Mark Isherwood
North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called for a Welsh Government Statement on its collaboration with the UK Government on delivering skills training.
Raising the matter in this week’s Business Statement, Mr Isherwood asked what progress has been made, if any, given that the Welsh Affairs Committee in its report on the Work Programme in Wales called for this.
He said: “It would, for example, allow Jobs Growth Wales and the UK Work Programme, both of which do valuable work and complement each other, but which are not currently available through the separate mechanisms, to collaborate and be accessible together.”
The Minister for Local Government and Government Business, Lesley Griffiths, told Mr Isherwood that the Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology is happy to make a written statement regarding the issue.
Mr Isherwood added: “The Work Programme is the biggest Welfare to Work programme the UK had ever seen – with payment by results not only for getting people into work, but for keeping them in work. It represents a radical transformation in the way that the Department of Work and Pensions delivers Welfare to Work services across the UK.
“In recent meetings with both Work Programme Providers in Wales, they reported sustainable job outcome figures now being achieved from this two year programme.
“The Welsh Government’s Jobs Growth Wales programme meanwhile provides unemployed young people aged 16 to 24 with a job opportunity for six months. These are both excellent programmes, but the outcomes would be much greater if they were accessible together.”
