At the first Sgiliau Cymru/Skills Wales conference last week, the new Welsh Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Jane Davidson has announced three key developments which will affect work-related training in Wales. They are:

• The end of the age limit for completion of Modern Apprenticeships
  
• A new Modern Skills Diploma for adults over 25, with funding of £9.25 m available over three years
  
• A new £600,000 Development Fund available over the next two years to fund activities by NTOs and other organisations in Wales

The three initiatives form part of a new 'Made in Wales' programme aimed at improving skills within Welsh businesses. The Skills Diploma is aimed at over-25s in employment and plans to build on the existing Modern Apprenticeship programme for the under. It will take three years to complete at a cost of £3,000 per student per annum. A pilot programme will run from April next year for for up to 6 years with 3 intakes of up to 700 participants initially. Access to the programme will be available to both employed and unemployed people over the age of 25 in Wales. A prospectus will be issued shortly giving further details of the Development Fund, which will be available to training providers and National Training Organisations to submit proposals to develop training intiatives. The end of the age limit for Modern Apprenticeships means that those who begin a scheme before their 25th birthday can still complete it after that date.

Speaking at the conference, Jane Davidson said: "We all have to improve our skills if Wales is to be the successful, prosperous nation that we all want to see. The Modern Skills Diploma for Adults will for the first time provide financial support for adults to improve their skills in the workplace. I hope it will be the key that opens the door, not just to a breath of fresh air, but to a hurricane of activity by all our employers across every sector in Wales to raise the skill levels of their workforce and of management too. But I have acted quickly on the new Diploma because the need is so great."

Davidson added that preparations were well underway for the introduction of the new Council for Education and Training for Wales, which will come into operation next April. The Council will hold broadly similar responsibilities to the Learning and Skills Council in England. For more information, visit the