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How Welsh Government is Supporting the Workforce of One of Wales’ Biggest Employers

Sut Mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn Cefnogi Gweithlu un O Gyflogwyr Mwyaf Cymru

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One of Wales’ biggest manufacturing employers is supporting a Welsh Government campaign to raise awareness of the wide range of recruitment and training support available to businesses to help them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tata Steel employs over 6,300 people at sites across Wales. The organisation prides itself on providing staff with opportunities to learn new skills and gain qualifications. Welsh Government funding and support has played a vital role in the growth and development of Tata Steel’s workforce in Wales – from entry-level apprenticeships to accredited health and safety training for established staff members.

Marc Harwood, capability manager at Tata Steel, said:

“Training our workforce is incredibly important to us. The business world is always evolving, and training our staff to the right level starts from the very beginning to the end of their careers. This ensures we are able to keep up to date with the latest sector developments – a large proportion of our employees started off with us as apprentices learning as they gain on-the-job experience working with us – and this continues throughout their time at Tata Steel.”

Tata Steel believes in ongoing training for all its employees, from their first day through to retirement.

Investing in training staff has been shown to increase employee engagement as well as improving overall wellbeing. Welsh Government offers a wide range of support to help businesses invest in training their workforce in the skills they need to grow and thrive.

From apprenticeships and Personal Learning Accounts to the Wales Union Learning Fund, businesses can access this support and other Welsh Government funded training and recruitment support to help them grow and invest in their workforce through Skills Gateway. Welsh Government has launched the ‘We’re in Your Corner’ campaign to make sure businesses in Wales are aware of the support that is available to them so they can access the right programme for their needs.

Marc continued:

“We currently employ 270 apprentices across Wales. Apprentices incredibly important to our business. They’re the grassroots of our organisation and potentially our future leaders – some of our senior staff including past and present directors have started off as part of our apprentice and graduate programmes. They spend their time between academic studies and on the job learning in the workplace. This kind of hands-on experience is so valuable to an industry like ours; you can’t learn it in a textbook.

“As well as bringing in new talent, we find apprenticeships are a great way of training and developing our existing workforce. We currently have 207 colleagues enrolled on a variety of apprenticeship programmes which they undertake alongside their usual work. It’s important to us that we grow our own talent and employ local people. The core skills we need aren’t always present in the local area, so by giving employees the opportunity to expand and update their skills we’re able to grow our talent pipeline while simultaneously giving back to the community around us is vital to the success of our business.

“We’ve recently started exploring other avenues for staff training and development. Our union representatives have sourced some online health and safety training available at a reduced rate through the Wales Union Learning Fund so we’re currently putting a few nominees through the course as a pilot phase. This kind of training has a direct benefit to everyone working on the shop floor, and anyone who completes the training will receive accredited training which offers an extra level of reassurance as well as being a feather in their cap.

“We’re also in discussion with our local colleges around developing some courses that could be made available through Personal Learning Accounts. This is in its early stages but is something we think will have another positive impact. In an industry like ours there is set amount of mandatory training that has to be completed each year which eats into our training budget. Personal Learning Accounts will enable us to think about other courses that could benefit our colleagues and also give us an opportunity to identify where we want them to develop that they may otherwise not have had the chance to do.

“The support we receive from Welsh Government really is vital to the sustainability of the steel industry in Wales as a whole.

To support the Welsh economy in recovering from the impact of COVID-19, Welsh Government is investing in jobs and training to help businesses survive and grow, and to meet the needs of Wales’ changing economic landscape.

Economy, Transport and North Wales Minister Ken Skates said:

“The past 12 months will have been the most challenging many of us have ever faced. It’s vital that businesses know the Welsh Government is in their corner, and that support is available for those who need it.

“Our package of business support is the most generous support package in the UK. It has seen more than £2bn made available to businesses across Wales, protecting thousands of firms and many more jobs.

“We are also investing £40m in our Covid Commitment to provide free and subsidised training, grants to enable businesses to bring in the new talent and skills, and expert advice from Business Wales advisers who can recommend training and recruitment support tailored to individual business needs. This has been crucial in incentivising employers to recruit and retain 5,000 apprentices.

“As we continue to navigate these difficult and uncertain times, we will do all we can to back Welsh businesses and workers. This includes planning for what comes next. I have launched a new Economic Resilience and Reconstruction Mission which offers grounded optimism for the future and will help our people, businesses and communities to succeed and flourish amid a backdrop of incredibly challenging circumstances.

“I know that we can succeed in building a prosperous and fair economy and future that works better for everyone.”

For more information on the support available through Skills Gateway, head to businesswales.gov.wales/skillsgateway or call 03000 6 03000 to speak with a Business Wales adviser.

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The Welsh Government is the devolved Government for Wales.

They are working to help improve the lives of people in Wales and make our nation a better place in which to live and work.

The Welsh Government consists of:

The First Minister
Welsh Ministers
The Counsel General
Deputy Ministers.

They are supported by civil servants who work across devolved areas that include key areas of public life such as health, education and the environment.

They aim to be open and responsive to the needs of citizens and communities and are one of the few governments in the world that publishes Cabinet minutes and papers. Responsibility for most key areas of public life including health, education and environment is devolved.

With offices across Wales, including Merthyr Tydfil, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction, they are getting closer to the people they serve.

 

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