Social Partnership Council meeting 22 September 2025: minutes

1. The First Minister welcomed attendees to the eighth meeting of the Social Partnership Council (SPC). She confirmed that members had received a copy of the Welsh Ministers’ Social Partnership Annual Report 2024 to 2025 which had been laid before the Senedd. The First Minister provided an overview of the agenda, confirming she would leave after item 2 and that the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership would then chair the remainder of the meeting. She also confirmed that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language would be present for item 3 on the 2026-7 Draft Welsh Government Budget.

2. The First Minister explained that the Welsh Government had made a positive contribution to shaping the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy and that Wales was well positioned to benefit from the opportunities it presented. She confirmed the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning was currently considering how to engage Welsh stakeholders so their views could help shape a coherent position back to the UK Government on the needs of Welsh businesses. The First Minister said she welcomed feedback from members to inform these discussions and emphasised the importance of using clear language to communicate progress to social partners.  
    
3. The First Minister confirmed officials also continued to be engaged on the development of the eight growth sector plans, identifying strengths and sharing intelligence to establish what place-based investments were key to driving economic growth in Wales. She said early conversations with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury had focussed on shared priorities for economic growth to boost productivity and opportunities for infrastructure investment in Wales. She highlighted the importance of building on the momentum of this engagement and confirmed the Welsh Government’s international investment summit would take place on the 1 December with a focus on sectoral based strengths as outlined in the strategy. 
    
4. Shavanah Taj (TUC Cymru) referenced the private sector and trade unions in Wales frustration regarding engagement on the Industrial Strategy. Shavanah highlighted the need to align activity on the Strategy with the Welsh Government’s Skills Strategy, stressing the importance of people understanding the pathways to growth and job creation in Wales to generate a feeling of hope for workers. 
    
5. Janis Richards (Business) supported Shavanah’s last point and the need to develop communications work to show how the Strategy would work in Wales for a public audience. 
    
6. Russell Greenslade (Business) also supported previous comments and stressed the importance of developing a road map for businesses to help them understand what the Strategy would mean for them. 
    
7. Dame Elan Closs-Stephens (Public Bodies) understood the need for targeting in Phase 1 of the Strategy but urged members not to forget the specific needs of rural communities for Phase 2 where the impact of high levels of sustained poverty were being experienced. 
    
8. The First Minister acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the Industrial Strategy and supported calls for a road map. She explained that the detail of the Strategy was still being considered but stressed the importance of using it to support existing Welsh Government policies including those relating to skills. The First Minister confirmed a workforce strategy had been developed for each priority area to respond to skills shortages and that an engagement plan would be provided to the SPC in due course. 

Action: Officials to provide an update on the engagement plan when available. 

9. The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership introduced the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, explaining he would engage members on the Welsh Government’s approach to the Draft Budget 2026-7 as part of discharging the Welsh Ministers’ Social Partnership Duty. 
    
10. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language outlined the challenges of passing the 2026-7 Budget through the Senedd and the need to provide certainty for public services going into the next term after the May election. The Cabinet Secretary emphasised the consequences of the Senedd failing to pass a budget which would see a cut of 25% to current allocation levels (defined in the Government of Wales Act 1998) impacting significantly on public services and jobs. 
     
11. The Cabinet Secretary explained that the Government’s intention was to lay a restated budget, with a 2% uplift before the Senedd and acknowledged the challenges this presented. He confirmed that the restated budget would also leave new consequential funding from the UK Government unspent since agreement would not have been reached on how it would be allocated. The Cabinet Secretary said he remained open to working with other parties to realise a more ambitious budget but pointed out that the overriding priority was to avoid the damage caused by failing to pass a budget at all.
     
12. Members acknowledged the challenging situation the Welsh Government faced and offered the following responses:

• Councillor Anthony Hunt (Local Government) outlined the challenges such uncertainty created for setting local authority budgets which needed to be in place by the end of March.
• Jess Turner (Unison) emphasised the negative impact a failed budget would have on different sectors. Jess expressed frustration at the possibility of unspent consequential funding being unavailable and asked if the SPC could receive updates on the mitigations being planned for Local Government and other sectors to manage the impact of a restated budget. She also asked if Wales was receiving fair  funding under the Barnett Formula.
• Gareth Lloyd (UCU) also expressed frustration at the possibility of unspent consequential funding being unavailable and asked what would happen if a restated budget was passed.   

13. The Cabinet Secretary explained that the consequential funding, or part of it, could be accessed for a Restated Budget plus option but that this would require Senedd approval. He did not feel Wales was currently receiving a fair allocation under the Barnett Formula and emphasised the importance of handing on a working budget for the next Senedd term. The Cabinet Secretary confirmed that once work with the Welsh Local Government Association and other sectors was completed, an update to the SPC would be provided to show what mitigations were being planned in the event of a restated Budget. 
     
14. Social partners acknowledged the importance of generating stability and said they would emphasise the impact of the Senedd failing to pass a budget through their networks. 
     
15. The Cabinet Secretary outlined the Budget setting process, explaining that it had been brought forward by 5 to 6 weeks so that in the event the restated budget was not passed, more time was available for discussions with Senedd members ahead of dissolution. 
     
16. Jess Turner recommended a statement of advice was prepared from the SPC emphasising the importance of passing the Budget which would include members’ views from this meeting. Jess suggested TUC Cymru could produce a first draft for the SPC to consider.
     
17. The Cabinet Secretary thanked Jess Turner for this suggestion and the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership confirmed TUC Cymru would provide a first draft of the statement to the SPC for agreement. 

Action: Once work with stakeholders has been completed, an update to be provided to the SPC by Welsh Government officials showing what mitigations are being planned in the event of a restated Budget being passed. 

Action: TUC Cymru to provide first draft of a statement of advice emphasising the importance of passing the 2026-27 Budget for agreement by all SPC members. 

18. The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership reminded members that Ben Cottam (Business) had now resigned his seat at the SPC and so was no longer the joint chair of the Working Group on Fair Work in Business Grants. The Minister confirmed the Group met on the 17 September for a presentation from the Scottish Government on their Fair Work First programme and that the next meeting would take place in October. He invited Shavanah Taj, who chaired the last meeting of the Working Group in the absence of Ben Cottam and Peter Hughes, to update the SPC. 
     
19. Shavanah Taj confirmed the Scottish Government’s presentation had outlined their journey from the origins of their Fair Work First programme through to its current iteration published in November last year. Shavannah said that firstly this had begun as a voluntary commitment for organisations across several elements of fair work, then as a firm commitment from grant funded organisations, until finally the Living Wage and Worker Voice had become conditional elements of government funding to all organisations in Scotland from 2019. 
     
20. Shavannah said the session had offered useful reflections on the approach taken by Scotland and that coupled with the evidence from evaluating the Economic Contract there was a foundation for moving from evidence-taking to discussing next steps in Wales. She confirmed the next meeting would consider the evidence gathered to date before producing advice for the SPC to consider early next year. Shavanah praised the flexible approach being adopted within the Working Group which had allowed the good progress to be made. 
     
21. The Minister thanked Shavanah for her update. 

22. The Minister reminded members that AI had been discussed several times at the SPC but that a specific area of activity had not been identified. He said that a workshop had been held on the 7 July with social partners to consider the issue further and this had identified AI skills as a useful area of focus. The Minister explained this approach would look at uneven skills distribution across different metrics including region, age, language and neuro-divergency in order to build an ethical approach. He also stressed the pace of AI and the need to avoid duplication with existing forums. 
     
23. The Minister said that (based on workshop discussions) the paper for this item proposed co-designing advice on developing AI skills in the workplace suggesting three potential areas for consideration: defining AI literacy across different workforce levels, developing a better understanding of equity and inclusion in AI upskilling and developing a general understanding of AI for the whole workforce.
     
24. The Minister stressed he was keen to progress work but did not think the meeting schedule of the SPC allowed for sufficient pace. He explained that the paper was seeking agreement to establish a Delivery Group (jointly chaired by a trade union and employer SPC member) that would produce  advice on AI workforce skills. The Minister emphasised that membership of the Group could be drawn from members’ broader networks given the range of people that might have an interest or expertise and invited views. 
     
25. Gareth Lloyd stressed the different types of AI being used by companies. Gareth warned that some of these were being marketed as ethical products but urged caution on this. He stressed the need for an equitable approach to the use of AI. 
     
26. Russell Greenslade referred to the Technical and AI Networking Group being developed by the CBI (due to demand from businesses) and highlighted the useful links that could be made between this Group and the SPC’s. Russell also stressed the pace of AI. 
     
27. Shavanah Taj referenced the Ministerial Advisory Group on AI and the value of having Cardiff Business School feeding into this as well as the CBI and FSB.  
     
28. Jess Turner stressed the need to avoid duplication but felt the work proposed in the paper avoided this, offering a piece of work that could be fed back to forums such as the Ministerial Advisory Group. 
     
29. Janis Richards also highlighted the pace of AI and the need to avoid duplication with other forums. 
     
30. Dame Elan Stephens flagged the need to be pro-active, ensuring that the benefits of AI were realised and that this technology was not used for efficiencies to diminish the workforce. Dame Stephens confirmed this would be discussed at the Public Leaders Forum.
     
31. The Minister asked members if they were content to agree the paper and that if they did, to propose nominations for the joint chairing of the Delivery Group. 
     
32. Ruth Brady (GMB) confirmed the trade unions’ nomination was Jess Turner and this was seconded by Gareth Lloyd. 
     
33. Russell Greenslade nominated himself as the proposed chair for the employer side and this was seconded by Janis Richards. 
     
34. The Minister confirmed Jess Turner and Russell Greenslade as the joint chairs of the SPC AI Delivery Group and asked for progress updates from them to be included for each meeting of the SPC going forward.

Action: SPC Secretariat to establish a Delivery Group to look at AI skills. 

Action: SPC Secretariat to ensure updates from the AI Delivery Group are provided at future meetings of the Council.

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. The SPC agreed the actions arising.

37. The Minister confirmed the next meeting date was the 3 December and would be virtual since this meeting had been held in person. He asked members if there were any issues and none were raised. 

Worker Representatives 

Shavanah Taj, TUC Cymru  
Jess Turner, UNISON
Ruth Brady, GMB
Neil Butler, NASUWT
Gareth Lloyd, UCU
Peter Hughes, Unite

Employer Representatives 

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

Welsh Government

Eluned Morgan MS, Prif Weinidog
Jack Sargeant MS, Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership
Sharon West, Social Partnership Reform 
Liz Lalley, Economic Policy and Strategy 
Emma Watkins, Budget and Government Business
Jodye Kershaw, Budget Policy and Delivery
Liz Matthews, Budget Policy 
Andrew Granville, Net Zero and Digital Skills Policy

Observers

Llyr ap Gareth, FSB
Chris Llewellyn, WLGA
Bethan Collins, RCN
Ben Arnold, Higher Education

Apologies

Helen Whyley, RCN Wales
Mike Walker, USDAW
Sian Boyles, PCS
Pippa Britton, Voluntary Sector
Prof. Wendy Larner, Higher Education