Page 5 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan

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Executive Summary
This Employment and Skills Plan has been developed with the aim of informing and supporting the Welsh Government’s strategic approach to the delivery of employment and skills provision.
Developed by the Regional Learning and Skills Partnership for South West & Mid Wales this plan places itself at the centre of Welsh Government’s skills policy, working to support the delivery of a post-16 learning environment which is fit for purpose for the economic areas of the Swansea Bay City Region and Growing Mid Wales Partnership.
The RLSP has undertaken extensive employer engagement to inform the demand element of this plan. Over 280 businesses from across the region have engaged with the process through surveys, interviews, cluster group attendance or networking.
The aforementioned cluster groups have and will continue to play a pivotal role in the identification of industry priorities for the region, with plans put in place to address these priorities through effective partnership working with the RLSP and other key stakeholders as the implementation of the plan ensues.
Industry Priorities Identified
Advanced Materials, Manufacturing & Energy
• Develop an action plan to improve basic skills including literacy and numeracy and the attitudes and ethics of new recruits required across the sector.
• Develop and implement a strategy to promote careers in engineering at all levels, with specific reference to apprenticeships at all levels – post GCSE, post A-level and post degree, using role models to illustrate the opportunities within the sector. Include a focus on females into engineering.
• Use the role models identified above to illustrate the transferability of skills in matching the labour supply and demand for major projects and how this will prevent duplication and reduce costs.
Construction
• Examples of good practice from around the region should be celebrated and further developed rather than ‘re-inventing the wheel’. The Cyfle Building Skills programme is one such example where the positive impacts for learners and businesses alike have been recognised through a Queen’s award. Other organisations should be encouraged to engage and support the initiative to enhance a long term sustainable provision for the sector.
• Procurement procedures have a significant detrimental impact on small and medium sized businesses. In light of this there needs to be a review resulting in a consistency of approach to the procurement of products.
• Whilst it is recognised that the professional organisations such as quantity surveyors, architects and other consultants who are synonymous with the construction industry have been categorised within the Financial and Professional Services Sector it is felt that the construction professional organisations should be included within the Construction Sector as this will align with other training initiatives nationally such as the CITB Go Construct web site and the local approach of professional apprenticeships being piloted in September 2017. This also needs to be applied to the mechanical and electrical contractors so that a whole sector approach can be developed.
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales Executive Summary