10. Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee Debate on the effects of COVID-19 on Wales's Economy, Infrastructure and Skills

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 1 July 2020.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 5:05, 1 July 2020

Now, with regard to Mark Isherwood's question about support for the tourism sector, I can confirm that, through the first phase of the economic resilience fund, more than £11 million of support has been provided to tourism and hospitality businesses. It's saved more than 4,000 jobs, and that support would not have been available elsewhere in the UK. And we're also providing £5 million specifically to support start-up firms that have yet to be helped by the UK Government's self-employment support scheme. Now, our grant scheme, which was launched just last week, will support 2,000 start-ups with grants of £2,500 each, and, of course, this comes ahead of the UK Government formally responding to the UK Treasury Committee's recommendations for filling those gaps that EIS members have identified. And I think this is a really important point, because there are still many gaps that exist right across the UK and which require the attention of UK Government, including, for example, the need to lengthen the job retention scheme for specific sectors—for tourism, culture and aerospace—and those gaps were highlighted by many Members, including Helen Mary Jones and Mark Isherwood. 

Now, the JRS, the job retention scheme, has been a lifeline for many businesses, but the UK Government must—absolutely must— avoid a cliff edge when it comes to ending the furlough and self-employment schemes. And I think that we would all accept that the full impact of coronavirus on the economy will not be revealed until the autumn, when these are scheduled to be wound down. Now, yesterday, we also heard, as Members have pointed out, the Prime Minister re-announce various infrastructure projects, and adopt the promise that we have been making for some months to build back better. Now, to us in Welsh Government, that means investing in green, fair growth. It means investing in businesses that commit to the economic contract that we now have with thousands upon thousands of enterprises in Wales. It means doing precisely as Alun Davies has articulated, in investing in places that need levering up, investing in people who have not enjoyed the fruits of growth during the period of de-industrialisation. It means creating, in my view, a gender-neutral political economy that is less white and less favourable to people and places that are already affluent and powerful. And building back better also means building a future together. And I've been incredibly grateful for the ideas and the advice from Members across the Chamber.

Now, as Rhianon Passmore said, the recovery cannot see a return of austerity measures. Conversely, the recovery should see multiple benefits stem from a green-led economic recovery, one that creates local jobs, contributes to decarbonisation, builds a foundational economy, provides skills, tackles fuel poverty, and provides better, greener homes. However, we must equally recognise that there is a crucial need for a people-based recovery in the face of significant expected unemployment, underemployment and economic inactivity in Wales and across the UK over the next 12 months. And, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, we're developing a comprehensive package of support that will allow people to upskill and find new employment, so we can protect a generation from the scarring effects of unemployment. And we're ready to use £40 million of economic resilience funding to do just this.

I think we'll also need to refashion and reprioritise the apprenticeship programme, further education and university offerings, and the committee notes the action taken to ensure the financial stability of the apprenticeship network, and I very much welcome this. It's enabled training providers to respond positively to the COVID crisis, introducing online learning and keeping-in-touch strategies. Enabling apprenticeship recruitment is integral to the recovery, like considering a comprehensive suite of support for people facing redundancy, those made unemployed, and employees needing to upskill. This includes offering access to working well services for individuals, to give them advice and guidance on a range of opportunities available to them, and to help them overcome whatever personal challenges and barriers they face in finding and securing work.

We'll increase access to personalised learning accounts and support through our ReAct and employability skills programmes, as well as our Jobs Growth Wales programme, which provides valuable work opportunities for young people who may not have relevant work experience. And, as a number of Members have identified this afternoon, young people have been identified as the most at risk of long-term unemployment as a result of coronavirus. So, our investment will naturally be prioritised for under-25s. We'll also prioritise support for those furthest from the labour market, including disabled people, those with low skills, and individuals from a BAME background. Now, to date, our community employability programmes have supported 48,000 people, 18,000 of whom have moved into employment, and, in response to coronavirus, delivery has been adapted to help 400 people find employment since April of this year.

Our regional skills partnerships continue to provide us with a strategic regional view of priorities for skills, based on labour market intelligence and informed by employer need. And we've commissioned these partnerships to produce bi-monthly reports to capture employer-led intelligence across the regions of Wales to provide insight into the impact of coronavirus across sectors and industry clusters.

And, just briefly, the ambition of Welsh Government remains to create a sustainable, integrated public transport network, including community transport, as Joyce Watson has identified, right across Wales. We've already spent £29 million on a hardship fund for the bus sector, helping operators to maintain core services. And the recent announcement by my colleague, the Deputy Minister, confirming initial funding of £15.4 million to local authorities to introduce measures to improve the safety and conditions for sustainable and active travel modes in response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates our prompt intent.

Llywydd, as mentioned earlier, I look forward to formally responding in full next month, but, in the meantime, I would like to thank again all Members for their contributions.