2021

There have been no new reforms in this area.

2020 

Kickstart Scheme

In July 2020 the UK Government launched the Kickstart scheme. The Kickstart scheme is a £2bn (€2.15bn*) fund to pay for six-month work placements for 16 to 24-year-olds, helping those who are receiving benefits and at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding is available for each job and will cover 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage. The jobs must be new jobs with a minimum of 25 hours a week.  The associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions will also be included.

* Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 11 September 2020.

Launch of new skills and jobs fund

In July 2020, the Welsh Government launched a £40million (€44.8million) skills and jobs fund. The Government has pledged that everyone over 16 will receive the assistance they need to access advice and support to find work or to pursue self-employment or to find and take up a place in education or training. More support for apprenticeships will be available, together with traineeships, redundancy assistance, retraining programmes and careers advice.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.89, ECB, 03 September 2020.

Cymraeg 2050 – Welsh Language Strategy:  language transmission in families 

In February 2020, the Welsh Government launched a consultation on a draft policy that would provide the basis for a ten-year programme of new initiatives and approaches to increase the rates of Welsh language transmission in families. The development of such a policy is one of the specific actions included in the work programme for 2017-21 in Cymraeg 2050 – the Welsh language strategy.

The draft policy focuses on:

• inspiring today’s generation of children and young people to speak Welsh to their children in the future
• reigniting the Welsh language skills of those who may not have used Welsh since their school days, or who have lost confidence in their language skills, to speak Welsh with their own children
• supporting and encouraging the use of Welsh within families where not everybody speaks Welsh
• supporting Welsh-speaking families to speak Welsh with their children.

Actions which the draft policy proposes to introduce include:

• providing practical advice and techniques to families where not everybody speaks Welsh, on how to increase their use of Welsh in various everyday family situations
• making advice available to parents and carers on how to encourage children who lack confidence in or are reticent in using Welsh
• giving teachers the skills and learning resources to encourage children to speak Welsh with one another.

The consultation runs until 5 May, and the Welsh Government aims to publish the final version of the policy later in 2020.

2019 

Personal Learning Account Programme

In September 2019, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Economy and Transport published a written statement, announcing the launch of the Personal Learning Account Programme. The pilot programme, which is one of the commitments set out in the Employability Plan (see subheading below), will provide funding for the vocational retraining of employed people in industry sectors where there is a demonstrable skills shortage.

The programme is available to anyone who lives in Wales, is over the age of 19 and is in employment, but earning less than the Welsh Median income (£26,000 per year / €30,404*). It is being piloted by Coleg Gwent and Grwp Llandrillo Menai and offers employed people the opportunity to access free, flexible courses within Welsh Governments priority sectors (initially engineering, construction and ICT).  

The pilot Personal Learning Account Programme will run for 2 years and be monitored, with the intention of additional courses becoming available across a wider range of priority sectors.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.86, ECB, 25 November 2019.

Digital 2030 

In June 2019, the Welsh Government launched Digital 2030 - a strategic framework setting out a shared vision, aims and objectives for post-16 digital learning. The framework, and the implementation guidance published alongside it, supports the 2016 ‘Towards 2030’ Hazelkorn Review, which set the direction for reforms to post-compulsory education and training (PCET) in Wales. It identifies current and future digital learning development priorities for further education, work-based learning and adult and community learning; highlights a need to increase continuity of learning experiences from compulsory to post-compulsory learning; and encourages collaboration and sharing good practice.

Research and innovation after EU exit 

On 26 March 2019, the Minister for Education announced the launch of a new policy paper on the important role that EU Structural funds have played over the past 18 years in helping Wales to grow the volume, quality and international impact of its research base. It argues for the UK Government to replace any funding shortfall after EU exit.

Previously in June 2018, the Leader of the House announced the publication of the report of the review of government-funded research and innovation in Wales, conducted by Professor Graeme Reid. The review was set up to look at the strengths, gaps and future potential to sustain and grow strong research and innovation activity in Wales.

The 2018 report made three recommendations which the Welsh Government accepted in principle:

• the establishment of a new Welsh Research and Innovation Office in London to increase the visibility and influence of Welsh research
• an additional fund of £30m (€33.49m*) a year, to incentivise researchers to win greater funding from business and from outside Wales
• a single overarching brand for its research and innovation funding to increase the visibility, coherence and impact of Welsh Government-funded research and innovation in Wales.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.89, ECB, 17 August 2018.

Progress with the Employability Plan

In March 2019, the Minister for Economy and Transport announced the launch of the Working Wales advice service, alongside a written statement on the progress of the Employability Plan.

‘Working Wales’ (known previously as the Employment Advice Gateway) is delivered by Careers Wales and provides an all-Wales entry point to employability support. It aims to reduce the number of people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), and support the unemployed, economically inactive and those at risk of redundancy, into work.

The youth strands of Working Wales align with the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (YEPF), and the Welsh Government continues to strengthen systematic approaches for supporting young people back into education, employment or training through mechanisms that better identify, support, and track those at risk of dropping out of the system.

In November 2019, the Minister for Economy and Transport published a six-month progress statement on ‘Working Wales’ and announced the establishment of three short-term Regional Response Groups. Their role will be to support jobs and reduce the risk of slowdown in each region as Brexit approaches.

The Employability Plan, which was announced in a statement by the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning in March 2018, is aimed at tackling unemployment and economic activity. Its progress was first reviewed in September 2018. It identifies four main areas:

• an individualised approach to employability support
• the responsibility of employers to up-skill and support their staff
• responding to current and projected skills gaps
• preparing for a radical shift in the world of work.

2018 

Digital Competence Framework 

See the item in ‘National Reforms in School Education’.

Delivery plan for STEM education and training 

On 17 July 2018, the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning announced funding for projects to help ensure that young people, particularly girls and young women, continue STEM studies at GCSE and beyond, with the aim of pursuing STEM-related careers.

This builds on the Welsh Government’s delivery plan for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in education and training in Wales, published in March 2016. The plan sets out the Welsh Government’s strategic objectives for the provision of STEM for 3- to 19-year-olds, and addresses a number of topics:

• STEM curricula and qualifications
• advice, guidance and support for teachers
• the provision of bilingual resources
• wider ICT support
• developments in higher education
• careers advice and guidance
• changing perceptions: reinforcing the importance of STEM and the place of women in STEM.

Article last reviewed March 2021.