Employability and Skills

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 15 June 2022.

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Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 2:06, 15 June 2022

A clear commitment is made in 'Stronger, fairer, greener Wales: a plan for employability and skills' to support and encourage employers to create high-quality employment whilst improving the offer to workers. One method through which you plan to do this is by delivering funding through the Development Bank of Wales to support businesses to create and sustain new jobs. Now, sustaining jobs is exactly what the UK Government has striven to do in Llandudno, by investing £400,000-worth of community renewal funding in a winter wage subsidy, so that hotels and other tourism businesses in our town can retain staff out of season. Now, it's not only in Llandudno, but across Wales the tourism sector is facing an employment crisis and that has led to UKHospitality Cymru stating that

'Ongoing hospitality recruitment and skills issues in Wales are limiting the visitor experience, damaging business viability and threatening to derail the industry recovery.'

Given the commitment in your plan to deliver funding to sustain jobs, will you possibly consider replicating the work that the UK Government has done in their scheme? Let's have this across Wales from this Welsh Government. Thank you.