English: I thank Steffan Lewis for that important question. As he knows, we published a paper in the series of documents we have published since the White Paper of January 2017 on regional policy. That was not an attempt to set out a definitive set of arrangements for the future, but to sum up the state of the debate at that point, and we've had a very lively debate since, with many contributions to a consultation we've carried out on that paper. We've published those consultation responses and I hope to be in a position in the autumn to bring forward a paper that sums that up and does set a more definite set of propositions in place. The point that he made is an important one, because it gets to the heart of a dilemma in it. In those consultation responses there is a great deal of consensus across Wales on the need for greater flexibility in the future. European Union funding, if there is a silver lining in this at all, can come to us with fairly rigid rules attached to it: geographical rigidity and, the sorts of things you can spend the money on, there are rigidities there too. And the consultation said that this is an opportunity for us to be more flexible around some of those things. But then that does give rise to an anxiety on the part of those geographical areas that have benefited from funding so far that this may be to their detriment. The Welsh Government's position is that we have no intention of operating in that way and what we see flexibility as is not absorbing areas of greater need in a wider economy that disguises that need, but to allow, at the margin, a sensible flexibility that means that you are not prevented from making good investments that will be to the benefit of those areas because you have an over-rigid set of rules.
Welsh: Diolch i Steffan Lewis am y cwestiwn pwysig hwnnw. Fel y gŵyr, cyhoeddasom bapur yn y gyfres o ddogfennau a gyhoeddwyd gennym ers y Papur Gwyn mis Ionawr 2017 ar bolisi rhanbarthol. Nid ymgais ydoedd i nodi set bendant o drefniadau ar gyfer y dyfodol, ond crynodeb o gyflwr y ddadl ar y pwynt hwnnw, ac rydym wedi cael trafodaeth fywiog iawn ers hynny, gyda llawer o gyfraniadau i ymgynghoriad a gynhaliwyd gennym ar y papur hwnnw. Rydym wedi cyhoeddi'r ymatebion i'r ymgynghoriad hwnnw a gobeithiaf fod mewn sefyllfa yn yr hydref i gyflwyno papur sy'n crynhoi hynny ac sy'n rhoi set o gynigion mwy pendant yn eu lle. Mae'r pwynt a wnaeth yn un pwysig, oherwydd mae'n mynd at wraidd problem ynddo. Yn yr ymatebion hynny i'r ymgynghoriad, ceir consensws ledled Cymru, i raddau helaeth, ar yr angen am fwy o hyblygrwydd yn y dyfodol. Gall cyllid yr Undeb Ewropeaidd, os oes unrhyw fudd yn hyn o gwbl, gael ei ddarparu inni gyda rheolau eithaf caeth ynghlwm wrtho: anhyblygrwydd daearyddol a'r mathau o bethau y gallwch wario'r arian arnynt, ceir anhyblygrwydd yn hynny o beth hefyd. A dywedodd yr ymgynghoriad fod hwn yn gyfle inni fod yn fwy hyblyg mewn perthynas â rhai o'r pethau hynny. Ond mae hynny wedyn yn arwain at bryderon ymysg yr ardaloedd daearyddol sydd wedi elwa o'r cyllid hyd yma y gallai hyn effeithio'n wael arnynt. Safbwynt Llywodraeth Cymru yw nad oes gennym unrhyw fwriad o weithredu yn y modd hwnnw, ac nid ydym yn ystyried hyblygrwydd yn rhywbeth sy'n amsugno ardaloedd mewn mwy o angen mewn economi ehangach sy'n cuddio'r angen hwnnw, ond mae caniatáu hyblygrwydd synhwyrol, ar yr ymylon, yn golygu nad ydych yn cael eich atal rhag gwneud buddsoddiadau da a fydd yn fuddiol i'r ardaloedd hynny am fod gennych set o reolau sy'n rhy anhyblyg.