[R] signifies the Member has declared an interest. [W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

I have accepted an urgent question under Standing Order 12.66 and I call on Angela Burns to ask the urgent question.

Will the Minister make an urgent statement following news that support for part-time postgraduate study in Wales has been scrapped? EAQ(5)0001(EDU)

First of all, can I thank the Member for such an early opportunity to answer questions here in this Chamber? The decision to cut support for part-time postgraduate study in Wales is a matter for the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. The Welsh Government has no power to direct the funding council as to how to allocate the funds made available for higher education.

I’d like to thank the education Secretary for that and welcome her to her role. The loss of support for part-time postgraduate study means that some Welsh universities will face significant percentage cuts in their total HEFCW funding. So, for example: Cardiff Metropolitan University will lose 25 per cent of its grant; Glyndŵr some 20 per cent; and a university such as Cardiff is going to lose over £2 million. Whilst I accept the fact that HEFCW have the right to allocate the money as they see fit, education Secretary, I would like to understand what measures you might consider putting in place, given these cuts that have been announced. Part-time postgraduate educational study is vital for the development of our people, vital for career development, vital for postgraduate research work and is, in essence, a part of our university life and something that universities themselves treasure dearly. My concern is, with these cuts at the extent that they are—i.e., there’s no funding at all, again, anywhere for postgraduate part-time study—then we’re going to be basically disenfranchising an incredibly important cohort of our mature student base and I think that Welsh Government needs to have some responsibility in directing HEFCW or seeing what can be done to mitigate these problems, because it will become a real issue in the development of our culture going forward.

Can I thank the Member for her supplementary question and her good wishes? Part-time is a priority for this administration and is key to opening up opportunities for individuals to upskill and improve their employment prospects. Therefore, I was very pleased that HEFCW have recognised the importance of part-time provision and have been able to maintain its support at undergraduate level. I recognise what she says about postgraduate level. As she will be aware, I have recently taken up the post of Cabinet Secretary for Education and I’m working with officials to gain a fuller understanding of the funds and finances available to higher education students and to the institutions in which they study in Wales.

Welcoming the education Secretary to her new role, can I ask her, first of all, if she will, therefore, publish the remit letter that she has issued, or her predecessor has issued, to HEFCW, so we can understand the circumstance in which this decision was made? This directly arises, of course, from the cut to HEFCW’s grant, which the previous Labour Government brought in and which she supported, she said, with pride. So, can she explain now how she will put in place what has been described by HEFCW as essential and important for Welsh universities, namely similar incentives to those offered by other similar universities otherwise they will be defeated by strong competition? That was the evidence that HEFCW gave the committee here, before the election. And will she, in her review with her officials, be looking to introduce her policy, which she stood on in the past election, of introducing an enhancement bursary for postgraduates? Is the enhancement nothing?

Could I thank the Member for his question this afternoon also? HEFCW’s remit letter for 2016-17, which was written by the previous Minister, did task the council with developing a strategy for HE in Wales, which, amongst other things, did identify in which ways the councils and providers would work together to find innovative ways to encourage part-time study, and to create opportunities to extend part-time provision. The Member will be more than aware that the future of all these issues—of funding of both undergraduate and postgraduate, full-time and part-time—is the subject of the review of the higher education funding and student finance arrangements in Wales, chaired by Sir Ian Diamond. That is due to report later on this summer. I do not want to pre-empt the hard and serious work that has gone on by members of the Diamond review, and so I look forward to reading—[Interruption.]—and so I look forward to reading the report, when it is published, and considering its recommendations with Cabinet colleagues.

Thank you.