Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a pleasure to be back in the Chamber today.

In the programme for government, we set out the actions that we will pursue over this Senedd term to help ensure that nobody is left behind, nobody is held back and everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential. Today I am pleased to launch the plan for employability and skills, to set out what we will do. This signals our policy and our investment priorities, together with how we expect to sharpen our delivery focus and the activity of our partners. And we do this in building on the significant labour market and skills improvement in Wales since the publication of the last plan in 2018.

Economic inactivity reached a record low in 2018, and fell below the UK level for the first time in November 2018. By the end of 2019, we had reached our target of closing the unemployment gap with the UK, and levels continue to remain lower than the UK today. And the employment rate for the last quarter of 2021 was higher than at any point before the last plan was introduced in March 2018. And, of course, the proportion of 19 to 24-year-olds who are now in employment, education or training is close to the highest level on record. The proportion of people aged between 18 and 64 who have no qualifications has fallen by more than 1 per cent, and those with higher education qualifications has increased by 4 per cent.

We are setting out our new plan today in the context that the labour market impacts of COVID-19 have not been as severe as feared, with a strong rebound in hiring. This has led to the lowest ever ratio of unemployment to vacancies in the UK. However, looking forward, we face a number of risks and new challenges: high vacancy levels, labour shortages of key workers, an ageing population, and more people leaving the labour market prematurely for reasons of ill health—and particularly those over the age of 50.

Rising business overheads, the cost-of-living crisis and impacts on living standards are all challenges we will need to contend with. And, of course, the sad reality is that the invasion of Ukraine marks the onset of what could be the largest humanitarian crisis on our continent in decades. At the same time, unequal access and insufficient provision of fair work and a pay gap for gender, ethnicity and disability still prevail. There are still significant disparities between groups, such as black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, disabled people and single parents.

Now, in addressing the plan, I know that we can't fully replace from the Welsh Government budget the missing millions lost through the fact that the UK Government has not kept its funding promises to Wales following our departure from the European Union. As Members will be aware, Wales is due to lose about £1 billion over the next few years, and much of that money lost to Wales would have been invested in improving employability and skills. That means that together with ministerial colleagues, I've therefore had to make difficult choices to prioritise budgets, to continue to invest in our people and skills. We will of course continue to press UK Government to back our team Wales ambitions to invest in the talent of our people and restore to Wales the lost £1 billion. I do hope that parties across this Senedd will be able eventually to present a united front on this key issue for the future of the people that we all represent.

Supporting people to stay in work, enter or progress in employment, and increase their skills and employability is critical to increase the pool of available talent, and to support people to gain fair work and progress in the labour market. Access to fair work supports household incomes and livelihoods and the health and well-being of workers.

The new plan sets out five key areas of action over this Government term, which should propel us towards our longer term milestone. The first is delivering the young person's guarantee to protect a generation from the impacts of lost learning and delays to entering employment. I'm pleased to launch Jobs Growth Wales+ today as part of that. This will deliver the most successful element of the traineeships and Jobs Growth Wales programmes to offer the best possible support to young people.

The second is tackling economic inequality, shifting our focus to those furthest away from the labour market to find work, to improve labour market outcomes for disabled people, minority ethnic communities, women and those with lower skill levels. This includes building on the Better Jobs Closer to Home model, while supporting employment and continuing our partnership approach with local authorities.

The third is promoting fair work for all, to use our levers to improve the offer for workers. That includes introducing the social partnership and public procurement Bill and, of course, continuing to encourage employers to make work safer, better, fairer and more secure.

The fourth is providing more support for people with long-term health conditions to work. This includes better anchoring the health service, both as employer and the partner of the delivery network, to prevent people falling out of work or getting into employment because of a healthcare condition.

And finally is raising skill levels and the adaptability of our workforce by expanding access to flexible and personal learning for people both in and out of work to improve their skills, find work or retrain. Just last week, the Welsh Government extended the childcare offer so that parents can be supported to undertake education and training.

We remain committed to driving forward our priorities in the 2018 plan to tackle economic inactivity, to increase employment levels of disabled people, and to try to futureproof the supply of people and skills. This plan responds to and draws on the involvement of key stakeholders in the development of the regional investment framework for Wales, the race equality action plan and the 'Locked Out: Liberating disabled people's lives and rights in Wales beyond Covid-19' report.

Going forward, we always need to work smarter and together to make the best use of our people and resources. This plan will help our partners to align their activities to our priorities, and help to ensure that UK Government funding is used in a way that supports rather than cuts across Welsh Government priorities. Elements of this plan are covered by the co-operation agreement, and where applicable these policies are being developed with Plaid Cymru. I look forward to working with ministerial colleagues and Plaid Cymru's designated Members to develop and oversee an area of genuine cross-Government policy implementation over this programme for government.

Our people are our greatest asset, and Wales will not prosper if the ability to train, learn, train and progress at work is not made more equal. Making this a reality requires a shared sense of mission from all partners, so that we can maximise our resources to deliver a stronger, fairer and greener Wales, with an economy that works for everyone. Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd.