Coronavirus: Senedd to debate Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee reports

Published 29/06/2020 | Last Updated 08/12/2020 | Reading Time minutes

The Senedd’s Economy Infrastructure and Skills (EIS) Committee has published two reports setting out its early findings on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on areas within its remit.

Both will be debated in the Senedd on 1 July.

The Committee’s first report, the Impact of COVID-19: Summary of initial findings (PDF 206KB) was published on 4 June. It considered issues affecting the economy, transport and skills and made 34 recommendations.

The second report, the Impact of COVID-19: Skills – early findings (PDF 107KB) was published on 19 June and focused exclusively on skills. Its 8 recommendations cover the health and wellbeing of apprentices, youth unemployment and training.

Given the short time since publication, the Welsh Government has not yet responded to either report.

The Committee is also undertaking an “open call for evidence and experiences” in relation to the pandemic. Written evidence received in response is published on its website.

Senedd Research has published a range of articles relevant to the issues covered by the reports and the wider Economy and Transport portfolio. A few of our key articles are listed below, along with some wider sources relevant to the Plenary debate:

Coronavirus: business support: summarises the help available to businesses from both the Welsh and UK Governments;
Coronavirus: employment: outlines the support available relating to employment;
Coronavirus: employment rights: outlines key employment rights issues arising from the pandemic;
Coronavirus: tourism: explores the impact of the virus on the tourism industry and those working in the sector;
Coronavirus: labour market June update: summarises data on the labour market in Wales;
Coronavirus: Supplementary Budget: summarises headline figures from the Welsh Government’s First Supplementary Budget, published on 27 May;
Coronavirus: public transport: focuses on the impact of the virus on public transport and how the Welsh, UK and Scottish Governments have responded so far. Since this article was published the Welsh Government has announced a £15m fund to ‘Covid-proof’ travel;
Coronavirus: holiday bookings and passenger rights: alongside information on holidays and passenger rights this article includes information on the impact of the pandemic on airlines and aviation;
The EIS Committee took evidence: on public transport from trade unions, Cardiff Airport and bus operators on the pandemic on 18 June. Following this, the Committee wrote to the Minister for Economy and Transport to raise a number of issues (PDF 195KB)
The EIS Committee also heard evidence arguing that youth unemployment was now a “huge looming issue”. An evidence submission provided by the Industrial Communities Alliance Wales as part of the Committee’s open call for views, sets out data, and the Alliance’s view, on the impact on young people’s employment in Alliance local authorities;
The Resolution Foundation has also published a Nuffield Trust funded report, the Class of 2020, which addresses the possible impact of COVID-19 on the employment prospect of education leavers, and “[estimating] the level of employment and pay scarring that they could suffer” across the UK; and
Welsh Government has published its post-16 education sector Resilience Plan which address short, medium, and longer-term issues in the sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Plan explains that Welsh Government “would expect the people most severely affected will be those who are already most disadvantaged in the labour market”, including young workers and those with lower skill levels.