I outlined in July the Welsh Government’s early thinking on the development of a single all-age employability programme, bringing together the activities from our current employability programmes to better meet the needs of those requiring support to enter, remain and progress in the workplace. As I said then, this programme will enable us to better respond to the labour market challenges we now face: the continued challenge of sustaining a low unemployment rate, particularly given the need to address disproportionate levels of unemployment for certain groups and geographical areas, whilst recognising the clear case for sharpening our focus on reducing economic inactivity.

However, we know that it is not enough to focus only on getting people into work. There is a need to ensure that individuals gain decent and sustainable employment and that they progress into, and within, secure jobs. Although entering into employment is a key factor in reducing poverty, it is also important to recognise the growing issue of in-work poverty in Wales. There are now more households living in poverty where someone is working, than not.

Our employability plan will, therefore, set out how our support can be most effectively targeted to progress more individuals from economic inactivity into work, whilst retaining an emphasis on progression in and through sustained employment. The plan will recognise that getting people into sustained and meaningful employment is not just about increasing skills. A holistic approach is required that seeks to identify and address the needs and barriers each individual faces in gaining, retaining and progressing within employment.

We believe in an integrated employability approach, linking skills initiatives with employment services and with other public services tackling employability-related barriers, in particular the integration of work and health services to support people with health conditions at the earliest possible opportunity to access or remain in work. We also recognise the importance of working with employers to fully integrate Welsh Government business support and procurement levers within our wider employability approach in order to ensure that we maximise the potential to target recruitment to new jobs created from low activity groups.

In order to more effectively prioritise and target our employability and skills interventions, we will develop a systematic approach to identifying need and to referral to employability support through a new employment advice service. The employment advice service will strengthen and unify assessment, brokerage, referral and advice services, and will operate entirely independently from the provision of employability support in order to ensure a clear, impartial and absolute focus on the needs of the individual. Ongoing advice and brokerage will be provided through the employment advice service to ensure that individuals are effectively supported in their journey into and within employment.

The employability plan will set out a framework for action drawing on evidence of what works. We will be working across Government and with partners over the coming weeks to develop this framework, building on the key themes from our engagement to date that have set the basis for our overarching approach. This approach will be all-age and all-encompassing. We will move away from a cohort-driven approach, targeting specific groups of unemployed or economically inactive people with specific interventions, and instead focus support around the needs of the individual. Evidence tells us that bespoke and intensive support that is tailored to the needs of individuals in order to increase employability and address barriers is critical. We’ll also remove the boundaries between in-work and out-of-work provision to create a continuum of support to individuals once they access the workplace, particularly for those vulnerable to dropping out of employment.

Our approach will be integrated and incentivised. We will consolidate the number of programmes on offer by bringing interventions together through our all-age and all-encompassing approach and, working through our business support and procurement levers, we will incentivise the creation of more targeted job opportunities for disadvantaged individuals and place premiums on support in particularly disadvantaged areas. Our approach will also be modernised and efficient. We will reach more individuals through the introduction and expansion of digital employability services and we will free up resources through more efficient and innovative delivery models, such as the nationally commissioned, regionally managed and locally delivered approach we will be adopting for the new all-age employability programme.

This approach will require a co-ordinated and focused effort, not only across the Welsh Government but also with UK Government departments, in particular the Department for Work and Pensions, with local authorities, the third sector, the private sector, and with stakeholder groups and delivery partners. This effort will need to embrace flexibility and innovation whilst retaining a relentless focus on improvement and results. Our work with the DWP as a key partner in Wales will continue in order to make every effort to embed their programmes within the wider Welsh employability agenda. The principles of our employability plan underpin the new all-age employability programme and our co-design of the DWP work and health programme in Wales. This represents an opportunity to more effectively align the breadth of employment support on offer to individuals across Wales.

In developing the plan, it is imperative that the Welsh Government works closely with all key players to ensure opportunities are available for all. Our new approach to employability support will be flexible, nationally commissioned, regionally managed, locally delivered and, most importantly, centred around the individual. We believe that this approach will benefit individuals across Wales in gaining, retaining and progressing within work, and will deliver the prosperous and secure future for Wales that we need to take Wales forward. Diolch.