The Welsh Assembly Government has rejected claims that older people are being excluded by the marketing of a skills and careers event due to take place later this year.

Terry Mills, the chief executive of Prime Cymru, has criticised the Assembly Government over its treatment of older workers and jobseekers in advertising the three-day SkillsCymru event to be held at the Millennium Stadium in September.

But a spokesman for the Assembly Government said: “The over-50s have always been a key part of our target audience.”

The event is aimed at “skill-seekers from 14 years old to those in their 60s”, but the images currently on the website are predominantly of younger people in their 20s and 30s.

SkillsCymru is part of a major push by the Assembly Government, with European Social Funding, to assist the country’s economic recovery by equipping the population with skills.

Visitors to the event, which was announced by Carwyn Jones in January, will take part in interactive demonstrations of various disciplines including engineering, construction, retail, hospitality, cookery, sport and fitness.

But Prime Cymru, the charity established to help the over-50s become and remain economically active, said the advertising of the event would not appeal to older people in the jobs market.

Mr Mills said: “Once again, older workers and jobseekers are being ignored. There are 162,000 people between 50 and state pension age who are not working.

“Marketing materials are reflective of the target audience and older people are excluded by their absence.

“The Welsh Assembly Government have produced some excellent initiatives to address the recession through ProAct and ReAct. In Wales, modern apprenticeships are available to everybody regardless of their age.

“Where they constantly fall short is not marketing and advertising these opportunities.”

According to PrimeCymru, only 3% of apprentices and less than 5% of work-based learners are aged over 50.

Mr Mills added: “We fully support measures such as the Skills Cymru Initiative but we would urge the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that opportunities like this are advertised and marketed appropriately to everyone in Wales, regardless of age.”

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman rebutted Mr Mills’ accusations, saying: “While we are pleased Prime Cymru support SkillsCymru, we reject any accusations of ageism.

“This is a free event that is open to everyone from the age of 14 through to those in their 60s and gives people the chance to discover the huge range of careers, training schemes and educational options available to them.

“The over-50s have always been a key part of our target audience and marketing to target these directly will be taking place.

A source close to the marketing of SkillsCymru, of which the Western Mail is a media partner, said it was always planned to include people in their 50s and 60s in the marketing of the event.

He said arrangements were under way to provide marketing images appropriate to an older audience, but these had not been available when the website was launched.

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