2. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to support adults to upskill and reskill when in work? OAQ52411

Welsh Government delivers programmes to assist individuals to upskill while in work. We're committed to delivering 100,000 apprenticeships this Assembly term, and we also support employers to upskill their workforce via our Flexible Skills Programme. 

This morning, with the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, I visited The Number Hub, which is a small business in Taff's Well, and they were talking very much about advances in automation and technological change. What specific actions will the Welsh Government be taking to prepare for the jobs of the future, but particularly focusing on the skills needed in the small firms sector and the kind of jobs that people might want to go into in small and medium-sized enterprises in that sector in the future? What changes are you anticipating, and how will adults and learners be prepared for those jobs?  

Well, I think the great benefit and advantage that small businesses have is that they can move much, much quicker than big businesses. So, that is the advantage they have in a rapidly changing situation. So, I think it's really important that they take advantage of that ability—perhaps the really big companies find it more difficult to turn supertankers around. So, being responsive to those digital innovations, I think, is really important.

What we can do is we can give skills support now already. We've got this Flexible Skills Programme. But I think the other thing that I'm really keen to see develop is this pilot programme that we're going to be developing, where we have individual learning accounts to make sure that we're filling those skills gaps that some of those SMEs may find. I've been speaking to a large company this morning, who were telling me that they are already finding difficulty in recruiting people with digital and automotive skills. And that conversation about how flexible we can be, how fast we can be in reorganising things—. I think our Working Wales programme will give us opportunities from next year to respond much more quickly and tailor things around the individuals, but also will make sure that we have that really close dialogue with people, with SMEs in particular, but also with the large companies in Wales. 

Minister, part-time education allows adults already in employment to attain the higher skill levels necessary to ensure economic growth. However, Welsh Government figures have shown that part-time learner numbers in further education institutions and in local authority adult community learning have declined significantly in Wales. What is the Welsh Government doing to reverse this decline to ensure Wales has the skilled workforce it needs and that everyone can access the training they need to achieve their full potential in their life in Wales? Thank you.

Thank you, Mohammad. I think you're right—I'm afraid to say that there has been a decline in the number of people who have accessed part-time learning. That, of course, was partly as a response to the austerity measures that have been introduced, and we had to prioritise funding and the priority was given to early years education. But I think, with the changing nature of employment—the fact that we are going to see this shift to automation and digital skills—we are going to have to think very carefully about how we reskill people for the future. So, this idea of this individual learning account is about addressing that very issue that you're putting your finger on, and we'll see how that develops. Those individual learning accounts will give people an opportunity, as I say, to reskill in those areas where we know there are skills gaps and there's an opportunity for people to reskill. We'll need to reskill people already in work where we can see that the jobs will be disappearing in future, but also upskill those people who perhaps haven't accessed the workforce before.