The Regional Approach to Employability Report has been welcomed by the Blaenau Gwent Council’s Regeneration Scrutiny Committee today. The report has been developed with contributions from each of the 10 local authority areas within the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR). Employability activity is delivered by these Councils to support residents into employment or to help them progress to a more sustainable or better paid job.
Since 2014, across the CCR, employability provision has supported over 50,00 residents to secure a qualification and helped almost 15,000 long-term unemployed back into employment.
Provision for employability has been larger funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) since 2007. However, having now left the European Union this will no longer be available as the ESF programme delivery will cease in 2023 at the latest.
The 10 CCR local authorities have now sought to create a single consistent framework for future employability projects in the region based on a shared vision and principles. The Framework for Future Employability in the CCR has been developed to structure the shared vision for an employability service which is:
• Responsive enough to rapidly changing employability trends / priorities.
• Flexible enough to still address individual barriers.
• Still aligned to local circumstances and still delivered by local teams.
• Engaged with industry to support people into more sustainable roles.
Councillor Dai Davies, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration and Economic Development commented:
"The report has recognised that the economic structure of the region has changed and the skills provision needs to reflect the resulting changing of the economy. Planning ahead is essential so that we can prepare people for the employment opportunities of future industries and services.”