8. 7. Statement: Employability

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:18 pm on 11 July 2017.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 6:18, 11 July 2017

Well, thank you for that series of questions. In terms of developing skills appropriate for business and business delivery, the Member will be aware that we've established the three regional skills partnerships across Wales. They’re in their third year now. This year, they will produce their annual reports detailing labour market information and intelligence in their area, and outlining the skills needed by the employers in that area. And, this year, we will fund skills development in those areas according to the regional development plans. So, it's very much driven by businesses in those areas, and it's very much something that we take very seriously. So, we've addressed that by establishing and strengthening the regional skills partnerships. And, as I mentioned in the statement, we've also reconfigured the Wales employment and skills board in order to have better representation from those regional skills partnerships to take an all-Wales overview, and that's very much driven by the employers and trade unions working together in that board with a delivery agent. So, we're working very hard to address that agenda, and we certainly acknowledge it.

Similarly, with gender issues, the Member will know that it's been a soapbox of mine for quite some time. We are looking to make sure that we get the right information out to young women and young men about non-traditional industries for them—so, in particular, care for young men, and engineering and STEM for young women, because, if you look at the gender distribution, they're the other way around. And we’re making sure that we get the right careers advice out there to both the young people themselves and also to the parents and grandparents—the opinion formers, in other words—of those young children, and we’ll be working very hard with people already in the industry to provide role models and guidance in that regard.

In terms of disability and diversity, we’ll be working very hard with our employers to make sure that they become disability-confident employers, and that actually they understand that it’s not all that difficult to employ somebody who has disabilities, and so on. We will be pushing this agenda as part of what I was talking about in terms of getting businesses ready for growth and opportunity, and that will be very much part of what we’re helping them to look at.

In terms of Careers Wales, if the Member has a specific school that’s having a problem with work experience issues, I’d be very grateful if he’d write to me about it. There’s a great deal of misinformation around about what health and safety checks are actually required to put young people into workplaces. Most workplaces taking work experience children already have the health and safety checks in place, so, if the Member has a specific issue with that, I’d be very grateful if he’d write to me.

In terms of capacity, Careers Wales has recently transferred from the education portfolio of my colleague the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language to myself. The reason for that is to more closely align it with business support and the needs of the economy. So, forthcoming announcements will be made about how we’re increasing capacity for growth in that sector.