Vaughan Gething: ...wide-ranging provision to ensure that young people can take up effective support that works for them. In this year alone, the Welsh Government has invested £390 million in sixth forms and further education, providing thousands of young people with a range of academic and vocational courses; £16.4 million in educational maintenance allowances; £5 million for extra places; and an...
Vaughan Gething: ...that there will be no lost generation in Wales as a result of the pandemic. We are putting in place an ambitious programme designed to provide everyone under 25 in Wales with the offer of work, education, training, or self-employment. This, I believe, is the bold action that we must take to help young people to get the best possible start. We want to give young people the support that...
Vaughan Gething: ...promises that have been made. It leaves Wales £0.25 billion short in just this first year at least, and that is money that would otherwise have been spent on innovation in supporting higher education, otherwise would have been spent supporting our skills agenda, otherwise spent on supporting the economy. And that’s the challenge here. I think that this place and our country should be...
Vaughan Gething: ...programme, together with ReAct+, again strengthening the offer we already have available. So, we are working with providers, so they'll understand what we are looking to do, and actually further education providers are in particular very enthusiastic about working alongside us. Our biggest challenge in many ways is not just making sure we have a single point of access to help people...
Vaughan Gething: ...as well as a potential significant growth area. And it does point out what we can do if the Welsh Government works alongside businesses, as we have done, and works alongside further and higher education, to provide the skills that people will need as well. And life science is, again, another area where we're seeing significant growth—you mentioned examples in your own contribution. That...
Vaughan Gething: ..., as well—to see how exactly we're doing that and taking it forward. That's a good example of working together with local authorities as key partners in economic development, together with higher education, which is involved in all of the industry we just talked about, and, of course, further education and the importance of the skills agenda. So, you can expect to see us doing all we can...
Vaughan Gething: ...in Wales at some point as well. So, graduates are part of what we are looking at, and, yes, we are looking at what has happened in Scotland. I've already had conversations with the Minister for education about the potential for graduate incentives to stay here, both people who graduate from a Welsh university—. And we have an oversupply of graduates that we produce in Wales; we are a net...
Vaughan Gething: ...sets out the second low-carbon delivery plan before the end of this month. And, on the Reid review, again, I won't repeat all of the points I've made before about funding, but, of course, higher education is excluded from the current pilots for replacement European funds. And I spoke to the Wales innovation network of Welsh universities, looking at innovation, together with the Learned...
Vaughan Gething: ...communities in the new programme for government. I recently updated Members about the Jobs Growth Wales+ programme, which will help to create life-changing opportunities for those who are not in education, employment or training, and this is a major feature of our young person's guarantee and builds on the strength of pre-existing schemes. We will offer workers on low pay quality, flexible...
Vaughan Gething: ...don’t just mean here for Wales either because the truth is that’s not just my view that people will be familiar with, but if you were to have this conversation with local government, the higher education sector, or the third sector in Scotland or England as well as here in Wales, there would be a broadly similar view. The challenge is to get through that confusion and get to a...
Vaughan Gething: ...much of the work that we have done in supporting the Heads of the Valleys, in particular, has been possible as a result of the work of the Welsh Government and partners in the third sector, higher education, the private sector and, of course, the voluntary sector, to deliver European structural funds. It has made a real difference. To put that in context, current EU funding programmes have...
Vaughan Gething: ..., that is of real value and valued by the sector. That's part of the reason why the cluster here, in and around Cardiff, is recognised as a potential growth area, because we already have higher education institutions providing a range of skills and opportunities and a willingness from the sector to engage with those institutions to further develop new skills, and the graduate programme...
Vaughan Gething: ..., above the figure for Wales, which was 6 per cent. In our Programme for government, we have made a commitment to deliver a young person’s guarantee, giving everyone under 25 the offer of work, education, training, or self-employment.
Vaughan Gething: ...'t want to get involved in disagreements between the two Governments, but we do want to know what the rules are and we want to know we're not going to be excluded.' For example, higher and further education, in the last six years of European programmes, £405 million, they spent. At present, with the current design, they wouldn't get anything. For the private sector, £272 million in the...
Vaughan Gething: And by making these funds solely available to competing local authority bids, the UK Government is also wilfully creating sector funding gaps, including among higher and further education, the third sector, and business. These sectors have previously maximised European Union funds to help close disparities in research and innovation, to support vulnerable people in society, and to help boost...
Vaughan Gething: ...want to see, and that includes in a range of Valleys communities. I was very pleased to visit you in Cynon Valley and see some of the work that is being done to bring people back into the world of education and training with people who aren't succeeding in mainstream education and actually what that does in preparing them to go into the world of work successfully. That is both about...
Vaughan Gething: ...-after provision in a large employer like that, but for smaller businesses too as well. It's why when you look at the work that we've done on a range of things, for example, twenty-first century schools, it doesn't just deliver high-quality learning facilities. But because of the way we've worked on community benefits, we almost always have young workers and new apprentices coming through...
Vaughan Gething: ...about the potential for the guarantee already getting in touch prior to me making an offer, and I think that's really encouraging, actually. We've already had ColegauCymru—the further education sector see that they definitely have a role; they want to engage on what they can do to build on what they already provide—and a range of stakeholders from local government to the National Union...
Vaughan Gething: ...ensure that they are not left behind. It is more important than ever that we support young people to gain the skills and experiences that they will need to succeed, whether that’s in employment, education or starting their own business. Our programme for government commits to delivering a young person’s guarantee. This will be an ambitious programme that is intended to provide everyone...
Vaughan Gething: ...substance that supports the amendments put forward by the Welsh Conservatives, which we will not be supporting. The UK funds will mean funding gaps for many sectors, including higher and further education, the third sector and business. These are partners who have previously invested to help close historical gaps in research and development, to provide support to our most vulnerable people...
