The Welsh Government is providing £4.5 million to develop the skills-base of businesses and create a Welsh workforce ready to capitalise on future economic opportunities, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has announced today (6 April 2022).
The Flexible Skills Programme (FSP), which started in 2015, provides targeted skills interventions alongside existing programmes, or where Welsh Government support is required for a specific business project.
The programme operates on a co-investment basis which means employers have to match fund Welsh Government support; this will see a total of £9 million invested in the Welsh economy.
The programme is being funded for a further three years. It operates across Wales and is open to all employers across two streams:
- The Business Development stream supports significant employer-led projects which have a focus on upskilling the workforce. Airbus Broughton is leading the decarbonisation of the aerospace sector with support from this strand. The Airbus ZEROe programme will build the world’s first emissions-free airliner by 2035. This move to green aircraft design and manufacture requires employees to develop the new green skills the economy of the future will require.
- The Partnership Project stream aims to drive Wales’ wider skills economy by enabling a group of employers or representative bodies to help Wales overcome a skills challenge or develop the skills needed to drive future economic development. Five partnership projects approved in the last year included the development of projects for the tourism and hospitality, engineering and manufacturing, creative industry, digital and exporting sectors.
For further information visit Economy Minister announces £4.5 million funding for Flexible Skills Programme | GOV.WALES