Social Partnership Council meeting, 3 December 2025: minutes

1. The First Minister welcomed attendees to the ninth meeting of the Social Partnership Council (SPC). She explained that she would leave after item 2, at which point the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership would chair the remainder of the meeting. The First Minister thanked Dame Elan Closs-Stephens (Public Bodies) for her involvement with the SPC, confirming she would be leaving the Council after having decided to step down as the chair of the Public Leaders Forum (PLF). She also thanked Helen Whyley (RCN) for her involvement in the SPC ahead of her retirement in the new year. 

2. The First Minister confirmed the Wales Investment Summit had taken place on the 1 December attracting a broad range of global investors, business leaders, and Welsh companies. She outlined the success of the event in attracting investment and said she had emphasised the importance of businesses operating in social partnership.  
    
3. The First Minister provided background on the consultation Proposals for an approach to the UK Local Growth Fund in Wales being run by Welsh Government. She explained that the Local Growth Fund (LGF) would invest £547 million in Wales over three years adding value to existing investments such as Wales’ four City and Regional Growth Deals, Investment Zones, Freeports and other initiatives to support regional/local economies. The First Minister added that the LGF would generate economic growth through infrastructure building, business expansion and skills development. She urged members to share the consultation through their networks. 
    
4. The First Minister explained that a transition year had been agreed given the short timescale before funding became available under the LGF (April 2026) in which Welsh Government would work with Local Government to retain key capacity from the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF). She confirmed the Welsh Government was pressing the UK Government for more flexibility around the proposed capital-revenue split of the LGF but that the Fund would focus more on capital spending than either EU funding or the SPF. The First Minister outlined the LGF consultation and said she welcomed views on the Fund’s core objectives and principles as well as any areas the SPC felt should be prioritised to maximise the impact of the funding. 
    
5. Joshua Miles (FSB) supported the Welsh Government’s proposals regarding the LGF. Joshua agreed that the lack of flexibility regarding the revenue/capital split was problematic but offered the FSB’s support in navigating this. He stressed the importance of ensuring funding was easily accessible to SMEs and the need to draw on the expertise of Business Wales and the Development Bank of Wales in targeting the LGF.   
    
6. Shavanah Taj (TUC Cymru) also supported the Welsh Government’s proposal emphasising the importance of skills development for economic growth and the role the trade unions had played in this through the Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF). She stressed the need to drive regional economies to develop local business infrastructure and to utilise the opportunities presented by the green economy/energy efficiency sector to create skilled jobs. Shavanah confirmed the consultation would be disseminated through trade union networks. 
    
7. Ruth Brady (GMB) highlighted the lack of engagement that had taken place with trade unions ahead of the Wales Investment Summit. Ruth asked for better engagement ahead of major events going forward so the trade unions could play a more substantial role. 
    
8. Russell Greenslade (CBI) confirmed the consultation would be promoted to businesses and that the CBI would also respond. Russell highlighted the important role businesses could play in helping to understand skills’ needs and to develop the investment infrastructure to create jobs. 
    
9. The First Minister acknowledged the importance of ensuring support under the LGF was easily accessible (cutting bureaucracy) and the need to avoid duplication with existing activity. She outlined the opportunity Wales had to shape the skills agenda and tailor this to business need given its devolved status. The First Minister emphasised how important this was for areas like AI where workers would need to consistently upskill as part of lifelong learning. She acknowledged the valuable contribution of the trade unions to the skills agenda, the importance of preserving home grown talent and the need to issue funding at pace.  
    
10. Shavanah Taj supported the need to retain talent flagging the loss of skilled workers due to budgetary cuts as a key issue raised with trade unions. 
     
11. The First Minister confirmed the British Irish Summit (5 December) would be hosted in Wales and that she had chosen to focus this on the creative sector in order to emphasise its importance to the Welsh economy. She stressed that the Wales Investment Summit had been targeted at specific businesses to invest in Wales and that in order to offer them a tailored experience it had been necessary to limit invitations. The First Minister confirmed that Shavanah Taj had represented the trade unions and that the importance of social partnership in Wales had been consistently promoted at the summit. 
     
12. Shavanah Taj supported the event as an important opportunity to showcase Wales’ investment opportunities (including those in the creative sector) and looked forward to following up the event with officials to better understand how the trade unions could play a full part in these. 
     
13. Ruth Brady thanked the First Minister for the feedback and suggested a future event could be held with social partners on the Employment Rights Bill. 
     
14. The First Minister confirmed this could be considered but stressed the limited opportunity to arrange such an event given the forthcoming election in 2026. 
     
15. Russell Greenslade congratulated the First Minister and officials for arranging the Investment Summit. Russell said it had been broadly praised by those that attended and had promoted new opportunities to businesses that had not operated in Wales previously. 
     
16. The First Minister stressed the importance of Wales maximising its potential to investors and reiterated the need for members to promote the LGF consultation through their networks. 

Action: SPC members to share the Local Growth Fund (LGF) consultation with their networks/stakeholders.

17. The purpose of this item was for the SPC to note the progress made in developing the Council’s Procurement Subgroup as well as endorsing its proposed membership so formal appointments could be issued and the Subgroup convened in early 2026. The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership invited the joint chairs of the Subgroup to update the SPC.
     
18. Councillor Anthony Hunt (WLGA) and Ruth Brady updated the SPC as the joint chairs of the Subgroup. The SPC endorsed the proposed membership of the Procurement Subgroup. This item was confidential as members discussed personal information, the discussion is therefore not reported in the minute.

Action: The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership to write to the First Minister informing her that the SPC agreed the membership of the Council’s Procurement Subgroup.

19. The Minister explained that the Working Group on Fair Work in Business Grants had moved from the evidence-taking stage to discussing substantive issues and that the intention was to develop a report for the SPC to consider. He asked Shavanah Taj, who had chaired the last meeting of the Working Group, to update the SPC on progress. 
     
20. Shavanah confirmed the Working Group had met twice and that another meeting was planned for early in the new year. She referenced the full and open discussions that had taken place covering grant conditionality which had resulted in establishing core principles and a forward work plan for the Group. Shavanah reiterated that a report would be prepared for the SPC and invited Joshua Miles (who had also attended the last meeting of the Group) to offer any additional views to the SPC. 
     
21. Joshua Miles supported Shavanah’s comments and the importance of having open discussions to produce a rounded report for the SPC to consider.  
     
22. The Minister welcomed the progress that had been made by the Group working in social partnership and looked forward to considering the report in the new year. 

23. The Minister confirmed the AI Delivery Group had met for the first time on the 17 November to discuss immediate priorities for its work programme. He said that the next meeting was being arranged and that further updates would be provided to the SPC moving forward. The Minister invited Russell Greenslade and Jessica Turner as the co-chairs of the Delivery Group to update the SPC. He confirmed he had met with both the previous day to receive a personal update on the Group’s work.
     
24. Russell Greenslade said the first meeting of the Delivery Group had considered a proposal to support businesses in AI upskilling. He explained that the proposal was to produce a short term pilot to increase business productivity and competitiveness by bridging AI skills gaps. Russell stressed the importance of trade union involvement in shaping this work and the need to ensure the outcome supported an ethical approach to the use of AI. He raised the importance of simplifying the proposal for SMEs so it gained traction and reiterated that further updates would be provided to the SPC. 
     
25. Jess Turner (Unison) stressed the importance of understanding how the SPC was adding value to the busy field of AI skills. Jess explained that the Group had explored, at the request of the Minister, how to use the Welsh Government’s Flexible Skills Fund to develop an ethical approach to AI upskilling within businesses. She confirmed the outcome of this would then form the basis of advice back to the SPC. Jess said this work linked back to the former item as both were focussed on the importance of using grant conditionality to develop an ethical approach to business support. She suggested it would be important for both Groups to communicate going forward. 
     
26. The Minister thanked Russell and Jess for their update and stressed the need to evaluate this work to develop lessons learnt for other programmes. He emphasised the importance of building an ethical approach to the implementation of AI which safeguarded workers whilst also supporting businesses to face the challenges of this technology. The Minister looked forward to receiving further updates going forward.

Action: The SPC AI Delivery Group to provide further updates on its work to the Council. 

27. The Minister confirmed that only 20 of the 55 Social Partnership reports for 2024-25 had been published and that this was too few to provide meaningful analysis. He thought it had still been helpful to outline some of the early findings from the reports in the related paper for this item but stressed that Welsh Government was reliant on the information provided by organisations. The Minister said that responses had been anonymised as it did not lend itself to the Social Partnership approach to name organisations during the first year of the reporting process, where everyone was still on a learning trajectory. 
     
28. The Minister said he had been pleased with the amount of good practice already being reported across Wales and that it would have been unrealistic to expect all 55 public bodies to have fully embedded social partnership at the strategic level in the first year of reporting. He recognised the valuable contribution of the trade unions in engaging in the process with employers and confirmed there was no fixed deadline for submitting the reports as the legislation left this open to allow public bodies to align responses with their other reporting requirements. He said he anticipated a full analysis would be provided in early 2026 once the outstanding reports were published. The Minister confirmed a reminder letter would be sent to those public bodies who had not yet provided a response. 
     
29. Shavanah Taj suggested it would be helpful for the relevant trade unions to know which public bodies had not provided responses or where there were any issues so they could assist at a local level with the reporting process.
     
30. Nicola Prygodzicz (NHS) offered to pursue responses from any remaining health boards.
     
31. Dame Elan Closs-Stephens suggested it would be useful to have someone speak at the PLF on the importance of the reporting process at some point. 
     
32. Councillor Anthony Hunt (Local Government) offered his support in ensuring any remaining local authorities submitted their reports. 
     
33. The Minister thanked members for their offers of support and acknowledged Dame Closs-Stephens proposal. He confirmed he would write to the remaining public bodies reminding them of the importance of submitting their reports and provide a copy of this to members. The Minister confirmed the reminder letter would highlight the willingness of the trade unions to help in the reporting process. 

Action: The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership to write to those public bodies that had not yet submitted their Social Partnership reports for 2024-25 and share a copy of the letter with SPC members.

34. The Minister explained that the paper for this item set out the work the SPC could consider at a Spring meeting and confirmed no further meetings had been scheduled. He asked members if they saw value in meeting in the Spring, confirming that a date later than the 23 February would not allow enough time for the SPC Secretariat to carry out any possible actions arising ahead of the pre-election period. The Minister suggested that if members did want a meeting it could be shorter than usual and held online rather than in person. Members agreed another meeting of the SPC should be scheduled for the Spring. 

Action: The SPC Secretariat to arrange a further meeting of the Council for Spring 2026. 

35. The Minister said there were seven on-going actions arising from previous meetings of the SPC and outlined these. He asked members if they were content to agree them.
     
36. Jess Turner, Shavanah Taj and Helen Whyley (RCN) highlighted the trade unions’ disappointment that the SPC statement relating to the importance of passing the Welsh Government’s Budget could not be agreed by the Council. 
     
37. The Minister supported their disappointment and said he would ask officials to explore how this might be avoided in the future. 

Action: The SPC Secretariat to explore future handling of statements by the Council. 

Welsh Government

Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister (Chair)
Jack Sargeant MS, Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership (Co-Chair)

Worker Representatives 

Shavanah Taj, TUC Cymru (Not in attendance for Item 3)
Jess Turner, UNISON
Mike Walker, USDAW
Helen Whyley, RCN Wales
Ruth Brady, GMB
Sian Boyles, PCS

Employer Representatives 

Dame Elan Closs-Stephens, Public Bodies
Councillor Anthony Hunt, Local Government
Nicola Prygodzicz, Health
Kathryn Robson, Further Education
Janis Richards, Business
Russell Greenslade, Business
Joshua Miles, Business

Supporting Officials

Jo Salway, Overall support for the SPC and items 6-8
Tom Smithson, Item 2 only
Stephen Layne/Aimee Dietrich, Item 3 only 
Chris Hartwell, Item 4 only
Andrew Granville, Item 5 only

Observers

Aled Edwards, Welsh Government 
Mark Turner (in Peter Hughes’ absence)
Sara Stephens (in Wendy Larner’s absence)

Apologies

Neil Butler (NASUWT)
Gareth Lloyd (UCU)
Peter Hughes (Unite)
Professor Wendy Larner (Higher Education)
Pippa Britton (Voluntary Sector)