4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's approach to increasing opportunities for adult education in Wales? OAQ(5)0113(FM)

We have a range of programmes aimed at increasing employability, improving skills, and supporting people of all ages and abilities to enter and progress into employment, and, of course, they play a fundamental role in reducing inequalities and tackling poverty.

Adult education can play a vital role in breaking the poverty cycle. That was the message from the Inspire! adult learners awards last month, at which I presented the life career change award. The new £22 million Coleg y Cymoedd building in Aberdare will provide an aspirational setting for adult education, but the challenge is also to ensure suitable provision of good-quality courses for learners. How is the Welsh Government working with providers to achieve this?

Well, the Member is right to say that the new campus will be a superb facility for the people of Aberdare and the surrounding area. We are in regular contact with the post-16 sector with regard to the planning of provision; that includes the planning of part-time and adult community provision delivered by the FE sector. Delivery plans are also collected and scrutinised by officials to ensure a suitable range of provision is offered within the budget available, and, of course, FE institutions are subject to Estyn inspections.

There is serious concern amongst adults learning Welsh throughout the country because of the new system, which has led to a loss of jobs amongst local tutors. Already, a significant number of experienced staff have been made redundant in Swansea, and a further number are facing job losses in north-east Wales and in Ceredigion. There is great uncertainty in the field after the Government failed to commit to funding the Welsh for adults course for next year, and, as you know, the budget for Welsh for adults has already been cut by £3 million. If cuts on this scale are going to continue, don’t you believe that that will work against your Government’s ambition to increase the number of speakers to 1 million?

It’s been difficult over the past financial year; that’s quite true. But we’ve also ensured that new centres have been opened across Wales—from Pontardawe to Llanelli to the capital city—in order to ensure that there are places where people can go and use the Welsh language, particularly in those areas where the language is no longer the language of the high street or generally used. Now, I know that places such as Y Lle, in Llanelli, have been very successful in ensuring that people can learn Welsh, but also use Welsh, so that they don’t lose the language once they have learnt it.

First Minister, there are a number of adults across Wales who want to learn Welsh, fel y mae Siân Gwenllian wedi’i ddweud, gan gynnwys llawer o bobl yn fy etholaeth i, ac mae cymorth ariannol er mwyn eu galluogi i ddysgu'r iaith yn hynod o bwysig. Rwy’n meddwl tybed pa gymorth ariannol penodol yr ydych chi'n mynd i’w roi ar gael dros y blynyddoedd nesaf i gefnogi a meithrin yr iaith, yn enwedig mewn cymunedau fel fy un i, lle y ceir iaith fyw, ond mae angen dod â bywyd newydd iddi, yn enwedig i bobl sy'n symud i mewn i'r ardal o'r tu allan i’r cymunedau Cymraeg eu hiaith traddodiadol hynny.

That’s true. We have invested heavily, of course, in ensuring that the language is used widely in schools. We know that there are good examples like Gwynedd, like Ceredigion, where there are centres that enable children to be—the word in Welsh is ‘trochi’; it doesn’t quite work in English, because it means to get dirty in English, if you translate it literally. [Interruption.] ‘Immersed’; that’s a better word—for them to be immersed in the language. And they work very, very well. We find then, of course, that children are able to influence their parents and help their parents to learn Welsh, as they themselves learn Welsh so easily.

Hannah Blythyn. Question 5, therefore—Janet Finch-Saunders.