Lee Waters: Well, that is a correct challenge. There is not enough resource, either at the Welsh Government level or at the local government level, to really make this agenda fly. For example, today, officials are assessing the latest round of Safe Routes in Communities bids. For a £5 million pot, we have only had £6 million-worth of bids. This is the lowest number of bids that we've ever had, and the...
Lee Waters: Okay, well, that's a slightly different point. Let me just finish addressing the other point first. I'm mindful of time, and there's much that I wanted to try and say that I won't be able to say today. We do need to look at regional collaboration as a way of achieving the resources available. The proposal in the bus White Paper for joint transport authorities has the potential, if that's...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Llywydd. I am pleased to be able to inform the National Assembly that the Welsh Government is on track to meet our manifesto commitment to deliver a minimum of 100,000 all-age, high-quality apprenticeships by the end of this Assembly term. Thanks to a remarkable effort from employers, providers and advice services, we have delivered 56,635 apprenticeship starts between May 2016 and...
Lee Waters: We are committed to skills progression across the board, and continue to work closely with our social partners in trade unions and in industry. We are creating better jobs closer to home, through extending and expanding shared apprenticeships in the Valleys taskforce area to support small business in accessing training. We are encouraging SMEs to use apprenticeships by offering an incentive...
Lee Waters: I think I counted five questions there. I will try to answer as many of them as I can. Your first point, about the report done by Estyn into training providers: last year, Estyn found that two of the three providers that were inspected were 'good' and the other was 'adequate'. Clearly, adequate is not good enough and we are reviewing the position about the quality of standards. And as well,...
Lee Waters: Thank you. I think there were six questions there—I'll try my best to briefly answer those. Your first point about private training providers and was there an argument for a mixed economy and moving to a different provision—I think that's a very interesting idea. I'd certainly welcome the opportunity to see more social enterprises and co-operatives providing training, and I'd be...
Lee Waters: I'd like to thank Jenny Rathbone for her comments. She's certainly right—and this is why we're putting the emphasis on apprenticeships at level 3and above—that the evidence is quite clear that higher level apprenticeships deliver higher value skills and improve the life chances of the people doing them, which is why we've taken the decision to prioritise skills at this level. That's...
Lee Waters: Well, I'd like to thank David Rowlands for his comments. On the question of funding, there has been something of a conjuring trick taking place by the UK Government on the funding of apprenticeships, because we were not given additional funding to reflect the levy. The levy is, in fact, a tax on businesses and we've not had the funding passed on—£120 million or so was cut by the...
Lee Waters: Thank you, Jack Sargeant, for those comments, and I must say that having the first-hand testimony of somebody who's fairly recently come through the apprenticeship system adds greatly to the depth of the discussion we have in our National Assembly. And I know from first hand, having attended meetings with Jack with Tata, that he's able to draw on his own experience to inform that discussion,...
Lee Waters: We remain committed to delivering successful city and growth deals in Wales with Welsh Government continuing to be a full partner in their development and delivery, working closely both with the regions and with UK Government.
Lee Waters: Thank you. Our economic action plan recognises the crucial role digital technologies will play in the future, with digitisation and innovation featuring as key themes within the calls to action. We continue to engage with business to encourage the adoption of technologies, including artificial intelligence.
Lee Waters: Thank you for the question. The Member is preaching to the converted on this one—I fully recognise the benefits of artificial intelligence, both at the high, cutting-edge end, but also in the more mundane, everyday end of running a business and running organisations. And I've been impressed, since coming into the brief, with the amount of activity that there is going on, not just directed...
Lee Waters: Thank you for the question. The Minister has just informed me he has already accepted an invitation to attend the factory; I would also be delighted to come. I'm aware the Member is, of course, a great champion for Sony's presence in Pencoed. I think there's a real exciting opportunity. It's one of the things I want to try and focus on in this portfolio—how we harness the good practice that...
Lee Waters: We'll be discussing this further this afternoon, I know, but let's decouple the city deal with the broader agenda of digitisation. The two are not the same thing. One is a means towards an end, and let's focus on the broader end. 5G, of course, at the moment is not something that's being developed at any scale. We've commissioned Innovation Point to give advice to the Welsh Governmenment on...
Lee Waters: Gosh, what an opportunity. There is further opportunity later with the urgent question on this very same subject to address those topics, so perhaps I'll give you a brief summary and we can explore it a little further. This is a jointly commissioned report by the UK and the Welsh Government, and Alun Cairns and I see eye to eye on this matter, at least. There is criticism of all the actors in...
Lee Waters: Certainly, Alun Cairns and I have already met with the leaders of the local authorities on Friday. I had a further meeting on Monday with the Welsh MPs and a meeting this morning with Welsh Assembly Members to let them know what we intend to do next. Our first priority is to get some momentum back into this project, so we're working closely with the city deal to try and get two of the...
Lee Waters: Well, a number of points there. We have briefed Members: we issued a very full written statement on Friday, we published both reports and, as I said, the briefing has been put in place and I'm answering questions this afternoon on it. If any Member would like further information, I am more than happy to meet with them to brief them on what we're doing. I think openness is really important on...
Lee Waters: Yes. A focus on the foundational economy will support our wider aims for inclusive growth, contribute to place-based economic development and help promote grounded and responsible firms.
Lee Waters: Thank you. I must acknowledge the role the Member has played in championing the concept of the foundational economy. I think it's important as well that he's focusing on this aspect of it, which is not an aspect that is often discussed, but I think there is great potential. So, there are three different pillars to our work on the foundational economy. One is the experimental fund that we've...
Lee Waters: Yes, the Minister for Finance and I are working closely together on this. There's a review being carried out of the National Procurement Service and as we look to reshape that, we want to make sure that the principles of the foundational economy are embedded in what comes next, and we're talking to the public services boards about how they can pilot some different approaches, building on the...
