Cabinet meeting: 7 November 2022

• Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Vaughan Gething MS
• Lesley Griffiths MS
• Jane Hutt MS
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Eluned Morgan MS
• Mick Antoniw MS

• Hannah Blythyn MS
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Julie Morgan MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Lee Waters MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Des Clifford, Director Office of the First Minister
• Will Whiteley, Head of Cabinet Division
• Toby Mason, Head of Strategic Communications
• Jane Runeckles, Special Adviser
• Alex Bevan, Special Adviser
• Daniel Butler, Special Adviser
• Ian Butler, Special Adviser
• Kate Edmunds, Special Adviser
• Sara Faye, Special Adviser
• Sam Hadley, Special Adviser
• Clare Jenkins, Special Adviser
• Owen John, Special Adviser
• Mitch Theaker, Special Adviser
• Tom Woodward, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Catrin Sully, Cabinet Office
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Jo-Anne Daniels, Director General Education, Social Justice and Welsh Language
• Reg Kilpatrick, Director General, COVID-19 recovery and Local Government
• Tim Moss, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Health and Social Services 
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Treasury and Constitution
• Jo Salway, Director Social Partnership and Fair Work (item 4)
• Sam Huckle, Head of Employability Delivery and Operations (item 4)
• Gareth Woodhead, Head of Young People’s Guarantee (item 4)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion 20 a 24 Hydref / Cabinet approved the minutes of 20 and 24 October.

2.1 The First Minister informed Cabinet he had contracted COVID-19 over the weekend and would be conducting business virtually that week. There may be a few events where he would need to ask ministers to stand in. In addition, the British Irish Council was taking place in Blackpool later that week, where he was hoping to join the meetings virtually, but if this was not possible, he may ask another minister to represent the government.

3.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted that voting time was scheduled for 5:45pm on Tuesday and would be around 6:55pm on Wednesday.  So far, one Topical Question had been tabled asking whether the government would be providing additional financial support to Neath Port Talbot Council to deal with recent flooding in the Melyn area.

4.1 The Minister for Economy introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to confirm that the scope of the Young Persons Guarantee (YPG) should remain in place for all education, training, employability and self-employed programmes for 16-24 year olds. Ministers were asked to agree to focus additional YPG resources on those not in education, employment or training.

4.2 A number of measures had been developed to manage the potential impact of COVID-19 on young people, however, following the pandemic, there had not been the level of youth unemployment anticipated. Nevertheless, there had been an increase in those not in education, employment or training along with severe scarring, where one in three young people thought their job prospects would never recover from the impact of the pandemic.

4.3 There had been a National Conversation with young people over recent months, where the discussions had been dominated by reports of significant mental health and confidence issues, alongside more traditional matters, such as accessing transport and care provision. There was similar feedback from Careers Wales, local authority lead workers and other service providers.

4.4 Improvements had been made to help identify those young people who might need additional support. The refreshed Youth Engagement and Progression Framework would play a key part in the early identification of potential individuals in schools and those up to the age of 18.

4.5 The YPG would be made more visible by using the brand together with existing funding and contractual parameters, commencing with the Employability Programmes. Through these campaigns, skills and careers events, along with second chance opportunities in FE and HE and apprenticeships would be promoted.

4.6 Cabinet approved the paper.

Co-operation Agreement Annual Report 2021-22 CAB(22-23)18

5.1 Cabinet noted the Co-operation Agreement Annual Report for 2021-22, which would be published in December, around the first anniversary of the signing of the original agreement.

Cabinet Secretariat
November 2022