Senior figures from across industry, education and skills have been brought together by Business News Wales’ new INFORM initiative to examine how Wales can develop, retain and attract the workforce needed to support its future economy.
The Skills and Workforce Development Editorial Board brought together leaders from some of Wales’ major skills and education organisations alongside employers operating in sectors where access to talent is increasingly important to investment and growth.
Hosted at Aberthaw Power Station, the discussion was built around one central question:
What does Wales need to do over the next five years to develop, retain and attract the skills, experience and talent required for a more productive and competitive economy?
The session forms part of INFORM Wales, a new Business News Wales initiative designed to strengthen the connection between industry experience and the decisions being made about Wales’ economic future.
Participants included:
- James Owen, Chief Executive of Medr Cymru
- Sarah Curtis, VP Human Resources at Safran Seats.
- David Hagendyk, Chief Executive of Colegau Cymru
- Lisa Mytton, Strategy Director at NTFW
- David Hoare, Head of Communications, Compliance & Ethics at GE Aerospace
- Becca Falvey, Senior Manager, Skills & Innovation at Open University Wales
- Chris Butt, CEO of Deeplearn HS
The board explored how Wales can better understand its future workforce requirements and whether the relationship between employers, education providers and government is sufficiently joined up to respond.
That includes careers awareness and employer engagement, apprenticeships and vocational pathways, further and higher education, graduate retention, attracting specialist talent into Wales and encouraging Welsh talent to return.
A second major area of discussion focused on workforce planning and whether Wales can create a clearer connection between its economic ambitions and the skills system required to deliver them.
Employers across a number of industries continue to identify access to skills as an important consideration when investing and expanding.
The Skills and Workforce Development board is part of a wider programme of INFORM Editorial Boards being developed across industries and regions of Wales.
The initiative brings senior figures together to share experience and evidence around some of the most important issues affecting the Welsh economy.
Business News Wales Managing Director Mark Powney said:
“Skills is one of those issues that touches virtually every conversation we have with businesses, regardless of sector or region.
“But the challenge is much broader than simply asking whether we are training enough people. We need to understand what skills businesses are going to require in five or ten years, how we retain experienced people already in the workforce and how Wales competes for specialist talent.
“INFORM gives us an opportunity to bring employers and the organisations responsible for education and skills into the same conversation, listen to where the system is working and where it isn't, and turn that experience into evidence that can be useful to those making decisions.”
The findings from the Editorial Board will now feed into continuing Business News Wales coverage and the development of INFORM’s evidence base around skills and workforce development.
