4. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Net-zero Skills Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:33 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:33, 28 February 2023

The point about the just transition is something that, as I say, is very much in Ministers' minds in the choices we make about the opportunity, but also the disruption, that moving to a different way of working in a whole range of sectors offers. I think, on the point about what are green skills, I covered that in my statement. The Office for National Statistics will be, I think, helpful in getting there. We decided not to wait for that work before publishing this statement. We've got work to do on action plans, and we can take account of that as we're moving forward. 

On how we engage young people, there's a range of different ways in which we do that. There's different survey work that we do through schools. There's also work we're doing with the young person's guarantee itself, directly listening to people taking part in it. Actually, that has led to some of the changes we've made in Jobs Growth Wales+. From providers, but also from young people themselves, we've actually introduced some further financial support for people to make sure that we were taking care of, and account of, some of the points about travel, but also being able to eat during the day as well when undertaking some of that work. So, we are listening and looking to be flexible on making sure that our offer makes sense for people so they can complete the opportunities that we're providing. 

I think lots of people do have the capacity to understand that there is a potential improved opportunity for them to learn and to earn at the end of those interventions. Our challenge is practically helping people to get through the course to do so, and I know that that's the perspective that the Member takes. We'll keep on looking at what we can do to be as flexible as possible within the reality of the budget constraints that we have. But our completion record on a range of our skills courses, including apprenticeships, is actually pretty good, and certainly compares better to what takes place across England. What we want to do is to not go backwards, and to still be as successful as possible. I do take on board the Member's point on work experience, which we talked about earlier today—the value of high-quality work experience and what that does.

I'll finish on this point in relation to the Member's questions about energy bills and the reality. Again, for individuals as consumers, but for businesses as well, there are real challenges and questions to be raised, and I do hope that the UK Government takes the opportunity in the budget in two weeks' time to do something. The energy Secretary was today saying he could understand that there's a choice to be made, and understands the case being made. Without that, though, a number of the businesses that we want to see survive into the future won't survive the next quarter of activity. There's a real challenge and a real opportunity for the UK Government to do the right thing, and, I think, gain some recognition from people across this Chamber and otherwise. If not, we'll be back here in three or four months' time, talking about, in every region and every constituency, the loss of jobs that should have had a future but have actually not been able to survive because of yet another increase in their energy bills, and the costs for their customers and consumers as well.