Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 15 March 2022.
I thank Vikki Howells for that supplementary question, Llywydd. It's very good to hear a reference to Cardiff and Vale College on the day when we hope the Senedd will give its consent for the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill to move into its second stage of scrutiny here in the Senedd. And I take the two priorities that emerged from that discussion with their vice-principal very seriously, Llywydd. The first of those that the Member has pointed to is the need for collaboration, and the plan itself is the product of a long history of collaborative working with key partners in education, in local government and with private sector employers as well. The plan was shaped by last year's wider public consultation on our commitment to young people's employment and skills. And in ensuring that that collaborative approach is put into practice on the ground, the regional skills partnerships that we have here in Wales really are key to bringing all those partners together to achieve coherence and collaboration in different local areas.
As for support for SMEs—the second point to which Vikki Howells referred, Llywydd—maybe I can just offer one example; it'll be an example familiar, I think, to the Member for Cynon Valley because it's the Aspire shared apprenticeship programme, which operates in those Valleys communities. I've discussed it previously with my colleague Alun Davies on the floor of the Senedd, because SMEs, which are the bedrock of local economies there, where a single employer isn't able to support a full-time apprentice through the whole process, those smaller businesses are able to get together and share an apprentice. There are over 60 companies involved in the Aspire programme. A large number of them are SMEs. They take 25 apprentices every year, and those young people get a range of experiences. They move between the group of employers that are responsible for that programme; the SME gets the benefit of having somebody, and the individual gets the benefit of being able to gain that wider range of experience and of skill.