Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 14 December 2022.
Well, there is both the challenge that we face and indeed the action that we're taking. And the challenge that we face, the Member will know, because we've talked about it and it's a reality, is that the challenges in replacement European Union funds are a significant problem in the skills landscape. We funded a whole range of our skills interventions through former EU funds. The fact that the replacement funds deliver a significant cut in cash terms to Wales, of over £1 billion over three years, is a real problem for us. And, actually, the landscape in terms of having UK Government interventions that cut us out make it more difficult as well. I continue to try to have constructive conversations with the UK Government about how we could resolve some of those challenges. What we are doing, though, within the levers we do have, is you'll have seen there's the broad choice I've made within the draft budget in my department around what we're going to try to do to preserve the impact of some of our spending around apprenticeships and skills. That includes the training at the outset of someone's career, at various points in their career, and, indeed, personal learning accounts. I've been very pleased to work with the Minister for Education in particular, to look at maintaining the progress we've made on personal learning accounts, and, indeed, the skills investment we're looking to make not just across sectors, but, broadly going back to question 2, the points around how we have the right sort of green skills available in the economy. So, there's a range of things we are already doing in the skills space, but it will be a difficult challenge in the year ahead. But you'll continue to see direct Welsh Government support on exactly this issue.