So, we'll move now to item 8, a statement by the Minister for Economy on the young person’s guarantee. I call on the Minister, Vaughan Gething.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Our young people hold the key to Wales's future. That is why I'm delighted to have officially launched our young person's guarantee this week. The Welsh Government is determined that there will be no lost generation in Wales as a result of the pandemic. We are putting in place an ambitious programme designed to provide everyone under 25 in Wales with the offer of work, education, training, or self-employment. This, I believe, is the bold action that we must take to help young people to get the best possible start. We want to give young people the support that they need for a brighter future when leaving school, college, university, if they are unemployed or if they face redundancy. Working Wales is now the single gateway for every 16 to 24-year-old in Wales to access the guarantee. This will build on the already strong and successful model of delivering careers guidance and signposting support to all programmes and services available locally. More than 5,500 young people who are eligible for the guarantee have already accessed our Working Wales services since 2021.

Whatever the uncertainties we face, we can be sure of one thing: failing to step up to support young people today guarantees economic failure tomorrow. The guarantee is supported by wide-ranging provision to ensure that young people can take up effective support that works for them. In this year alone, the Welsh Government has invested £390 million in sixth forms and further education, providing thousands of young people with a range of academic and vocational courses; £16.4 million in educational maintenance allowances; £5 million for extra places; and an additional £33 million to support young people in education to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

We have provided £152 million for apprenticeships. This includes £18.7 million for employer incentives encouraging the recruitment of young people. While apprenticeships are an all-age programme, around 39 per cent of apprentices starting in 2019-20 were under the age of 25. We have provided over £1.2 billion in higher education student support for 2021-22. In the previous year, around 60 per cent of Welsh higher education students were aged 16 to 24, meaning that our innovative package of maintenance grants and loans enable students, regardless of age, household or family income, to access higher education. In the past year, we have also provided £122 million of additional funding to build capacity and enable our universities to increase their hardship funding and support services to students affected by the pandemic. We provide £70 million per year to help people into work through a range of employability programmes, including ReAct, traineeships and community employabilty programmes. 

In June of this year, I announced our intention to develop the guarantee, and this week, I launched phase 1, which focuses on enhancing employability and skills provision. The comprehensive package brings together programmes designed to provide the right support at the right time, for the diverse needs of young people across Wales. This includes new user-friendly services to help young people more easily find opportunities. The young person's guarantee offer provides young people aged 16 to 24 in Wales with access to one simple route to the guarantee through Working Wales, with support and advice from advisers provided on multiple forums, including virtually, on the high street, and improved outreach facilities across Wales; a new user-friendly course search platform for those wanting to enter further or higher education; training and wage incentives through the ReAct programme; a place on one of our outreach community employability programmes; or self-employment advice and support through Big Ideas Wales, which is part of Business Wales; traineeships that provide work experience and training; help to find an apprenticeship; and a referral to one of the programmes funded by other partners, including the Department for Work and Pensions or local authorities.

Working Wales is also trialling a new job-matching service to assist young people with securing employment and to help employers fill vacancies. Our next steps in the development of the guarantee will include an enhanced programme for young people, aiding their transition into self-employment, with a package of business and financial support and advice. We will increase our focus on fair work and jobs. People aged 16 to 24 accounted for 16 per cent of all UK redundancies during 2020, so we have been developing new approaches to support the guarantee. There will be specific pathways to support recruitment into growth sectors, preparing people for jobs of the future, with two new flexible employability programmes—ReAct plus and Jobs Growth Wales+. We are expanding our jobs bulletin approach that has, this summer, advertised 20,000 jobs to young people, and we will be reaching out to employers through our 'We're in your corner' campaign, inviting employers to connect with Business Wales and to play their part in making the guarantee a success. We are prioritising young people and net-zero skills within the apprenticeship programmes.

With one in seven people in Wales self-employed, we need to ensure that the next generation fully understand this career path option. So, we will continue to inspire and support young entrepreneurs across Wales, and stimulate their ambitions to start their own businesses through Big Ideas Wales. We'll continue with our collaborative approach. So, regional skills partnerships will commence engagement events to shape guarantee provision within their area. Work is already under way nationally with the Department for Work and Pensions to try and ensure that programmes like Kickstart and Restart are ones that complement rather than compete or duplicate with provision that we provide. We do continue to call on the UK Government to work with us to shape a co-ordinated response in Wales and, in our view, to mitigate the impact of proposed cuts to welfare benefits and inequalities that will be created through the UK Government’s current approach to community renewal funds.

We will continue to listen to our young people through a series of focus groups between now and December, to understand how they view the support and offer available; what they want to see; and the barriers that they face. Tomorrow, I'll be launching the SkillsCymru event, and using it as a further opportunity for us to listen and engage with an audience of around 5,000 young people from across Wales on the jobs and skills agenda. This will, of course, feed through to the next phase of development for the guarantee in Wales.

As I have said before at the start of this statement, young people hold the key to Wales’s future success, and I am proud to lead the work on the young person’s guarantee. I will, of course, continue to keep Members informed on progress.

Conservative spokesperson, Paul Davies.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for your statement, Minister. I’m pleased to hear that there has been some progress in rolling out the young person’s guarantee, and that more and more young people across Wales are now able to access opportunities, whether that is in work, training or even setting up their own business.

When the Welsh Government was setting up the young person’s guarantee before the summer, there was a real desire to see young people’s voices at the heart of the scheme. Minister, you said that, over the summer, you were looking to set up a national conversation with young people about the young person’s guarantee, and whilst today’s statement gives us some information about the engagement activity that took place over the summer, perhaps you could tell us more about it. For example, can you tell us how that conversation with young people took place? How many people did you engage with? And, crucially, how did you ensure that voices in all parts of Wales were being heard?

Now, Minister, you’ve made it clear, recently, that Working Wales has been doing some tracking work since the end of September, and it’s important that we see exactly where things are going well and, perhaps, where improvements need to be made. Therefore, Minister, could you confirm exactly what Working Wales is tracking? Does it cover outcomes in all fields, whether it’s work, training or self employment? And if so, what sort of assessment have you been able to make from the data you have so far?

Today’s statement also updates us on the job-matching pilot that Working Wales has been undertaking. I know from previous exchanges that the Welsh Government has been keen to learn from the pilot, with a view to rolling out the pilot nationally. Of course, Working Wales is best placed to engage with partners and stakeholders across the country on this, and so, Minister, could I tease out some more detail from you on whether that roll-out is still happening, and what sort of timescales you’ve earmarked to complete this particular work?

Now, it’s vital that the young person’s guarantee works in tandem with the Welsh Government’s other schemes, such as the Jobs Growth Wales scheme and the ReAct scheme, for example. Indeed, the Welsh Government must also recognise the very important work being done by Careers Wales, which also helps young people plan out their career, prepare for a job, or apply for an apprenticeship or training. For example, earlier this month, Careers Wales launched a partnership with the nationwide social mobility charity, Speakers for Schools, to help deliver work experience opportunities and career talks available to students in Wales between the ages of 11 and 19, in a bid to help disadvantaged young people catch up post COVID. Therefore, it’s really important that the young person’s guarantee works in tandem with these other programmes and reaches the young people who, perhaps, haven’t been able to access support or aren’t aware of the help that the other programmes offer. So, Minister, can you tell us then how you intend for the young person’s guarantee to work alongside other projects and strategies to support young people here in Wales?

Minister, it’s absolutely crucial that there is sufficient funding in place to ensure the young person’s guarantee has the resources it needs to make the maximum impact, and I’m pleased that the statement tells us a little bit more about the budgetary allocations that are being made. It’s good to see funding being made available for sixth forms, FE providers, apprenticeships and the HE sector, but it's also important funding is there to develop self-employment opportunities as well. So, Minister, the statement rightly notes that, with one in seven people in Wales self employed, we need to ensure the next generation fully understand this career path option. Therefore, can you tell us how much funding is being allocated to support entrepreneurship?

The statement also confirms that the Welsh Government is reaching out to employers through the 'We're in your corner' campaign, which invites employers to connect with Business Wales and play their part in the guarantee, and I think it's really important that there's a genuine buy-in from businesses across Wales. So, Minister, can you tell us more about how the campaign is working, how you're ensuring that businesses in all parts of the country are aware of the campaign, and how Business Wales is actively recruiting businesses across Wales?

Now, Minister, the Welsh Government's 'Feed Your Positivity' campaign, which was launched last month, aims to encourage young Welsh people to positively engage with their plans for the future, and it's good to see the Welsh Government working with social influences and brand partners on platforms that are popular with young people, to share positive messages about the available support on offer. And so, Minister, could you provide an update on how the 'Feed Your Positivity' campaign is progressing and the impact that you believe it's having on young people in Wales today?

Dirprwy Lywydd, I'm pleased to see that regional skills partnerships will now start a series of engagement events to shape guarantee provision within their area, and that focus groups are being set up between now and December to understand how young people view the support and offer available. We all want the young person's guarantee to be a success in Wales, and it's vital that the voices of young people across Wales are heard loud and clear. So, can I thank the Minister for his statement and look forward to further updates on the guarantee over the coming months? Thank you.

Thank you for the series of questions that I'll try and address in time. About your point about the national conversation with young people, we've of course been having a conversation with young people, as part of the regular interaction that we have, about how the guarantee could and should work. We haven't done as much as I would have wanted in a more structured national conversation. We haven't been able to do that with the staff and the resources we have available. What we've done is, we've concentrated on getting this stage of it right, and the refocusing of Jobs Growth Wales+ in particular, which I'm genuinely excited about, as it brings together the successful Jobs Growth Wales programme that we know has helped young people to get into and to stay in employment. We know that similar schemes were withdrawn in other parts of the UK, but also with traineeships as well, and that's about helping to address the needs of people who don't perhaps have all of the qualifications they might want, or, indeed, need to be job ready. So, we're combining those two things; that comes from listening to young people about what they said they particularly want. And it's also from listening to young people who are not in education, employment or training, where they want to be in a job, and that's their preferred option to move forward. So, we've had to think about how we provide the right support for them. And that does come from the more than 5,500 people we've interacted with since May this year.

So, the further focus work we'll be undertaking will build upon that over the next two months, and I expect—and this is an open offer; it builds on, if you like, our previous conversation with other Members in the scrutiny committee last week about how we make available, on a regular basis, data that can give you some numbers of what we're doing and who's coming through. But what I want to be able to do, on at least an annual basis, is to provide a greater summary with more information around it, and not just figures, but about the feedback we're getting too. And not because a committee will demand it of us, but I think we're much better off being able to set out, on a regular basis, how and when we'll provide that information, and I fully expect that both from the Chamber and, indeed, the committee that you chair, that I and my officials can expect to be asked questions about that and whether we're making the progress that we want to.

On Working Wales to date, as I've indicated, they've dealt with 20,000 job adverts, they've had more than 12,000 interactions with individual young people since May this year. And when we'll be able to assess their success in rolling out and having oversight of the interactions of the guarantee—I think we'll get that from the regular information that I've indicated I want to be able to make available to Members and, indeed, the wider public.

I note your question and your comments about interactions with other parts of the Government as well, and so, I have had regular conversations with other Ministers in the lead-up to the guarantee, and in particular, a conversation between my officials, but also directly between myself and Jeremy Miles as the education Minister. Because we're in the fortunate position that about 360,000 young people are still in education. We have about 48,000 young people who are not in education, employment or training. So, we have a good base—the great majority of young people are in a form of education, but our challenge is how we do more to make sure that those people then have a successful start in their working life, during or post education, and, indeed, for those people who aren't currently in employment, education or training. And those 48,000 people is just far too many—it's 48,000 people too many in terms of their ability to get into the world of work, and it means for them, their families but also for the country.

So, we do expect that we will be able to work alongside other interventions. It isn't just about the good will and the good relationship between Ministers and officials within the Government, it is, as I've described, about making sure that we can signpost people to other interventions—the interventions run by local authorities, and, crucially, interventions that are run by the UK Government too. Because, if we're going to be able to do this as successfully as all of us in this Chamber would want too, regardless of our party, then we do need to understand clearly what the UK Government is funding and supporting in this area, so we don't duplicate or compete for the same people. That's why the employability review that I've mentioned before is so very important; it should mean there is time for us to understand where we are, time for us to understand what the UK Government is doing and how we plan interventions alongside each other. And this isn't a partisan and a party-political point because, actually, in the most recent past, we've actually been able to have interventions in Wales that have been organised in a way where they don't deliberately duplicate and don't compete with the Department for Work and Pensions. My ambition is for that to happen again in this next round. Some of what the DWP are doing has shifted a little, so we need to take account of that in the way that we run our own services.

On self-employment options, I'm going to make a further announcement about this in the coming weeks, so I won't spike that particular answer, but one of the things we are looking at is a previous scheme where we provided grants for young people to start up self-employed businesses. There was a grant, and I'm looking at whether we can provide the same sort of level of start-up grant, together with the advice and support that we would want to provide to any entrepreneur at any stage in their career to start up. And again, the useful thing is that we built up larger brands that people genuinely recognised. Business Wales houses many of these, but it's Big Ideas Wales, as part of Business Wales, which should be the right place. And actually, part of the value in what we're doing is that the main entrance point is Working Wales, and they can direct people to where they want to be. From a business point of view, they can go to any part of Business Wales, but it's Business Wales and the Skills Gateway for Business that are the main parts they'd look at. And also, for those people who have got self-employed options, they can go direct to Big Ideas Wales, or they can find an entrance point with advice and guidance to support them, and to understand their specific needs through the gateway that Working Wales will be operating for us. Most employers do understand that it's a skills gateway for them to access, to understand how they can support the guarantee. We already have a number of businesses that have inquired directly, but the 'We're in your corner' campaign that we'll be launching formally and starting off before the end of January in the new year will be another opportunity to remind businesses about how we want them to gather together with a call for action to support the guarantee as well.

I do think, though, that the questions about assessing the impact of the 'Feed Your Positivity' campaign, it's a little too early to assess the impact of that, but I'm clear that, in each of the interventions and the campaigns we've run, we'll need to be able to understand, within the Government, with Working Wales and other partners, how successful they have been, and then to understand if we need to do more of what we've already done, or if we need to try and further tailor our offer. And again, I hope that that will be part of the information that you'll be able to see. I know that today won't be the end of the questions, but I look forward to engaging with you in the Chamber, and, indeed, as I've said, in the committee.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Luke Fletcher.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for your statement today.

As I've said before, the young person's guarantee is a welcome scheme. Plaid Cymru proposed a very similar offer during the election, so we have been keen to know further details to ensure it upholds young people's rights and promotes sustainable growth in the Welsh economy. It's good to hear as well that young people will be able to feed into this directly. I can't say it any more, I can't say, 'Do it with us', because, as of recently, I'm no long considered 25 and under. Sorry, Dirprwy Lywydd, I couldn't help but drop that one in there. But it's good that the Welsh Government is keeping to the principle that it's about doing it with young people and not to young people.

While the statement today appears to cover a variety of funding and investment into the guarantee, I am interested to have some further information from the Minister on the details of delivery. Firstly, the pandemic has disproportionately affected young workers in Wales. In 2020, under-25s made up a third of new universal credit claimants in the UK, and 47 per cent of jobs filled by under-25s were furloughed between March and June 2020, compared to an average of 32 per cent overall jobs. These figures confirm that younger people across the UK are in more precarious work than the general population. The Welsh Government should strive to change this through the young person's guarantee. How exactly do the Welsh Government plan to ensure employment offers within the guarantee have fair pay that matches levels seen before the pandemic and accounts for the rise in inflation? And while the statement, of course, suggests that the Government is increasing its focus on fair work and jobs, how will they work with businesses, trade unions and other bodies across Wales to ensure that the young person's guarantee is truly delivering high-quality fair work and awareness of employment rights amongst young people?

The young person's guarantee should provide economic opportunities for young people across Wales, while also serving local communities and small businesses. In 2019, small and medium enterprises accounted for 99.4 per cent of total businesses in Wales. If the Welsh Government delivered the young person's guarantee through the 'think small first' model, where local small businesses provide the jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities to young people, then the wealth and wider societal and economic benefits generated by higher youth employment and improvements in human capital and knowledge can remain in Wales to the advantage of local communities, rather than being extracted elsewhere. SMEs and local businesses play a vital part in fostering a Welsh economy that works for all, which is why the Welsh Government should prioritise these types of businesses when matching young people to opportunities through the scheme. Would the Welsh Government consider implementing a 'think small first' model within the young person's guarantee and prioritise reaching out to SMEs?

I was also wondering if the Minister could provide some clarity as to how training and jobs-matching services in the scheme will work to target skills gaps and labour shortages and how this will tie in with promoting a greener economy and reaching net-zero targets. The Federation of Small Businesses have noted that a chronic skills shortage over recent months has impeded Wales's economic recovery. Labour shortages and skill gaps are prevalent through the Welsh economy, but are particularly prominent in sectors such as construction and hospitality. The FSB reported that 50 per cent of construction businesses have been struggling to recruit staff in trades like carpentry and bricklaying, while the Construction  Industry Training Board's labour market intelligence report estimated that an extra 9,250 workers would be needed in Wales between 2020 and 2025 without taking in net-zero considerations. Meanwhile, since 2016, we have seen the available construction workforce declining. How will the pathways and programmes within the guarantee, such as ReAct+ and Jobs Growth Wales+, target advice and training towards sectors experiencing these shortages while balancing out a variety of opportunities for all, and how will net-zero skills training and apprenticeships be prioritised within the guarantee to ensure opportunities provided are in line with the future generations Act?

And finally, and, unfortunately, as I highlighted with the Minister last week, between 2020 and 2021, the gender pay gap has actually worsened in Wales. According to figures from this period by Chwarae Teg, the Welsh gender pay gap increased by 0.7 per cent to a total gap of 12.3 per cent. This has resulted in there now being not a single local authority area in Wales where women earn more than men. To reiterate, women now earn less than men everywhere in Wales. Over the same period, men's hourly pay increased by 49p, while women's pay only increased by 34p. These figures go to show that progress towards economic gender equality is not guaranteed and Government intervention is needed to ensure women get a fair stake in the Welsh economy. With this in mind, how will the Welsh Government be working with businesses involved in the young person's guarantee to ensure young women are being offered opportunities with equal pay, and how will training and education in the guarantee support women to enter high-paying sectors where they are currently under-represented?

I thank the Member for his questions, and I want to reassure him that he'll be young in this place, comparatively, for some time to come. On your starting point and your endpoint about fair work, essentially, and what our expectations around fair work are, you'll see things that aren't just part of the guarantee. You'll see the legislation we're going to be introducing on social partnership and procurement, and we'll be talking more about fair work within that piece of legislation, so there'll be an opportunity to scrutinise what that means, but a more general gathering together of what each of us expects from the trade union side and from the business side as well. In the business groups that I have talked with—. I had a meeting with a range of business groups this morning and I had a meeting with a range of trade union groups at lunchtime as well. So, there's direct and regular engagement, and we are finding that there isn't pushback from those business groups about wanting to have an agenda around fair work; they want understanding of what that means, and what it means for them and the businesses that they run. It shouldn't be a surprise that business groups are not trying to make a case to us that they should be able to pay people as little as possible and not worry about whether their workplaces are fair or not. We have more levers, of course, with those businesses that receive Welsh Government support and more levers with those people where they undertake procurement from the public purse as well. So, there are examples we can set about the way we conduct our own business, as well as where we have more direct influence. And the points about gender inequalities in the workforce are ones that I understand very well, not just having run equal pay cases for some time before coming to this place, but, actually, when you see the labour force information, it's very clear. And it's not much of a surprise that, actually, the pandemic has actually made things worse in terms of expectations and how people have divided responsibilities within families in a way that often—not in my family, but often—meant that women have had an even more disproportionate share of caring responsibilities as well. And that has an impact on the broader consequences around work and progression in particular. 

So, there's a challenge that is societal versus the Government taking a lead, and you'll hear more not just from me, but you'll hear in particular from not just the Minister for Social Justice, who is in the room, and I have noted that, but from Ministers across the Government. It's why the work that I was talking about last week on how we do what you suggested, in terms of how we provide skills and opportunities in careers that have traditionally been seen as for one gender or another but to make it clear that they are for people, and people with skills, and to perhaps encourage people to consider those as careers in ways that haven't always been the case in the past. 

So, the investment in skills is a key way in which we know that we can increase both the efficiency and productivity of businesses and individual workers, and that should lead to higher wages—and we've seen a fairly consistent course over some period of time. And you'd expect the guarantee to contribute to that. That is both about those people who are already in work and people who have skills at the outset, but, crucially, for people who are further away from the labour market as well. So, one of our big challenges is that, given that DWP interventions are mostly around people who are close to the labour market, at or near job ready, we are almost certainly going to need to focus more of our interventions on people who need more assistance to get to the labour market and to be job ready. But that will make a difference, because actually one of our key challenges and differences with the rest of the UK is we still have a higher than average group of people who aren't economically active. So, actually, those interventions will make a real difference for what the overall shape of the economy will be. 

Now, small businesses—. I was interested in what you said about a 'think small first' approach, and my starting point would be that we want every good employer to engage with the guarantee and to take part in it. But I'd be interested in perhaps a more focused and practical conversation with you around what a 'think small first' approach might look like and whether that's actually about the Government preferring smaller employers or whether it's about us encouraging smaller employers to become directly engaged. Because if we were to say we were going to provide disproportionate benefits or incentives, I can see that being challenging, but if it's about how we get to work alongside small businesses to reconsider their opportunities to provide people with opportunities in their workplace, to take on board young people, to think about investing in their skills, then I think that is a genuinely fruitful conversation that I would be interested in having with the Member, because our overall ambition is to keep talent and value in Wales, and small businesses, of course, have to be part of that. 

And just to finish on your point about green skills and investment choices, I do expect the guarantee to be part of this. I've already indicated that, with the investment choices we make within the Government, we'll be looking to promote businesses to think again about the skills of their workforce, about how those skills equip them to take advantage of the opportunities of greening our economy—the necessity of it, as well as the opportunity to see a space to operate within. So, it's partly about why we're looking at green trade union reps, because often the best ideas in a workplace about how to decarbonise come from people who undertake that work on a regular basis. And when I've visited businesses, all the best ideas don't just come from the people who sit in a management office; they recognise that people on the shop floor, in whatever business it is, often have the best and most practical ideas about how to save money and how to reduce the footprint of that business on the wider world and community. And it will also make an impact in the way that we support businesses with the way in which I expect to provide future business support. And I expect to have a package to be able to move forward with, and you will see within that clear incentives to invest in future skills, and in particular in how businesses decarbonise. And I certainly expect that future apprentices will be part of helping to deliver that new way of working, as well as of course investing in people who are already in the world of work as we speak. 

Thank you for your statement, Minister. As we all know, the last two years have been incredibly difficult for young people, as opportunities have been scaled back or even lost altogether. Added to that, our economy has been on rocky ground for much of the last decade, with younger people often bearing the brunt, so I do welcome this initiative as an opportunity to bring the needs of young people together with the needs of small businesses. I wanted to echo the contribution from the FSB Cymru that the young person's guarantee must 'think small first', and must work hand in hand with small businesses to maximise the potential of this scheme to the benefit of young people, small businesses and our economy. Not only do small businesses make up the greatest proportion of businesses in Wales—especially so in rural areas—but they are tapped into the local communities, providing range of essential services, and have a great diversity of skill.

You may remember, Minister, that I wrote to you on behalf of a baker in my region just a few weeks ago, asking for help with growing their small family business. They said that they found it difficult to navigate the options available to them and were keen to bring on board an apprentice. So, I do hope that the principle of simplicity for these young people engaging with the guarantee will also apply to small businesses seeking to play their part in supporting young people and our economy.

I would also welcome clarity on how a meaningful offer will be measured or characterised for young people and for businesses, and, if I could, Minister, ask what a meaningful offer looks like across Wales, because a meaningful offer will look very different in Newport or Cardiff than it does in Brecon or Machynlleth, not least given the make-up of businesses, transport and access to further and higher education institutions.

And finally, there are schemes across Europe that marry opportunities for young people with economic development in communities reliant on tourism. This helps to transition those local economies to a more sustainable footing and supports young people in the locality. I wonder if you could outline how this guarantee could help communities to achieve that outcome. Thank you—diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thank you, and I recognise that the last decade has been more challenging than we'd want, both coming out of the global financial crash, and then measures that the UK chose to take at the time. And, to be fair, I know that the Member wasn't an enthusiastic supporter of the austerity that was introduced and the challenges, the very real challenges, that that provided, but, even during that time, within Wales, we have closed a number of gaps with the UK  on employment and on productivity as well. It's because we've been able to invest in skills here, and it's why the issue of former European funds is such a key point for us, because we've used a lot of that budget to invest in the skills of the current and the future workforce. And not being able to co-ordinate that on a national basis will make a real difference about what we're able to do alongside businesses and, indeed, for the workforce.

I don't think that goes into your point about the bakery that you didn't name, but I take on board your point about how we make it simple for people: simple for the people running a business, simple for the people who want options to join that business, and again how we help them. And it is entirely possible for small businesses to take on apprentices. A number already do, and do so successfully. And so I'd want to see more of that to make it easier, but to make sure the opportunities are real, whether in small, medium or large businesses. And I think that goes into the point made by Luke Fletcher as well about the FSB's call. And why on earth wouldn't the Federation of Small Businesses call for small businesses to be more involved? The challenge I have is making sure that there's a fair offer, one that engages businesses of all types who can and are keen to play their part in making the guarantee a success.

And I think, dealing broadly with your point about what is a meaningful offer for communities, what is a meaningful offer in different parts of Wales—and you mentioned some of the challenges in rural Wales that may be different to urban sectors in Wales, and yet we know that there are significant barriers to people in different parts of the city of Cardiff, Swansea or Newport in gaining opportunities, and so we are looking at not just those and not just about challenges in the language, but how we understand the individual barriers to engagement for individual young people. And that's why the support and the advice stage is so very important, to understand, for that person in the part of Wales in which they live, what are the barriers that face them for them to be able to get into work. Is its childcare? Is it the ability to physically get to a place where education, training or work is available? Is it that, actually, we need to do more to understand what we need to do to improve their skills base before they can practically enter the world of work?

So, the support phase is really important to be able to do that, and that may well look different if you live in Machynlleth compared to if you live in Johnstown, compared to if you live in Barry. All of those places will have a slightly different context to them; that's why I'm so very keen that we do get the advice and the guidance phase right. If we do that properly then I'm confident we'll have businesses that want to engage, we'll have education and training providers who are ready and want to engage, and to do more in this space, and I think we'll do the right thing by people right across the country.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. Young people across Wales, it's been said many times today, indeed across the UK, have been one of the hardest hit groups as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and three fifths of jobs that were lost as a result of the pandemic were lost to those under 25. Therefore, obviously, like everybody else here today, I welcome the launch of the young person's guarantee, and of course the Welsh Government's commitment to ensuring that every young person between the ages of 16 and 25 will be offered a place in employment.

But the Welsh Government has a proven track record when it comes to helping young people into the world of work, having helped already over 19,000 young people through the Jobs Growth Wales programme in the last 10 years. An important aspect of the guarantee is helping to secure apprenticeships and traineeships for those individuals who would prefer to go down that route. I think the new programme is a great opportunity to build upon that, which has the potential to provide a real opportunity to expand training opportunities for young people in my region.

But I want to ask about the imbalance that already exists in the jobs in the construction industry. Already we know that they are mostly dominated by males, that women are under-represented, and other people also. So, my question to you is this: when we look at including people in the jobs guarantee, could we also look at delivering a wider opportunity through the modern apprenticeships, particularly in that construction industry, and support those who are providing the training and also the opportunity in moving it forward to make it more equal, and to make their workforce and traineeships more diverse?

I thank Joyce Watson for again highlighting the point that the youngest people have been one of the hardest hit groups from the pandemic, and the loss of work opportunities in the work that they were already in and the direct impact. Equally, I too am very proud of what previous Welsh Labour Governments have done with Jobs Growth Wales, and the more than 19,000 job opportunities that we've helped to create and sustain that have made a real difference. You see that the youth unemployment rate in Wales compares favourably with other parts of the UK, and crucially other European countries that didn't have such a deliberate intervention to try to protect young people from the fallout from, initially, the financial crisis and the ongoing damage done through austerity.

I should also recognise that, of course, Joyce Watson has been a consistent advocate for Women Into Construction, and has held a number of events within the Senedd on this very subject. I welcome her continued championing of the issue because she's right to point out that, unless you're going to do something about how the industry is seen, then you won't get more women to go into the industry. And that is both about women who want to go into the industry themselves, but also crucially the people making the hiring choices as well, to recognise there are many women who could and should have a career within the sector, because I think there are still some assumptions about the sort of person you need to be to be successful within construction. I've had meetings with construction industry representatives, myself and the Deputy Minister for Climate Change are jointly chairing a forum with the construction industry, and I will want to make sure that we're proactive about our expectations and our offer. I'm sure that I'll get an invitation from Joyce Watson to attend a future event to talk about this in more detail, and I'd be very happy to do so, because we do need to address the diversity, not just from the point of view about how not just Labour Members, but others too feel about equality and opportunity, but there is a real waste of talent that isn't being properly taken advantage of and is lost to that industry if it doesn't look more clearly at who it could and should have in, and at the way that apprenticeships and skills and employment and progression opportunities are given. So, I look forward to not just more questions, but to a more detailed conversation with the Member on that.

Thank you, Minister, for bringing forward today's statement. I certainly welcome the overall objectives of looking to get as many young people engaged with work, with self-employment, with training or education. So, I certainly welcome that. I also welcome the specific reference to seeking support for young people into entrepreneurship as well. It's fantastic that so many young people want to set up their own businesses, and that support should be within this guarantee to enable them to do that as best as possible.

Minister, you mentioned the cross-working nature of much of this work with other Government departments, and it's true, of course, that schools do play a significant part in not just the obvious educational attainment of pupils, but also an important role in encouraging young people to pursue the most appropriate route for them, whether that be work, further training or, indeed, into self-employment. I was surprised in your statement to not see a specific reference to the role that schools will play in delivering, or helping to deliver, this young person's guarantee. So, perhaps you could outline how you would see that relationship developing with schools to encourage young people to pursue the route that is most appropriate for them. Thank you.

I remember many debates around the role of school, and by the time people are of school leaving age, the fact that many of your patterns for life are already set: your expectations about who you are, for better or for worse, but crucially also, the way you see yourself and whether you think a career is a realistic option for you. Many people have not necessarily consciously ruled out careers and opportunities, but it's partly about what happens in the school but also outside school as well—the point about aspiration and expectation for yourself, for your community as well. That is why I think it is important that the programme of work experience we've already run—and, in fact, your colleague Paul Davies referred to this—about deliberately looking to get opportunities from businesses and speakers into schools to highlight the variety of careers that are available.

But it also goes then to Joyce Watson's question and point about how you see careers and not just rule yourself out, but the businesses themselves making clear that there are careers for everybody within their sector. And it is important for more of that reality of choice, not just the theoretical prospect of it, but the reality of a real choice for you to make of the sort of careers, but to understand what you need to do to achieve. It's why the point about traineeships and alternative qualifications is so very important, because some people leave school without great academic qualifications. But actually, those people can still have highly successful careers in other parts of the economy, and it's why, again, the advice, the guidance and the support element of the guarantee is so very important.

And, of course, that means working with schools, to work with the advice that we know that they provide to young people, but like I said, make sure there is a variety of choices and opportunities that are real for all of those people for the sorts of skills they do have, rather than telling people what they can't do, to look at what they can do, and where that allows them to be successful in life. And, of course, the world of work is a major part of that.

Minister, I very much welcome today's statement, in particular the guarantee itself. After all, it was a Welsh Labour Government who supported my route through my apprenticeship at a local small and medium-sized enterprise in Deeside. And you'll be well aware that Airbus UK in my constituency is a huge employer for apprentices and graduate trainees, and I've been particularly impressed with Airbus's commitment and adaptability over the pandemic, who have continued to offer work experience for Welsh students between the ages of 14 and 19. I think it's over 3,500 students have now completed that programme online—a fantastic achievement. 

Now, you'll know as well as me, Minister, the company has publicly stated their global ambition is to lead the decarbonisation of the aerospace sector, with a commitment to manufacture the world's first zero-emissions commercial jet liner by 2035. Now, that's a very important step there. Wales can lead the way, but we will need our future generations to help deliver that. Minister, can you outline how you can support employers like Airbus and similar employers in this sector as part of this guarantee, ensuring that the next generation are equipped with the skills required to design, develop and manufacture the next generation of carbon-neutral products?

Thank you for the question. I think it's a very practical example of where we're already engaged in supporting a major employer, but looking at a sector that provides really well-paid jobs. The investment we've continually made in broadly more skills, and I'm pleased to hear the Member reference the fact that it was Welsh Labour funding that helped him to achieve his own apprenticeship, and his own route through to being an engineer, and there are more of those people in sites like Airbus around the country. Now, as well as the new generation—I've met new apprentices when I've been on a visit to the site in Broughton—it's also about the investment in the workforce who are already there, and that's got to be a partnership between the Government and sectors, and sometimes with individual businesses.

So, we've invested in the past in a skills programme. There are conversations between the Government and the company about what we could be able to do in the future, because you're right to point out that this is a sector that at present contributes to our challenges with the environment. We know that we're going to need to go through at least a couple of stages to get to genuine net zero. There's the point about having more sustainable aviation fuels, and Airbus and others are investing in that, which will lead to significant decarbonisation. There's another step beyond, and that's both about the fuel that's used and also about the manufacturing and how light the aircraft are themselves. Airbus are already taking steps forward on that and crucially there needs to be more research, development and innovation, and the way that we can fund and support that will be crucial for the sector—this sector, but many others too. I think it's a good example of a successful, high-value area of the economy that we want to see carry on being successful, and our work alongside the company and the sector will be crucial in doing just that.

Finally, James Evans.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank the Minister for your statement and give credit where credit is due. I do welcome this young person's guarantee from the Welsh Government. I think it's very good that we're going to be offering people under the age of 25 work, education and training, and opportunities for those people to become self-employed.

I do have a couple of questions, though, which I hope you can answer. My colleague Paul Davies asked you about the support that was going to be provided for young people to set up their own businesses, and that is a big barrier for many people when they want to start their own businesses—access to finance. I didn't think you answered that question from Paul Davies, and if you could outline what support is going to be available, I'd be very grateful.

Finally, with regard to apprenticeships and further education, the regional learning and skills partnerships are going to play a key role in helping you to develop this policy going forward, so can you just please outline, Minister, what discussions you've had with the regional learning and skills partnerships and how they're going to work with you to develop this scheme? Thank you.

Yes, I'm happy to do so. I did actually deal with Paul Davies's question, in that I indicated that I'd have a further announcement to make on the detail of that support, but I also indicated that I was looking at previous practice that had had some success on a number of start-up grants, as well as the business support that is provided as well. It isn't just the money; it's the actual support and the guidance people get as they look to set up their own business, particularly people setting up in business for the first time. One of the key factors in some of the challenges within the labour market at present is we've seen lots of small businesses cease trading right across the UK. It's not just a challenge here in Wales. We know that's a key part of actually growing and having a successful economy: new business growth and the numbers of people running successful small businesses. I will have more to say, but I'm not going to try and prejudge an announcement that will be coming in the weeks ahead.

On regional skills partnerships, though, they're already going to lead engagement activities. I covered this in some of the statement. They're going to work with the businesses and stakeholders, so businesses and providers of qualifications, skills, education and training. They're going to hold a minimum of two events in each of the regions, and they're going to gather together and work with my officials to understand what business feedback there is, what provider feedback there is, and we'll look to match that up with the direct engagement we have with young people as well, to try to make sure that we understand what's needed within that particular region for the skills challenges they have, and how we're best able to meet that. But of course this does come back to our ability to do so; we're still dependent on our understanding of where funding is. If the Welsh Government is going to be excluded from funding that in the way we have done consistently for 20 years, then the least we would expect is that the manifesto promises that have been made, on not losing out on any of that funding, are actually met. I'm afraid, at the moment, the budget settlement from the UK Government doesn't give us confidence that's going to take place. So, there is a real challenge here, in both the sums of money but then how the money is used. And on how we would want the money to be used, we have a good way of working with partners, and I'm pleased to see you highlight the role regional skills partnerships have, because I think that's a really important way in which we can do business here properly in Wales.

I thank the Minister.