Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, John. I know that your support for the Welsh language is very enthusiastic, and I know that there is a group in Newport that is campaigning to ensure that there are more opportunities for children in particular to have access to Welsh-medium education. I have visited the excellent school in your constituency in Newport, where so many people from a deprived area receive an...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Welsh Government delivers programmes to assist individuals to upskill while in work. We're committed to delivering 100,000 apprenticeships this Assembly term, and we also support employers to upskill their workforce via our Flexible Skills Programme.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I think the great benefit and advantage that small businesses have is that they can move much, much quicker than big businesses. So, that is the advantage they have in a rapidly changing situation. So, I think it's really important that they take advantage of that ability—perhaps the really big companies find it more difficult to turn supertankers around. So, being responsive to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Mohammad. I think you're right—I'm afraid to say that there has been a decline in the number of people who have accessed part-time learning. That, of course, was partly as a response to the austerity measures that have been introduced, and we had to prioritise funding and the priority was given to early years education. But I think, with the changing nature of employment—the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, may I say that I am supportive of what Carmarthenshire is doing, of course? Their report and their plans are set out clearly in the WESP that they’ve submitted to the Government and, of course, we support that. I opened a school in Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, last week, which is a school that is transferring from being a non-Welsh school to being a bilingual school and going along...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: May I say that I’m very pleased that Flintshire council didn’t go through with that proposal? The proposal didn't come from the council, but I’m very pleased that they have dismissed it. Of course, I do think it would have a detrimental effect on the numbers of children attending bilingual schools, if this transport wasn’t available. Of course, I would urge local councils to ensure...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I am most eager to ensure that we don’t wait until the new curriculum is introduced, because I don’t wish to lose another generation of children who won’t have the opportunity to receive a good education in Welsh as a second language. And so we must improve on the status quo, because you can have 13 years of Welsh lessons and come out at the other end speaking very little Welsh. So, we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, can I just say that I was really disappointed to read Bruce Robertson's comments over the weekend, and I wrote a letter to him on Monday expressing my disappointment? And I must say that I think his comments are misinformed, and I think they are out of step with public opinion in Wales. I am happy to share that letter with Assembly Members.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well done, and thank you very much, Dawn, not only for bringing this case before the Senedd today, but also for your commitment to the Welsh language.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'd just like to thank you for your enthusiasm for the language, because we need to get to a million speakers and you're on that list, so thank you very much. I think you're absolutely right—I think that people underestimate the value of Welsh language education. We know that there is a lot of evidence to suggest that, actually, it helps broaden education in its wider sense, and there's...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mohammad, and you're welcome to join me in being one of those million as well. I know you speak several other languages, so it should be fairly easy for you to pick up. So, there you go, you're on my list as well. Diolch yn fawr. I think it is important that we underline the importance of this company. There are a lot of jobs here in an area that needs jobs, so I actually...
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...
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: 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, 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: 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: 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: 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: 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...
