the workforce if it closed.

He also asked whether the Welsh Government could support Tillery Valley Foods by increasing its own trade with the firm.

“A big part of their business comes from supplying NHS England with food, [but] they don’t seem to have the same relationship with NHS Wales,” he said.

Mr Gething said the Welsh Government was “proactively” looking at various forms of support “including NHS Wales procurement”.