Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 14 December 2016.
So, you’re not going to tell us why that is. May I suggest that you and your colleagues have been running economic development and employability programmes in Wales since 1999, and that is the situation now? Your department, I believe, is responsible for the Lift programme, as part of your tackling poverty action plan, providing training and employment opportunities for people in households where no-one is in work. And I believe you’re also responsible for the Communities for Work programme, focusing on the most deprived communities, which clearly fall within your portfolio. And you’re also extending both programmes from 2018 to 2020. What due diligence have you carried out? I understand the Welsh Government has been unable or unwilling to release data on the outcome from those programmes, and it’s understood that, by contrast, the UK Government Work Programme providers in Wales have been able to achieve five to 10 times better value for money, delivering the average cost of a job at £3,000, whereas it’s understood that the jobs under your schemes are running into possibly tens of thousands of pounds.