Page 19 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan

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• Access to FE/HE is limited – there are a number of areas across the Mid Wales region where it is difficult for students to access training and there are many examples in Powys where post 16 education opportunities are only available across the border in England.
• Increased cost of providing services in the rural areas.
As a result there is a need to identify the demand for skills within the rural context to determine the best way to ensure that rural businesses and those living in rural areas are able to access the skills required.
2.12 The Urban Challenge
There are also challenges posed within the urban areas of the region as it has been recognised that cities are the greatest drivers of global growth and this is also relevant to the UK as it is where the majority of income is earned and where a majority of knowledge intensive businesses are located.
‘Cities are where the majority of wages are earned in Britain, and where the majority of welfare spending takes place. Cities account for 54 percent of the population, but generate 63 percent of all wages in Britain. They are also home to 71 percent of all knowledge intensive business services jobs, which tend to be higher skilled and better paid.’27
The city of Swansea has been identified by the centre for cities as a low wage, high welfare economy which has a significant challenge. ‘The causes of high welfare spend in these cities are much more fundamental, and are likely to be due to long term structural weaknesses in their economies.’28 This highlights the challenges faced by the urban economy to deliver growth that is sustainable and benefits all residents. This will create additional skills challenges in particular within the knowledge intensive business services roles that dominate the modern urban economy.
2.13 The European Policy Agenda
At the European level, there are a number of key policy commitments of relevance to the development of this plan. In Europe 2020 and Horizon 2020, ambitious targets are set to stimulate economic growth that is ‘smart, sustainable, and inclusive’. Smart growth is premised on the need to encourage knowledge development and innovation; sustainable growth on the need for efficiency, competitiveness and improving environmental sustainability and inclusive growth on delivering social and territorial cohesion.
The drive for innovation and economic growth is highlighted within the European structural and territorial cooperation funds for 2014 – 2020 which place a strong emphasis on building innovation capacity and improving competiveness.
2.14 UK Policy Perspectives
The UK’s policy direction also bears a strong influence on SW&CW. In the Heseltine Review and Growth Plan, focus is placed on competitiveness, flexibility and economic re-balancing, with an acknowledgement that growth in the past has been overly concentrated in particular industries and locations, namely the South East of England. Encouraging business start-ups and supporting SMEs are seen as key policy levers, as is an educated workforce, in terms of achieving flexibility in the UK economy.
27 http://www.centreforcities.org/publication/cities-outlook-2016/ 28 http://www.centreforcities.org/publication/cities-outlook-2016/
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales Policy Context