Written question WQ97096
- Asked by
- Cefin CampbellPlaid
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 13 days
Question
How many staff who were working on the Arfor 2 programme directly, and in the wider jobs created following the programme, have been affected by the decision not to continue funding the programme on the same scale as previously, and the period of delay and reflection the Government has presented?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
Professor Kevin Morgan’s report will be shared with you shortly.
The fully agreed funding of £11m has been made available by this Government to the ARFOR programme which was committed until the end of March 2025. Additional funding of £500k has been made available to the 4 local authorities for ARFOR for the current financial year to allow transition. This phase of ARFOR is an opportunity to ‘pause and reflect’ on the programme.
The allocated budget will provide funding for the ongoing role of the programme co-ordinator to maintain expertise and momentum, further analysis and review of the ARFOR 2 evaluation evidence to ascertain the key lessons learnt. This will help inform future direction, including best practice and maximise opportunities to mainstream the lessons learnt and principles of ARFOR in line with the findings and recommendations of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, existing programmes delivered by Welsh Government, local authorities and CJCs.
Our aim is to continue to work collaboratively both within the Welsh Government as well as with key and relevant stakeholders to improve and develop policies that support Welsh-speaking communities and help sustain Welsh as a thriving community language.
We will be considering the results of the independent evaluation of the ARFOR 2 programme undertaken by Wavehill Consulting as part of the ongoing work and will share it with you as soon as possible.
The funding support for ARFOR for this financial year includes continued funding for the local government employed programme co-ordinator to retain knowledge and expertise. The funding for ARFOR 2 was provided directly to the local authorities who managed and delivered the various interventions under this programme – either directly or indirectly through contracts commissioned from delivery partners for an agreed period of time. These contracts were between the local authority and the contractors directly for delivery of agreed services, including Llwyddo’n Lleol etc. and therefore we do not hold information on the number of staff employed by the contractors for delivery of the agreed services.