, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
I don't think it's going to be possible to simply reinvent and reproduce the business development and recovery fund. It's partly because we had to reallocate money to go into the emergency response. What we have done, though, is we've made clear that those…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Okay, so, on the whole-Government innovation strategy, yes, I expect us to be able to provide that through the end of the spring, early summer. I'm looking to make sure that's completed in a way that gives us something that every department buys into. And…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
I'll ask Huw to come back on where we are on the Reid review, and in particular the points around quality of research, because I actually think we're beyond that. But, again, this is an area where there's a direct impact from EU replacement funds in science…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Well, we think it's quite a large cohort, and again, Huw will want to say something about this. We think the cohort's around about 50,000. That may increase. We think we're going to be able to get to a percentage of those, and our challenge is that we think…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Yes, we're having to reallocate money. So, if we want to maintain apprenticeships in line with our programme for government commitment, we've got to find resources to fill in, because we can't be confident we're going to get that money from EU replacement…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
I think, actually, that can be helpful when it comes to—. If there's going to be a proper process for EU replacement funds, and skills are going to be part of it, then actually understanding and having an objective basis to look at what the skills needs are…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Again, I'll ask Huw to colour in some of the detail, but we are looking to support the ability to understand what's happening within their local labour markets to do just that, and regional skills partnerships are a crucial building block, we think, for…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Of course.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
I'll ask Huw to set out how we're moving forward with that. And, again, this is an area where, bearing in mind my earlier answers, I'm confident, with more resources, we could move faster. We're still going to move and be able to expand degree…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Well, we've got profiles of spend. So, for example, when we talk about employability and skills, we know we've got profiles of spend there to support the work around the young person's guarantee—how we make progress on supporting people who are not in…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Well, we've got headline objectives in the programme for government. So, the young person's guarantee, and, I guess, apprenticeship numbers are the ones that are most obvious, but we have some broader objectives. So, our ability to support businesses…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
The budget is a challenging one, and I think it's important to see the budget we have within this part of the Government within the overall context. We've got a budget settlement that's been provided, largely frontloaded in the first of three years, but it's…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
And I hope we'll be joined shortly, as soon as IT allows, by Sioned Evans, who's director for business and regions.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Huw Morris.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-23: Evidence session with the Minister for Economy
Thank you. I'm Vaughan Gething, I'm the Minister for the Economy. I'll hand now to Dean Medcraft.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Well, there's an honest challenge there, and I know that the Member won't like it, but it comes back to some of the reasons why we've talked so much about former European funds. A lot of the support that we provided has actually come come from the former…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Thank you. We work closely with the social enterprise sector, and finance has been raised as a key barrier for social enterprises to start up. That's why, through WEFO, our Welsh European Funding Office, the New Start programme pilot was approved in 2020…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Yes. I actually think that, for that group of young people, it's where our traineeship programme should be able to help, and we're looking at how to refine those interventions. The traineeship programme was aimed at helping young people aged 16 to 18 in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Thank you. The young person's guarantee has, of course, commenced, and I'll have more to say on the young person's guarantee, moving forward, and its component parts, in the coming months. We're also reviewing our employability strategy as well. We would, of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Actually, I think your characterisation that tourism and leisure have been disastrous in the last two years doesn't quite accord with the reality of what's happened. Some businesses really have suffered, but a range of others in the tourism sector have…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Thank you. As the Member knows, we are providing significant resources to help recover. We are providing almost £140 million, when you take into account of the £120 million economic resilience fund, the £15.4 million cultural recovery fund, and the initial £3…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
[Inaudible.]—investment project that has been landed by the Welsh Government, working alongside other partners. And again, going back to the previous tenure of Ken Skates, where I think a significant amount was done to gain high-value inward investment with a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Well, as ever, a certain view on the past that isn't fully reflective of what happened is something that I've come to expect. I just don't accept the entirely rose-tinted view on where the WDA was compared to where things are now. And actually, last year…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
We aim to attract quality inward investment to Wales, as set out in the five-year international strategy and the economic mission within our programme for government. These focus on promoting specific economic sectors where Wales is recognised internationally…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Economy
Yes, we do have regular conversations with businesses and business organisations around what used to be called agile working and is sometimes called flexible working. But it's about the different working patterns that can suit workers and businesses. It's…
