Written statement (Wales) on Short-Term Reviews – Update - Mar 12

Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning: In October, I committed to providing a Spring update on progress following the completion of the four Short‑Term Reviews commissioned to drive delivery of our Economic Mission. These reviews were designed to bring clarity and momentum to key priorities, AI, green skills, SME productivity and business support, while ensuring our approach reflects the lived experience of businesses, trade unions and delivery partners across Wales. 

Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) formed an important strand of the Short‑Term Review, helping to clarify the skills, supply‑chain and infrastructure needs associated with early Celtic Sea deployment. Its findings have been taken forward and embedded in the Offshore Wind Task and Finish Group's Action Plan, progress on which is set out in a separate statement today, which sets out a more detailed, delivery‑focused programme for 2025–26. 

The reviews have helped provide challenge and focus to galvanise delivery across all workstreams, accelerating practical action and reinforcing a delivery culture shaped by the voices of those at the centre of our economy. Taken together, they have also strengthened the evidence base underpinning our work and supported a more aligned approach with the UK Government on shared priorities, such as the Modern Industrial Strategy.

AI Review

The AI Short‑Term Review directly informed the development and direction of the AI Plan for Wales, which articulates a vision to harness the transformative power of AI to drive inclusive economic growth, transform public services in both Welsh and English and equip our people with the skills to thrive in an AI-shaped future. It brings together these cross-sector endeavours in a coherent and structured way, articulating our collective ambition to use AI to serve the public good, drive forward our economy, grow AI skills and reflect the values of Welsh society. 

Since publication, further momentum has been generated through the announcement of the AI Growth Zones in both North and South Wales. With each Zone benefitting from £5 million in local support funding, the Zones are designed as hubs for AI research, deployment and industry partnership, bringing together compute capacity, research expertise and skills programmes to accelerate business adoption, skills development and innovation.

We committed £2.1 million to support SMEs across Wales in adopting AI, enhancing productivity, innovation, and competitiveness by providing practical AI skills and training. This included an AI awareness and adoption support programme by Business Wales, targeted activity to improve AI use in the tourism and events sectors and dedicated funding within our longstanding Flexible Skills Programme (FSP) to bridge digital skills gaps and make AI training more accessible.

This AI pilot activity is helping us to build up a stronger evidence base on AI skills needs, particularly for SMEs, and this will play an important role in helping us to shape a long term policy framework for supporting the delivery of high quality, targeted AI training in Wales. From a public service perspective the Welsh Government has provided funding this financial year for a series of initiatives to support the responsible implementation of AI across Welsh public services. The aim of these initiatives is to demonstrate the practical benefits of AI and establish a robust foundation for future activity.

These developments reinforce Wales's practical, mission‑driven approach to AI: aligning skills, innovation and public‑service transformation while supporting SMEs to adopt emerging technologies through Business Wales and the Flexible Skills Programme.

Green Skills Review

The Green Skills Review, led by the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership, highlighted the need for a coordinated, industry‑led approach to developing the workforce required for Wales's transition to a net‑zero economy. 

We have continued to work closely with key stakeholders across the green ecosystem to better understand the scale and pace of change needed. In January I was joined in Llangefni by the Minister for Culture, Skills & Social Partnership and Minister for Higher and Further Education at a North Wales Skills Summit where we were joined by representatives from business, academia and local government. Discussions were focused on embedding collaboration and maximising the opportunities presented by multiple major regional investments and projects including Nuclear, FLOW, the NW AI Growth Zone, Anglesey Freeport and the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone.

We will be building on existing national and regional intelligence by launching a new national skills audit during March 2026 with findings available towards the end of the year. The Skills Audit will provide a robust, evidence-based assessment of current and future skills needs in Wales, including key green and digital skills, and how these are supported through education and training provision.

The review also underlined the key importance of regular engagement between government and other key partners. The establishment  of a standing Green Skills Engagement Group is currently being actively explored which will provide a structured way for industry and academia partners to feed directly into green and digital skills policy development, ensuring decisions are grounded in real‑world insight.

Our approach to green skills is being further strengthened through the clean‑energy commitments embedded in the Industrial Strategy, where we are working with the UK Government. 

The supporting Jobs Plan sets out how clean‑energy employment could double to 860,000 jobs by 2030, driven by major investment in wind, solar, tidal and other low‑carbon technologies across the UK. Wales is uniquely well‑placed  to benefit from this growth. Nationally recognised parts of Wales have natural attributes for wind, solar and tidal energy that form the foundation of a resilient, future‑focused clean‑energy economy.

Progress is being driven through regional delivery structures, including the Advanced Skills Hub in North-East Wales, and through close collaboration with employers across renewable energy sectors. This supports skills development in:

• Onshore and offshore wind, where deployment is expected to grow significantly as part of UK–Wales clean‑energy expansion.
• Floating offshore wind (FLOW) in the Celtic Sea, which could support up to 5,300 jobs and generate up to £1.4bn for the economy, supported by joint UK–Wales action on ports, supply chains and workforce development. 
• Solar, where installation and maintenance skills are increasingly needed as small‑ and large‑scale solar capacity expands.
• Tidal stream and marine energy, supported through the Industrial Strategy's clean‑energy supply‑chain measures and port‑capacity investments. 

In parallel with renewables, Wales is also engaged in the UK‑wide Nuclear Skills Plan, ensuring that nuclear workforce development forms part of the broader clean‑energy skills picture. The Plan identifies a requirement for 40,000 additional skilled workers by 2030 UK‑wide and includes the creation of a Wales Regional Skills Hub in 2026 to support workforce development, training partnerships and employer engagement.

Taken together, these activities are strengthening Wales's green‑skills ecosystem, ensuring that skills provision keeps pace with clean‑energy deployment, whether in wind, solar, marine or nuclear, and supporting the delivery of the Industrial Strategy's shared clean‑energy ambitions.

SME Productivity Review

Improving SME productivity remains a central priority, and the SME Productivity Review confirmed long‑standing barriers around access to finance, lagging innovation activity, digital adoption, skills gaps, exporting, and workplace health. The Review sits alongside the internal Business Support Review published in November 2025, which highlighted the need for a more coherent and easily navigable support system for SMEs. Together, these reviews underline the importance of simplifying business‑support pathways and ensuring firms receive practical, outcome‑focused assistance that strengthens long‑term resilience and growth.

In response, the Welsh Government has strengthened the business‑support ecosystem through Business Wales, which has helped entrepreneurs create or safeguard 22,000 jobs in the Senedd term, demonstrating the scale and reach of support available to SMEs. Business Wales helps entrepreneurs, micro-businesses and SMEs to build more resilient businesses and develop their business practices, providing advice and guidance to improve productivity, such as strengthening employment practices, accessing new markets, digital improvements or accessing finance.  Business Wales aims to improve productivity and stimulate entrepreneurship, business development and growth to support the creation of good quality employment in an inclusive and sustainable way. 

Access to finance has been a critical part of this offer, with the Development Bank of Wales investing over £1 billion since it was formed in 2017.  It has supported almost 5,000 businesses, including more than 780 start‑ups, helping Welsh entrepreneurs to start and sale businesses in every part of Wales, - creating or safeguarding over 50,000 jobs. 

Continuing to deliver support to SMEs to grow their exports remains a key lever for improving productivity, helping businesses to scale, diversify and compete globally. In delivering the Export Action Plan for Wales, the Welsh Government has supported businesses across Wales to develop existing and new export markets for their products and services. Since the publication of the plan, businesses in Wales have secured more than £435m of new export business as a direct result of Welsh Government export support.

Innovation and investment remain crucial drivers of productivity, and programmes such as SMART Cymru continue to play a central role in enabling SMEs to develop new products and processes. Evidence shows that SMART Cymru delivers high leverage, generating £7 of private follow‑on investment for every £1 of public funding, helping de‑risk R&D activity and strengthen Wales's innovation pipeline.  Alongside this, wider business‑led calls for expanded innovation funding frameworks, better routes to private capital, and regulatory testbeds reflect the Review's emphasis on boosting firm‑level innovation capacity. 

Skills and workforce development also remain core to the productivity agenda. The SME Productivity Review identified skills shortages and limited access to training as barriers to growth, and action is being taken through the Flexible Skills Programme to target digital, data and AI‑related competencies. 

Next Steps

As we reach the end of this term, the findings of the Short‑Term Reviews have already translated into tangible progress, with the Welsh Government businesses, regional partners and national bodies actively implementing recommendations and helping to turn this government's policy direction into meaningful change for firms and communities across Wales. This coherent and focused delivery provides a strong legacy for the future, embedding clearer support pathways, strengthening collaboration across the economy, and laying firm foundations for long‑term improvement in productivity, skills and innovation.