Why Wales must get ahead to face the future with confidence
Here, Ken Skates, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, explains his new action plan, released today, to boost the Welsh economy...
AS a Welsh Government we have been clear about our commitment to doing all we can to deliver prosperity for every person and every community in Wales.
Since devolution, we have undertaken a huge amount of work to strengthen the foundations of our economy. We now have a strong labour market, with more people in work than ever before and a record number of active businesses.
New business births are at their highest for over a decade and our exports and levels of foreign direct investment continue to impress, demonstrating global confidence in our businesses, products and services.
This is all down in large part to the efforts of business, individuals and government alike, aligned in a partnership for growth.
But this is no time to stand still. We live in an age of unprecedented change and of huge opportunity, and as a result of the fourth industrial revolution, the way we live, work and spend our leisure time is transformingbefore our eyes.
We must get ahead of the change to equip our people, places and businesses to face the future with confidence.
Today I am proud to be publishing Prosperity for All: Economic Action Plan for Wales.
The Plan sets a clear, whole-government approach to building stronger foundations for our economy, supercharging the industries of the future, and empowering Wales’ regions.
It is a plan that responds to what businesses, trade unions, social partners and learning institutions and communities have told us over the last year and I want it to be a plan for everyone in Wales.
And it has been designed as a plan to meet the needs of today but also the opportunities of tomorrow . A plan to drive change in policy, delivery and the way we work as a Government and with our partners.
At the heart of the Economic Action Plan is a commitment to develop a new and dynamic relationship between Government and business that is based on the principle of public investment with a social purpose.
This will mean us introducing a new economic contract that will require businesses seeking Welsh Government support to commit to growth, fair work, reducing their carbon footprint and promoting health, up-skilling and learning in the work place.
In return, and in response to calls from the sector, the Welsh Government will provide a simplified, unified and competitive package of business support.
The Plan sets out five Calls to Action. One is aimed at supporting businesses to innovate, introduce new products and services. Another is to proactively support trade with the UK and rest of the world.
One is based on improving our skills base and ensuring work is fairly rewarded, while another is aimed at helping us develop new products and automating and digitising to ensure Wales remains competitive in thefourth industrial age.
We also want to encourage decarbonisation so one of the Calls to Action is focussed on enabling more Welsh businesses to reduce their carbon footprint or become carbon free.
As part of the Plan we will be changing our primary support mechanisms. This will mean any business asking for direct financial support will be required to develop proposals that respond and align to at least one of our Calls to Action so the financial support we provide helps to prepare businesses for the future.
And in response to the call from business and others for greater simplicity, we will streamline and simplify our approach into a single, consolidated Economy Futures Fund.
Also, for the first time, we will be actively encouraging and working with groups of businesses to develop challenge proposals delivering against our Calls to Action. We want proposals that have a transformative effect on those businesses themselves, as well as wider regional impacts and this approach will empower the business community to drive change with bold and ambitious proposals.
To maximise our impact, we need to focus our financial resources and target our support. We recognise that we cannot work proactively with every sector in the economy.
We are therefore simplifying our approach around three thematic sectors and a limited number of foundation sectors.
Evidence shows that the three chosen thematic sectors – Tradable Services (including Fintech services, online insurance and creative), High Value Manufacturing (including compound semiconductors and new composites manufacturing) and Enablers (including digital, energy efficiency and renewables) offer particular opportunities to grow the industries of the future.
Meanwhile, the four Foundation Sectors of Tourism, Food, Retail and Care are crucial to the lives of people and communities across Wales and can play a huge in role in unlocking the potential of better jobs, closer to home. They are also areas where more effective cross government working will maximise and increase benefits.
We will work across government on a range of issues in these sectors, including skills development, new business models and infrastructure and we will also work with the sectors to develop enabling plans to capitalise on opportunities for growth and innovation and address key issues.
Wales may be a small country but that makes us no less diverse. Each of us represents different parts of Wales that have their own distinctive opportunities and challenges. We need to recognise and respond to these, so rather than a one-size-fitsall approach, we will strengthen regional collaboration through a new regional model of economic development by using local intelligence to tailor our national delivery.
We need to measure the progress we are making through this new approach, recognising economic outcomes are influenced by a range of issues beyond our control.
UK Government policy, EU exit negotiations and the state of the global economy are all hugely influential. The Well Being indicators provide us with a clear and consistent measuring framework and we will use these to track progress over the longer term, in line with the Prosperity for All national strategy.
I am really excited about the opportunities that the new Plan will bring. While change is rarely easy, it is often necessary if we are to properly grasp the opportunities of tomorrow.
As a Government we look forward to working closely with the business community, our learning institutions, trade unions and wider society to make the delivery of this ambitious plan a success.