Our Skills, Our Future: Planning for Tomorrow

Posted on by karen.smith

English | Cymraeg

An ambitious plan focusing on the skills needs of people and businesses across the South West and Mid Wales was officially launched in late October at the RLSP’s Annual event.

The Skills Plan; aimed at ensuring that our next generation have the skills needed to drive the industries of tomorrow involves a range of partners collaborating to agree a set of recommendations around the supply and demand of skills in the region to support inclusive economic growth. Over 1000 employers in the region have worked closely with the RLSP team to identify the most pressing skills issues for the region, resulting in the creation of a plan that is representative and meets the needs of those working, living and learning in the region.

The Employment and Skills Plan 2019 was officially launched and welcomed by Llanelli AM Lee Waters, the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport.

Mr Waters said: “We are living in challenging and uncertain times, which is why having clear regional priorities in place is absolutely vital to our future prosperity. As a government, we want to see a regionally-focused model of economic development which will encourage growth throughout Wales. Regional Skills Partnerships are crucial in achieving this, and plans such as the one launched will help identify the areas and talent we need to develop over the coming years to grow our economy.”

Over 200 delegates attended the official launch event, ‘Our Skills, Our Future: Planning for Tomorrow’ and had the opportunity to listen to a number of inspirational speakers including, West Wales-based Kathryn Austin, a senior owner of Pizza Hut in the UK, and Catrin Jones, a co-director the award-winning Crwst café and bakery in Cardigan.

Attendees were also lucky enough to meet and hear the successful stories and the journey of our Regional Stars; the young apprentices who had just returned from the World Skills Championships in Kazan:

  • Phoebe McLavy, Hairdressing (Coleg Sir Gar) – Bronze Medal
  • Collette Gorvett, Restaurant Services (Gower College Swansea) -Medallion of Excellence
  • Sam Everton, Cooking (Pembrokeshire College) – Medallion of Excellence
  • Chris Caine, Joinery (Pembrokeshire College) -Medallion of Excellence

The RLSP tailored the day around the needs of employers and the messages coming from the Employment and Skills Plan six different workshops were organised for the day to discuss issues raised during the formulation of the Skills Plan.

Delegates were able to attend two of the six workshops which included: ‘Geographical Implications Analysis of Brexit’, ‘Thriving at work: Motivated people ready for challenges’, ‘What does the future of education look like?’, ‘Making the Apprenticeships Programme work for you’, ‘Opportunities and challenges for developing Bilingual Learners’ skills’ and ‘Future of work and developing a high performing team’.

Regional Learning and Skills Partnership South West & Mid Wales

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