Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 13 October 2021.
Minister, one of the main aims of the UK spending review is levelling up across the UK to increase and spread opportunity. However, as we've heard in the previous question today, Wales continues to face significant skills shortages, hindering the Welsh economy and the ability of the workforce to adapt to ever-changing industries and technologies. Research from the Open University shows that the Wales skills gap in 2020 was higher than in Scotland and six of the eight English regions. Out of 50,000 apprenticeship programmes started in 2019-20, just 740 were in manufacturing and 5,000 in construction. Minister, what guarantees can you provide that one of the priorities of the Welsh Government for allocating any increased funding coming to Wales will be used to level up the Welsh economy by meeting the needs of businesses to ensure that the skills shortages here in Wales are actually filled?