9. 8. Statement: Update on ‘Towards Sustainable Growth: An Action Plan for the Food and Drink Industry 2014-2020’

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:03 pm on 21 June 2016.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 6:03, 21 June 2016

Thank you, Jeremy Miles, for that question. I think you raise a really important point around ensuring that we do create innovative, and maybe novel, approaches to encourage industry training for SME businesses. What we’re going to do is have a cluster approach, and we’re already trialling this with food businesses to support business growth. Upskilling and training is absolutely fundamental if we’re going to see that growth, and clusters are also identifying and addressing training needs in the most cost-effective way possible. We’re having some pilots in fine foods, NutriWales and the seafood, impact and export sectors, where a number of businesses are directly engaged in that skills development. As a Government, we already have a number of key skills programmes, but it is about building on that. We’ve also been able to use Jobs Growth Wales very successfully in this area too, and that’s helped employers to take on extra employees. That’s obviously provided valuable work experience opportunities for people right across Wales between the ages of 16 and 24.