Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch, Mohammad. The Welsh Government is supporting the development of a skilled workforce, including delivering 100,000 apprenticeships this Assembly term. Our flexible skills programme is supporting businesses across Wales to upskill their workforce, and we're also working with the regional skills partnerships to ensure that skills provision in each region responds to business need.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Obviously, that was discussed at another forum, and I don’t believe that this is the place to discuss the future priorities of the Labour Party. But may I make it quite clear that it is austerity that has led to the cuts that have taken place to date, but that the current Government is completely committed to ensuring that we continue to invest in basic skills and in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, until we’re clear about what the outcome of the discussions will be, it’s very difficult for us to decide what should be included in the budget. But, may I make it quite clear to you that we are aware of the position? The finance Secretary is aware that this might be a matter that we will need to look at. So, I do think that we need to underscore the fact, of course, that we are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, may I say thank you very much, Llyr, for the question? You will be aware that teachers' salaries are currently decided by the Westminster Government, and we'll receive a consequential in order to pay for that, but that isn't happening as far as FE is concerned. As regards the current situation, we’re monitoring the situation regarding the negotiations between the unions and...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, just to be clear: this money is very, very clearly earmarked. It's ring-fenced. It is specifically for the growth of Welsh language education, so there's no question about it going into any general pots. This has been very, very clearly targeted. That learning pathway—we've made it clear that we want to see schools working together if they are not able to deliver that locally...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mike. I think it's really apposite that you've asked this question this afternoon when we are really moving ahead on this agenda. The fact is that, as a result of that announcement today, we're going to see almost 3,000 new places in Welsh schools, and that is the way I think we're going to start to reach this target that we've set out, which is an ambitious target. There are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I was pleased that an additional £46 million capital funding was announced this morning to support an array of projects to facilitate the expansion of Welsh-medium education. We were really pleased with the quality of the bids we received, which means that local authorities really have grasped this now and have understood that this is the direction of travel that we'd like to move in.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, we haven't actually received this paper officially as yet, because it hasn't been signed off by the Permanent Secretary as yet. So, we have to wait until that report is issued, and then we will take the political decision as to whether we wish to continue with that system or whether we want to take it further.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, thank you very much. As I said, I met with the Permanent Secretary to discuss this exact same matter yesterday. Part of what was recommended in the report involves definitions of exactly what is meant by whichever level of Welsh language proficiency we’re talking about, and I think we need to talk about that further. There are ways of doing that. We must get a better understanding of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, of course, we do encourage members of staff working for Welsh Government to learn Welsh, and there are many opportunities for them to do so, but there is an internal report that is being further developed looking at how we as a Government will respond to the requirements of 2050. I met with the Permanent Secretary yesterday to discuss that.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Yes, I'm also looking forward to receiving the results of the Brown report. I have written to the regional skills partnerships to ask them specifically: will you consider digital in your next reports? And I'm expecting them to report in their next annual commitment, so that should be published very, very shortly, and I'm expecting to see a change and a response in that. So, that is something...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, you'll see that there is a reference to trade unions on page 19, and I think—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Yes. So, I think what's important is that we do understand the really important role that the trade unions could play in the workplace, and through funding things like the Wales Union Learning Fund programme, what we found is that, actually, a lot of people who may not have the confidence to go about looking for support from their employers are willing to do that through the trade union...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think, probably of all the issues in this employability plan, this is one of the issues that, I think, as a Government, we really need to focus on. Project SEARCH is a great project; I went to visit it last week in Bridgend. So, this is a project with the local health board; they've worked with the local college, with people with learning disabilities, and they have provided them with a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. First of all, we have had quite an extensive discussion with further education colleges in relation to the funding formula. They have now responded to that consultation. I'm expecting to hear the results of that in the next few weeks, because we know that it'll take—we need to give further education colleges probably a year to prepare for any funding changes that may come their...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I don’t think that it matters whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist; it’s going to happen, and so we have to prepare for automation and how that’s going to have an impact on us as individuals and as a society. There’s no point in us pretending that we can do anything about that; it has started and there will be progress, and it will move very quickly, I...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mohammad. Yes, I think this development that we've put on the table, £10 million, really has made the further education system sit up and take notice and understand that we are dead serious about the need for them to respond to the skills needs of the local economy. What has happened as a consequence of that is that, actually, people are getting much more engaged with the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: As the report illustrates, we are laying the foundations for a more holistic, cross-Government approach to employability. We recognise the need to better connect different public services, including transport, health, housing, childcare and employability support, and ensure that these services work together to enable more people to enter and retain employment. We are already seeing the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. In March this year, we published a cross-Government employability plan that set out our vision for making Wales a full-employment, high-tech, high-wage economy. That plan presented an ambitious strategy to create a highly trained and inclusive workforce, one that can respond effectively to national and regional skills needs, and adapt well to the future of work. At...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I don't accept that it is folly to expect companies to use the language. The fact is that many companies do. If you look at Aldi and Lidl, I believe that they have an excellent record, and we need to appreciate that. I do think that it's important that we appreciate that it's not possible with the Measure that we have now to do something in this field. You are aware that I have very much more...
