8. 7. Statement: Employability

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:30 pm on 11 July 2017.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 6:30, 11 July 2017

In terms of the fair work and progression programme, the First Minister has asked me to chair stage 1 of the fair work piece and that is around how we make sure that we use leverage from Welsh Government funding to its best advantage. So, what we’re looking to do is establish an agreed definition of ‘fair work’, including the progression elements of that, and then make sure that we leverage that with everybody that we support. So, my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Education, has only today announced that the quid pro quo for the tuition fee offer is that universities become fair-wage employers. That's very much part of the same piece, really—that we’re starting to use the leverage that Welsh Government funding brings to lever in some of those better working conditions. But the first piece of work will be to establish a common agreement across employers, trade unions, delivery partners and the Government in the Fair Work Commission to make sure that we all agree on that and then to take forward the delivery. So, that's the first piece of that.

In terms of the support—and actually I realise that I didn't quite answer Llyr Gruffydd’s question either about some of the pilots—we are looking to support SMEs, we are looking to do pilots outside of the Valleys area, where there are specific conditions that we want to see how it works. So the answer is ‘yes’; we will be doing that. And what we'll be looking to do is: I mentioned in my statement that we’ll be looking for the 100 businesses that show the most growth potential, and they can be any size. Indeed, we anticipate that many of them will be very small—under five employees. And, obviously, what we’re trying to do is lever the much-needed jobs in, but by using indigenous firms and assisting them with the business support they need to grow. Many of them will be foundational economy firms and some of them won't be. What we're hoping to do is get a good mix from those high-potential growth firms.