Upskilling and Reskilling

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 27 June 2018.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 1:38, 27 June 2018

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.