3. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to encourage talented people to work in local government given the impact of the cost-of-living crisis? OQ59301

Local authorities deliver their essential services through their talented staff. While each local authority is responsible for its own recruitment, the Welsh Government continues to provide support through Academi Wales leadership programmes including the all-Wales public service graduate programme, personal learning accounts and our wider apprenticeship programme.

Diolch, Minister. I'm always pleased to see the work that my local Bridgend County Borough Council do to improve community. With Brexit's complexities causing an increased workload, to the regeneration of our community, to combating the climate and nature emergency, local government staff play a vital role in the day-to-day lives of everyone. However, according to research conducted by the Institute for Government, the average age of civil servants across the UK is 44, and whilst Bridgend County Borough Council has launched a graduate scheme—some members of which are in the gallery here today—Minister, this is a real issue. Therefore, considering the increased workload for local government, what work is the Welsh Government doing to encourage young people to fill vacant posts in local government, and will they encourage schemes like this across Wales? Diolch.

Thank you very much for raising this important issue this afternoon. I absolutely join you in recognising the vital role that our local government staff play in terms of serving their communities. I'm very sorry I'm not able to meet the Bridgend graduates in person myself this afternoon, but it's wonderful to see them at the Senedd.

I think that there are some really important things that Bridgend is doing in terms of the significant use of apprenticeships. I know there are 144 of them, and that's been particularly useful in ICT, social care and building control. Those are all areas where we need to be encouraging talented people to make a career in local government. I think that, as Bridgend is doing, really, all local authorities need to be thinking about how we can promote the benefits of working in the public sector. As well as having the opportunity to really make a strong contribution to your local area, there are also fantastic opportunities within local authorities to progress within your career. I think that the more we can do to start getting young people at school and college to start thinking about careers in local government, the better, because as you say, there are great opportunities, and it really is a job where you can make a huge difference.

There are many people in black, Asian and minority ethnic communities who have a range of skills that will benefit the delivery of local authority services, such as language skills and a deep knowledge of different cultural communities. Minister, what should local authorities do to improve the rate of employment amongst these communities to better reflect the people they serve?

I think it's really important that local authorities—and the public sector more widely—takes opportunities to look to attract a much wider and more diverse range of people to work in their sectors. They can do that by, for example, ensuring that the advertisements for roles are appropriately placed in places where people with more diverse characteristics are likely to see them, and also finding ways to make the interview process a more welcoming and inclusive way in which to find your new staff. And again, those mentoring schemes, which we were talking about earlier in terms of political roles, I think are really quite exciting and important within the context of the public sector as well. There is absolutely more that should be happening in that space, but lots we can learn, I think, from the work that we're doing to improve diversity in democracy, because I think that in many ways they're two sides of the same coin.