5. How is the Welsh Government supporting apprenticeships in Wales? (OAQ51057)

Well, I’m glad that the Member has asked the question, because we’re transforming the skills journey through the creation of apprenticeship pathways to deliver on our commitment of 100,000 apprenticeship places for those of all ages, in line with the Welsh Government’s priorities and in line with the promises that we made last year.

Thank you for that. When, earlier this year, I raised in the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee concern expressed by the four Welsh police forces that they couldn’t access the apprenticeship levy and the £2 million that they were paying into it, the skills Minister replied that the Welsh Government would instead strike up a grant or contract arrangements, in dialogue with the College of Policing, and that they had meetings in the diary with the police and crime commissioners. I was then told subsequently, in March, that those meetings had, at that stage, been cancelled and not rescheduled. How do you respond to the concern expressed in August by the four police and crime commissioners and chief constables in Wales that this could result in 45 fewer officers in north Wales and potential recruits choosing to sign up to work for English forces instead, and calling for urgent action from the Welsh Government because the situation is putting them at a distinct disadvantage, and finally pointing out that although in England the money that forces pay into the levy goes to the English police college, in Wales it goes to the Welsh Government and, therefore, this lies in your hands?

Well, we could’ve done this if policing was devolved, but his party has sat there consistently in this Chamber and demanded that policing should not be devolved. We are not going to fund services that should be funded by a non-devolved body. This is a tax that was imposed by his party: a tax on business. We have received a share of that and we will use that money to pay for apprenticeships, but we cannot, in good faith, pay towards apprenticeship schemes that sit in non-devolved areas. That, surely, is the responsibility of the UK Government, as they keep on telling us.

I’m sure the First Minister would agree with me that some of the most inspiring visits that we have as Assembly Members in our own constituencies are to employers, big and small, who take on apprenticeships on a regular basis, whether those are what we might call entry-level apprenticeships, higher apprenticeships or even degree apprenticeships as well—they’re graduate apprenticeships. Companies like Sony, who are actually now setting the standard in terms of apprenticeship development within the workforce. Companies in your own constituency, First Minister, such as Ford in Bridgend, who, over many, many years, have developed people in electromechanical engineering apprenticeships, in business management apprenticeships, and so much more.

There is a great deal to be done, but much that is being achieved, but would he agree with me that one of the most significant ways that we can increase the pipeline of apprenticeships is by investing in heavy, big infrastructure? And whilst we may have missed the opportunity with the investment of electrification all the way down to Swansea, there is a way to make up some of the ground, and that is for the UK Government to give the go-ahead on the tidal lagoon in Swansea, because that will develop civil engineering apprenticeships, project management apprenticeships, business management apprenticeships, and many, many more. That, on its own, would have a significant effect on apprenticeships right across the region.

Well, I very much agree with what the Member has said. Some may have noticed that I gave a speech on the weekend when I called on the UK Government to deliver the tidal lagoon. The response from the UK Government was that I should focus on public services in Wales and not mention the lagoon. Now, that causes me a great deal of trepidation because normally the response is, ‘We are still considering it.’ That suggests to me that they’re going to axe the lagoon, and that is something that is a great concern to me and, I’m sure, Members of this Chamber, indeed, outside of my own party.

This is a project that will deliver clean, green energy, not just for Wales but into the National Grid. It would deliver 1,000 jobs in manufacturing and maintenance, particularly in the area of Port Talbot, and we’ve had prevarication after prevarication after prevarication. Even an independent review, which I suspect was set up to say, ‘Don’t go ahead with it’ and then came up with the suggestion that we should go ahead with it, has reported that this project should happen. A billion pounds was put on the table for Northern Ireland—£1 billion for Northern Ireland; a coach and horses driven through the Barnett formula. We’ve heard that that’s sacrosanct; that was ignored, as far as Northern Ireland was concerned. Where is the tidal lagoon? The people of Wales deserve an answer, they deserve those jobs and they deserve the consideration of the UK Government.