Suzy Davies MS – the Shadow Minister for Education and Skills – has welcomed the statement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlining the Lifetime Skills Guarantee today (September 29), and is calling on the Welsh Labour-led Government to consider the policies England will benefit from.
Welsh Conservative Mrs Davies said:
“There is much to recommend from the PM’s statement, because the ambitious plans put forward today to address the problem of skills shortages are not specific to England, but also to Wales and the rest of the UK, and no Welsh Government can afford to let Wales fall behind.
“We’re not in a ‘post-Covid’ world, but we can see already that life is changing, the way we work, shop, learn is changing. Education needs to adopt to this changing world as much as people in the workforce do, and Wales – with higher NEET levels than elsewhere in the UK – could really benefit us here.”
Mrs Davies said that there exists both a shortage of certain skills – such as IT, mechanics, engineers, laboratory technicians – and a problem with the supply of courses, with a post-18 education system that does not encourage people into sectors where there is demand.
She added:
“Historically, we have not given enough of the right training and support to those who don’t go to university. We have pledged to introduce degree apprenticeships in a Welsh Conservative government in Wales, and the Prime Minister’s ideas chime with ours.
“No-one likes where we find ourselves and our country during this pandemic, but in some ways, it offers an opportunity to reboot some systems. Skills-based education – working in tandem with industry to identify what is needed and where – is one of them, and will allow us, and our neighbours in the UK, to build back better.”
