The next item on our agenda is a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education on the Diamond review of higher education and student finance in Wales, and I call on the Cabinet Secretary, Kirsty Williams.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today, I have published the final report from the review of higher education and student finance in Wales, chaired by Professor Sir Ian Diamond. I am very grateful to Professor Diamond and to all the panel members from across the political parties, the sector and industry for the time and effort that they have dedicated to the review since it began in April 2014.

The panel has considered a huge amount of evidence in the course of its work. This is reflected in the range and complexity of the issues that the panel has presented in its final report and in the level of detail involved in its recommendations.

The panel’s work was guided by the long-standing Robbins principle that entry into higher education should be on the basis of ability alone and not on the ability to afford it. Staying true to this principle, the report’s overarching recommendation is that the focus of grant finance shifts towards maintenance support across levels and modes of study, overcoming the real financial challenges associated with a period of higher education study. It proposes that maintenance support is improved for all Welsh-domiciled students, with the highest level of grant support directed towards those who are most in need, but that a non-means-tested universal maintenance grant of £1,000 should be available for all students. The report also proposes the implementation of a unique and innovative approach for part-time and postgraduate support, which will encourage a flexible approach to higher education. The report recognises that, given the context of austerity in the UK, these recommended improvements can only be achieved by releasing funds currently used to provide tuition fee grants for full-time undergraduates.

Cabinet colleagues and I endorsed the principles contained in the report. These proposals represent a radical overhaul of how we support those who want to go to higher education, as well as outlining a fairer, sustainable system of student support and higher education funding. The proposals would mean that Wales would be the only country in the UK to implement a system that is consistent, progressive and fair in its support for undergraduate full-time, part-time and postgraduate students.

The fear of not being able to meet the cost of living on a daily basis puts many off—not the prospect of paying back loans after they are in work. The report refers to the strong consensus amongst students, student representative bodies and widening participation professionals that the current maintenance support is inadequate and that this is a bigger issue for students than the level of fees and fee support. This system addresses that issue head on, but will also mean making tough decisions to ensure that the system is sustainable in the long term.

Having endorsed the underlying principles contained in the report, I now need to consider the practical implications of implementing its recommendations. The Welsh Government will therefore discuss our approach with Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Student Loans Company before finalising our formal response. I can confirm that the response will build on the following key principles: maintaining the principle of universalism within a progressive system will, for the first time anywhere in the UK, ensure a fair and consistent approach across levels and modes of study; will ensure shared investment between Government and those who directly benefit, enhancing accessibility and reducing barriers to study such as living costs—and that student support should be portable for Welsh students anywhere in the United Kingdom. In my agreement with the First Minister, we recognised that high-quality education is the driving force for social mobility, national prosperity and an engaged democracy. To enable this, Wales needs a sustainable and progressive higher education funding settlement that supports students when they need it most and enables our universities to compete internationally. Colleagues, I started by referring to the famous principle of the Robbins report. It is often overlooked that, in setting out the aims of a higher education system, the report also said, and I quote,

‘The system as a whole must be judged deficient unless it provides adequately for all.’

Sir Ian and his panel have today brought forward a report that recommends a fundamental shift so that Wales can indeed develop a higher education funding and student finance system that really does provide for all. Thank you.

May I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement? I also want to endorse the thanks that you’ve given to professor Diamond and his panel, and, indeed, the wider sector and everyone who’s contributed to this lengthy process, but a process I’m sure that will be valuable as we move towards creating a better and improved regime. In my view, this does offer a more sustainable model. You’ve stated that you support the principle underpinning this. I’m not sure if you made it entirely clear that you also agree that this moves us towards a more sustainable model than the model that we currently have. I’m sure you would want to make that clear in your response, if you wouldn’t mind.

Professor Diamond, of course, has made it clear consistently throughout this debate on these recommendations that what is proposed is a comprehensive package and that we shouldn’t pick and choose various elements of it as we implement. In looking at it in its entirety, would you acknowledge that this is a comprehensive package? A comparison was made with Assembly Members by professor Diamond that this isn’t a clothes line where you can actually pick a few items of clothing and leave the rest hanging there—that you have to look at it as one piece of work. So, while you do talk about considering individual recommendations, looking at the whole package should be your priority, and I hope that you’d be willing to do that.

Likewise, there is a question on funding. Do you accept that the current budget allocated for student support should remain and that you would work within that budget as a Government, or are you going to be seeking savings here? Because that clearly will have a great influence on how much of the holistic package that you as a Government will be able to implement. I think it’s important that you make it clear in terms of the basis that you’re working on, in financial terms.

I certainly welcome the support on part-time and postgraduate study, and also on promoting the links and the progression between FE and HE. I would like to ask you, perhaps, to say a little about how you feel these recommendations can assist Government in promoting that equality that we all want to see between vocational and academic education.

There is a need for a regime that is portable too, so that, wherever you study, the support can follow you. Diamond is entirely clear, whether it is in Wales, the UK or, in the current climate, within Europe. Plaid Cymru in our manifesto wanted to go a step further and ensure that there was support for you if you decided to study outwith Europe. I understand that that is also one of Diamond’s aspirations. Perhaps you could actually express support for that in principle, if it is something that you would be eager to support and promote.

There is also another clear recommendation contained in the report, namely recognition of the need to encourage students either to stay in Wales with their skills, or to return to Wales with their skills once they’ve graduated, and to do so, as Professor Diamond says, for the benefit of Wales. The suggestion is that one could look at doing that by actually scrapping some of their debt, or writing off some of their debt. That is certainly in keeping with what Plaid Cymru had put forward as a central element of our own policy. So, clearly we would welcome recognition of that concept proposed by Professor Diamond.

He also said this morning, in discussing these recommendations with Assembly Members, that the Government needs to do that with urgency—those were his words—because the benefits for the economy here in Wales and for wider society is entirely clear to everyone. So, will you confirm that you fully intend to take action on that recommendation, and intend to do so with urgency?

I’m sure that we all look forward to reading the report in detail. Of course, we as a party are more than willing to play our part in order to implement what’s contained within the report, as long as it does move us towards ensuring a regime that is more sustainable, which closes the funding gap also across post-16 education, and does more to attract talent back to Wales in order to create a stronger basis for economic growth in Wales, and social growth also, which I’m sure is something that we all want to see.

Thank you very much, Llyr. Can I thank you for the courtesy that you have extended to Sir Ian? Sir Ian and his colleagues on the review panel, I think, have done an impressive piece of work, and I’m grateful to the Plaid Cymru representative on the panel for his assiduous work with Sir Ian. I’m grateful, indeed, for that.

Sustainability is a key element to the Government’s response to this package. We want to be absolutely certain that this is affordable, in terms of support for students, and provides sustainability and a vision for funding for the institutions in Wales. The issue of sustainability is certainly one that’s key to me and key to the finance Minister in the discussions that we’ll be having. I recognise, very clearly, that Sir Ian sees this as a complete package, and I will be looking to implement the review in the round. With regard to finance, you will be aware that the recommendations within the report mean that we need to shift the balance of where current expenditure is going, especially if we are to be able to offer the support to part-time students and to postgraduate students that Sir Ian envisages within the report. You will also be aware, in my agreement with the First Minister that brought me into Government, that we said that we would implement Diamond as quickly as possible, and not to the detriment of the HE budget. This report is not just a report about support for individual students, but also outlines how we can release resources to ensure that funding for such things as expensive courses and research can be put on a sustainable footing also.

You raise some points regarding FE. You will be aware that a sub-group was set up as part of the Diamond review to look at the issues of FE. Sir Ian recommends that there should be a focus on vocational and technical education, and how we can create stronger links between FE and HE, so that people can have an opportunity to study more readily HE level courses in the FE sector, but also make the transition from FE into HE, especially in the development of employer-sponsored programmes. So, there’s a role for employers here as well in making sure that we’ve got the skills that we need for the economy moving forward.

With regard to portability, I think it is a very important principle that the student support package will be available to students regardless of where they study in the United Kingdom. Sir Ian does make recommendations with regard to access to European study opportunities, and indeed I understand this morning that he was talking about access to study opportunities across the world, and I certainly would want to look to see how we can practically deliver that. I don’t want to put a cap on any Welsh student’s ambitions, and if they are successful in gaining access to the world’s top universities, then I want the Welsh Government to play their part in allowing them to reach those aspirations. We’ll be looking to see how we can extend those opportunities to both European and worldwide study.

With regard to incentivisation, as the Member says, the Diamond report puts forward a recommendation that we could look at incentivisation schemes that would get Welsh graduates to return or stay in Wales. I will indeed consider how we can do that, so that we can bring skills and retain skills within Wales. We need to look very carefully at the proposals, which could be very complex to administer, and would require Her Majesty’s Treasury agreement in our ability to write off the loan book, because they’re in charge of the loan book. But as you said, this was a key plank of Plaid Cymru’s policy, so I’m sure the party has thought very carefully about some of the complexities involved in delivering such a scheme. For instance, if someone lives in Newport but works in Bristol, or if someone lives in Chester but works in Alyn and Deeside—the nature of the work, the nature of the skills that people are bringing to Wales—these are complex issues. So, I’m very grateful, and I will be taking the Member up on his offer to work with Plaid Cymru, to look to see how we can introduce a scheme as recommended by the Diamond report, and I look forward to working with you on overcoming some of the complexities that Sir Ian has identified with such a scheme. But I’m very interested in taking up that recommendation.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I would also like to put on record the thanks of the Welsh Conservative group to Professor Diamond, and indeed all of the panel members, especially our nominee, Professor David Warner, for his contribution to the excellent work that they have done. We certainly welcome the publication; we welcome wholeheartedly the recommendations that have been made to move away from tuition fee support, and towards a system of means-tested maintenance grants. This is something, of course, that our party has been advocating for some time, and I’m pleased that you’ve referred to the fact that there are some planks of each individual party’s commitments that are embedded within the recommendations that have been made. We as a party, of course, have always believed that no-one should be denied the opportunity to go to university on the basis of their background. We want as many young people who want to go to university to be able to access a university education.

One thing that I’m very keen to hear from you on, though, Minister, is—obviously, there are people who are already embarked upon their university education, embedded within the current grant system. There’s a very clear recommendation from Professor Diamond to continue to allow those individuals who’ve already embarked upon their education in university with the current support package to still have that maintained for them throughout and not be disadvantaged, perhaps, by any changes as a result of any new arrangements that come into force. Can you confirm that that will be the case for those individuals in order that they are not disadvantaged?

Some of the areas where there was clearly a discussion still ongoing within the panel and no firm conclusions reached were in respect of support for parents who want to attend university—people who might be single mothers or single parents or have other caring responsibilities. I just wonder, Cabinet Secretary, whether there’s been any consideration in advance of the publication of the report by the Welsh Government as to what sort of support might be available to help individuals with caring responsibilities to access university education. I note and welcome the recommendations that have been made around part-time support. I think they’re very welcome indeed, in order to give a more level playing field and, indeed, encourage more people into part-time study. We all know that part-time students are more likely to pay their loans back, for example, so there’s a good financial incentive to encourage people to study part-time, and, of course, they play a very active role in contributing to the Welsh economy while they are studying, if they’re working alongside. So, I’d particularly like to hear from you, Minister, about how rapidly you hope to be able to implement the part-time study proposals.

I was also very interested in the recommendations that have been made around investment in knowledge transfer. There’s a significant recommendation about increasing investment on that front. We know that there’s a note in the report about—every £1 invested in the higher education innovation fund at the moment returns £7 to the Welsh economy. I think that’s very good value for money and, therefore, I would hope that you would take fully on board the recommendation that has been made about further investing in knowledge transfer.

There was no specific reference to the current bursaries that have been made available to nursing students here in Wales. You know that there’s all-party support in the Chamber for the existing arrangements to continue at present, but I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, whether you might give consideration, as you’re looking to see what skills might be retained in Wales and how to attract people, particularly into those parts of the public sector where we’ve got skills shortages, such as the NHS, whether there might be other bursary options that could be considered and extended, particularly given that the figures in the report seem to suggest that there’s going to be a net saving as a result of the implementation of this package of reform that is being proposed by Professor Diamond and his team.

And just finally, you’ve made an indication that you, obviously, want to go away and consider the recommendations more fully before announcing a full response on behalf of the Government. There’s a clear indication that Professor Diamond feels that these are recommendations that can be implemented in 2018, for the start of the academic year in 2018. I wonder whether you feel that you’re able to hit what I think is quite an ambitious target, given that all of the ducks have got to be in a row in terms of the discussions that you’ve got to have with the UK Government, the Student Loans Company and others in order to embed what is a significant change into the system without any big problems.

Thank you very much, Darren, for that. Can I, too, join you in thanking the Conservative nominee for his participation in the work of the review? Again, I’m very grateful for that. You raise a very good point regarding cohort protection, and I want to make it absolutely clear today that students who are already in the system and enter into the system on one specific student support package will complete their educational journey on that support package. It would not be fair to change the rules of the game for students who are halfway through their course. So, we will offer cohort protection to those people who are already in the system and, indeed, who apply under a system. Because if you make an application to a university and then, halfway through that year, you find that, actually, the circumstances have changed again, that would not be fair. I want to make that very clear to people today: that there will be cohort protection. That’s the only fair way to manage the change from one system to another.

With regard to people with caring responsibilities, the ability to support part-time students in a fair way hopefully gives those people for whom perhaps it’s simply not feasible, practical or affordable to go to full-time study, the opportunity to engage in part-time study. That’s what’s really important about this package: yes, we need to ensure that we look after traditional undergraduate students but, actually, the nature of higher education is training—the nature of our workforce and our population in training. People want to be able to be flexible in how they acquire higher level skills. It’s vital to the future of our economy. Therefore, being able to provide support for part-time students is really important. It’s also important to state that this package looks at the support for looked-after children, or children who have experience of the care system, to put in place a maintenance system for them, which will allow them to be able to go on to university without being fearful of upfront living costs—how they pay for their rent, their food, their books. I know that issues around carers are of particular interest to the National Union of Students. In my meetings with the Wales NUS, I have given a commitment that I will look, indeed, to see what the barriers are to carers in accessing higher education, and if possible I want to make some progress on that because I know that it is of particular concern to NUS Cymru.

With regard to timing, as you’ll be aware, there are a number of steps that I need to go through, the first of which is Her Majesty’s Treasury. Perhaps Darren Millar could use the auspices of his party to ease those negotiations. The Treasury is in charge of the loan book, and therefore we cannot make progress on this until I have clearance from the Treasury. You will also be aware, from reading Sir Ian’s report, that there are actual constraints within the Student Loans Company, of which we are a minority shareholder. I have to be absolutely confident that, in moving forward, the Student Loans Company will be able to cope and administer this system. I do not want Welsh students falling foul of the new system because of a lack of capacity within the Student Loans Company. I will only move forward when I have those absolute guarantees that the Student Loans Company can move to accommodate our systems. Otherwise, that would potentially only cause difficulty for Welsh students, and I want to avoid that.

Knowledge transfer is absolutely key. We’re not waiting just for the implementation of Diamond. I, Julie James and my Cabinet Secretary colleague, Ken Skates, are already looking at what more we can do in the field of knowledge transfer in universities. Some of the processes are very complex, and we’re not getting the biggest bang for the current buck that we’re spending. So, we really need to look at that system, not just in the context of Diamond, but what we can do more in terms of higher education and knowledge transfer.

Nursing bursaries are a matter for my Cabinet Secretary colleague who is in charge of health, and I’m sure he’ll have some interesting things to say in response to the Plaid Cymru minority party debate tomorrow afternoon with regard to nursing. So, I don’t want to pre-empt anything that he may say in the debate tomorrow.

I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary, Professor Diamond and his team for the report and her statement. There are elements of the report that my party welcomes—the sensible postgraduate arrangements, making them equivalent to undergraduates, support for part-timers and support for carers. One small part we had in our manifesto was the suggestion of pilot schemes for Welsh students to study globally at the best educational institutions. So, we’re delighted to see that taken forward. I wonder, though, whether the Cabinet Secretary would agree that she has become the Government’s most expensive Minister. I had thought that there was a consensus that the tuition fee grant at £237 million last year had become unaffordable, and that savings would need to be made. The Labour manifesto referred to having a student support system that was at least as generous as that available in England. That could have allowed savings from that £237 million. It could have allowed savings from the maintenance grant not having to be paid back in Wales. But all those potential savings, we are now told, are going to be spent. I asked Professor Diamond this morning whether there’d be any savings and he said, ‘No, it was going to be broadly equivalent’. I referred him to his terms of reference, which said one of his focuses should be

‘the funding of higher education in the light of continuing constraints on public expenditure’, but he told me that he hadn’t applied that; there’d been a more recent statement from the Welsh Government, and that had led to him producing a package that had no negative effect on the higher education budget. Now, of course, that phrase was included in what on her website the Cabinet Secretary initially styled as the coalition agreement. It’s still searchable, with various lines of Latin underneath it. But that was then restyled ‘the progressive agreement’. But I would like to ask the Cabinet Secretary: what is progressive about handing £1,000 to every student, however well off they are, no questions asked? What is progressive about increasing a maintenance grant that was £5,161—part of which was paid up to family incomes of £50,000—increasing that to over £8,000 and making that payable to households with incomes over £80,000, receiving at least part of that?

Now, students, on account of graduating, will earn more over their lifetime than those who don’t have the privilege of going to university. They come on average from significantly better-off families, yet we propose to give £132 million a year in increased maintenance grant to this group. Now, some in my party, and perhaps some Labour Members, might wish to spend that on the Welsh NHS or on our most deprived communities, but instead of that, it will go in maintenance grants that get paid, including to families earning up to £80,000. How is that progressive?

I wonder—the Cabinet Secretary also mentions rent—how this is going to assist in paying rent. What analysis has the Welsh Government, or Professor Diamond and his team, done of the extent to which this extra money will go to reward landlords? Does she consider that that will be progressive? I also wonder why she thinks it benefits the Welsh economy to transfer over £30 million a year in maintenance grant to students who will be studying in England. Now, Plaid came up with a proposal that they want a potentially complex system that would forgive some of those loans. But, listening to Professor Diamond this morning, there seemed to be at least half a dozen hurdles on the way to that, not least that the Treasury may not agree. Listening to the Cabinet Secretary now, she emphasises the difficulties of that. There is £74 million that’s been put in as a holding sum in the report, supposedly for those costs, but it’s not included in the summary of the costs of the recommendations. Does the Cabinet Secretary really believe that this differential loan forgiveness scheme is ever really going to be implemented? Is not a better way to encourage students to stay in Wales, to support and expand the higher education system here, the provision of a more generous settlement to students who stay in Wales compared to those who choose to go to England and benefit from the loans, as English students have there? We could support the worst-off with some help while still supporting the Welsh education system in that way. Why will she not do that?

Could I also ask her—? She mentions this ‘no detriment’. Is it the case that the terms of reference of the Diamond review were changed two years in and replaced with her progressive agreement? Please tell us how that is progressive.

One final matter: there is a recommendation from Professor Diamond that students may continue to be paid and funded to study elsewhere in the EU, but he states that recommendation is

‘subject to the UK remaining in the EU’.

Is he not aware there was a referendum on 23 June, or does he agree with her party that we should be made to vote again?

Thank you to Mr Reckless for his series of questions. I know that you are relatively new to Wales, but there is an honourable tradition in Welsh public policy of the principle of universalism in a progressive system. It is one that has enjoyed a consensus of many of us in this Chamber, and I am delighted that Sir Ian has continued with that principle in the report today. I firmly believe that higher education is a shared investment—a shared investment, yes, with those who will directly benefit from pursuing a higher education—but, there is benefit to our society also in people deciding to choose at a higher education level. It is a shared investment and I for one am very pleased that Sir Ian has recognised it in his work and it is a principle that I fully endorse.

Mr Reckless asks how this is a progressive system. This is a progressive system because it will address the No. 1 concern for students in the here and now—that it is upfront living costs that is the biggest barrier to going on to study at higher education. It is the ability to survive from week to week, to sustain yourself in university, that is the biggest barrier. And in this system, students from our poorest backgrounds, or those who have been in the care system, or those who are estranged from their parents will have a maintenance grant, non-repayable, that is equivalent to the minimum wage. That is the essence of a progressive system. If he can’t recognise that, then there’s nothing I can do to help him. There is nothing I can do to help him. Nothing at all.

I think it’s also an important principle, which has been endorsed by Sir Ian today, that this system should be truly portable. As I’ve said in earlier questions, I don’t want to put a lid on the ambition of Welsh students. There are fantastic higher education institutions in our country that people can study in, and many in this Chamber have benefitted from them. But, there is also a wider world out there and if students want to take the opportunity to study in institutions in the rest of the UK, the European Union or other parts of the world, then I want a system that allows them to fulfil their dreams and their ambitions. If they are good enough to get into whichever institution, then this system should be there to support them. I will be looking to see how we can make that a reality for students.

With regard to incentivisation, it is a recommendation within the report. I welcome that recommendation. I think that there is merit in looking to do what we can to incentivise students to remain, to practise their work in Wales, to keep those skills in Wales, or to bring those skills back to Wales. It is not without its problems; that is outlined in the report. But it is not beyond the wit of this Government, working with others, to come up with a system that can achieve those goals. I have made a sincere offer to the Plaid Cymru spokesperson to work with them to see what scheme we can come up with that will do just that. There are practicalities to overcome. But, as I said, it’s not beyond the wit of us to be able to come up with a scheme, and that is what I intend to do.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement today and also add my thanks to Sir Ian and his team for his report? I’m really looking forward to them coming to the Children, Young People and Education Committee on the twelfth for us to discuss it in detail. I think that there is a great deal to welcome in this report. Particularly, I welcome the fact that it has so clearly taken on board the views of students about the need to address the pound in their pocket. I welcome the change for postgraduates, which will be vital for our economy, the changes for part-time students, which will have a huge impact on our ability to deliver on social justice in Wales, and I also agree with the Cabinet Secretary that portability is extremely important.

Probably for me, though, the most welcome thing is that this will provide the most generous package of support to the neediest students that we have ever seen—the commitment to provide the equivalent of the living wage, which is enormously welcome. I would just like to specifically ask about young people who’ve had experience of the care system, which the Cabinet Secretary has already referred to. The report makes specific recommendations in relation to those young people. Is it the Welsh Government’s intention to fully implement those recommendations?

Could I thank the Chair of the Children, Young People and Education committee for her warm welcome of Sir Ian’s work? We will be unique in the entirety of the UK in offering a system that is both portable and equal to all modes of study. We’ve already talked about the importance of part-time students, but it’s also right that we should be in a position to assist postgraduate study. It’s very important for our economy and to recognise that for many students now, the ability to move on to postgraduate study is almost becoming a prerequisite in many of their fields of work. It’s a source of regret to me that, at the moment, we’re not in a position to operate a support system for postgraduate study. It’s a missing link—it is absolutely a missing link—in the system that we currently have at the moment, and I receive a lot of correspondence from Assembly Members across the Chamber about that issue. This proposal will help us address that.

We know that for looked-after children we have a mountain of work to do, and that starts at primary and secondary school. We can have the most progressive higher education student support policy for looked-after children, but, as we’re often reminded by David Melding, if those children don’t get the GCSEs and the A-levels they need, it is worth nothing. So, our support at the HE level will be seen as a continuum of the work that we’re already doing with the pupil deprivation grant and with specific intervention programmes for looked-after children in our schools, so that we can increase the numbers that would indeed benefit from the proposals in Sir Ian Diamond’s work, which I intend to honour and implement.

Can I say to the Cabinet Secretary for Education that she, like Plaid Cymru, at least had the courage to go into an election with an alternative to the current system and to call out the emperor’s new clothes around the tuition subsidy? It costs too much, and it’s unsustainable, and I’ve been saying that for four years. The silence from the Labour benches, for not having the courage to go into an election to say what they believed in, is something that you can hear here today. [Interruption.] You certainly did—it was a useless policy, but you certainly had one, so that’s fair enough. [Laughter.] That’s fair enough.

So, the Cabinet Secretary knows, and she understands and appreciates, the depth of the challenges facing her. She will know as well that Professor Diamond has made a very valiant report that covers just about all aspects of the issues, apart from the one that Llyr Gruffydd in particular has highlighted: the need to attract more students to study and stay in Wales in order to strengthen our universities and in order to make that link with a developing economy in Wales. I think she does, and I welcome the fact that she’s reached out to look at how we can work together on that, but I think that she must acknowledge as well that that is a weakness in the current system. Nothing in Diamond immediately addresses that, although it is, of course, highlighted.

Can I just say that I was unable to attend Professor Diamond’s briefing this morning, so I’m very grateful to Mark Reckless for telling me that Professor Diamond did not, in fact, carry out one of the remits that he was given and that it changed because of instruction from the Welsh Government? I distinctly remember negotiating the remit with your predecessor, Huw Lewis, line by line, as an agreement between two parties of how we could address this funding issue. It now seems that the remit agreement was changed, without any reference to the original parties that made that agreement, and was changed in a way that could have influenced the way that Professor Diamond produced his report. So, I put on notice, unless you can reply immediately, that I will be examining how that came about.

Can I also ask the Cabinet Secretary whether she has any schadenfreude at all, as a Liberal Democrat in a Labour Cabinet, in introducing the element of means testing that was the only thing that the Labour Party actually ruled out in their manifesto—the means testing that I think, based on universality, is an inevitable consequence of going down the line of market testing within higher education? I’ve fought against that all my political life—voted against it in the House of Commons time after time when Labour was all lined up to vote it through. We have to deal with the situation we have and the limited resources we have. Therefore, the principle that she’s set out is one that I support and one that I welcome.

However, there are two elements of the principles that you said in your statement that I thought were missing. I don’t disagree with the ones that you set out as the way forward, but there were two that I thought were part of Diamond and are no longer there. One is to equalise the playing field between FE and HE—to have a more level system of choices so that people can genuinely choose an FE future, and that we do see that the resources that we spend as a nation are as supportive of FE as they are of HE. In that context, could you just—because I haven’t had time, I’m afraid, to read the detail of the report—reiterate the reasoning for linking student support to the living wage, and which living wage—John McDonnell’s living wage, Boris Johnson’s living wage? Which living wage? It seems wonderful, doesn’t it? It seems like a good socialist principle to link student support to living wage. But why are we linking Welsh student support to a living wage we have no control over, and a living wage that is not related to our economic circumstances? Why are we linking student support to a living wage when apprenticeships and apprentices do not get that kind of support? This, again, I’m concerned can skew us down to over-supporting HE at the cost of FE, and I think the future for Wales and the future for many of our communities is actually to increase the number of people going to FE and get those higher level apprenticeships. So, I’m really questioning what the basis for that is—not the principle, because I accept the principle, but what the basis of that is—and whether the true affordability is built into that. And I think students would get a very generous—. As Lynne Neagle said, it is very generous, but is it commensurate with our economic investment—that co-investment that she talked about?

And the second element that I would like to ask about—because that’s the level playing field—and the second principle that I thought was missing was one that said that we want to use this system now to close the HE funding gap in Wales. She stood on a manifesto commitment to restore part of the teaching grant. That’s no longer part of Diamond and it’s no longer part of her statement, but if we’re not going to restore the teaching grant, then how can you tell us how the released resources, which you mentioned in reply to questions, will flow back to investment in higher education? We know the funding gap is real—it’s about £90 million at the moment in HE. It’s grown over the years. We were unable to address it when we just funded students and we didn’t fund universities. In what way does Diamond now enable us to address that funding gap, and is it indeed a principle that she will hold dear to?

Thank you, Simon, for your questions. Can I absolutely assure you that I in no way at no point had any conversations with Sir Ian Diamond or the panel about changing its remit? You really, really should know better than to believe everything that is sometimes stated. So, I can assure you. So, by all means, FOI as much as you like. There was no instruction to Sir Ian Diamond to change the remit of the report.

But I do recognise this issue about getting a better balance between how we have traditionally funded HE in the round, and the emphasis has very much been on funding the individual student. That has led to some very real challenges for the HE sector and the institutions themselves. What this report does do, and what my agreement with the First Minister seeks to do, is to ensure that, in moving resources, we will be able to achieve that balance and be able to get to a position where HEFCW, or as a result of maybe a response to the Hazelkorn review—something that maybe comes after—is able to put resources back into HE institutions. I think that that, actually, is one of the ways in which we need to make the Welsh HE offer as good as it could be to potential students, because I think there has been, if I’m honest, a challenge for Welsh HE institutions to keep apace with some of the developments across the border. Therefore, some of the things that may be attractive to students have been developed in England, and we haven’t had the resources to do that here in Wales. So, that’s one of the building blocks that we need to do—a better balance in how we fund HE in the round, and I think that Sir Ian has given us a very good blueprint on how we can take that forward.

With regard—. Look, I didn’t write the Labour Party manifesto—[Interruption.] I didn’t write the Labour Party manifesto, but I am aware what that manifesto did say—that any new regime for funding students in Wales would be more generous than that in England, and this system today delivers on the Labour Party manifesto in the same way it delivers on my manifesto, when I said very clearly that we had to move to a system of maintenance grants for upfront living costs. So, I think that, actually, this proposal today keeps faith with what the Labour Party said in the election and what my party, the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said in the election.

The Member does raise some very serious points about FE. Just like the HE sector, there have been significant pressures on the FE sector. Now, much of the evidence that was given to Diamond highlighted the need for a more joined-up approach and enhanced progression routes between FE and HE. It was agreed, therefore, that it would helpful if the review panel were able to consider more closely these matters as part of its remit. It was assisted in doing that by a sub-panel, and that considered how best to enhance the opportunities for students pursuing work-based or occupation-related higher education course, because I do think the needs of the modern economy demand that from our system. The FE-related recommendations focus, as I said, on vocational and technical education, because the sub-panel felt that that was where the area of greatest need was, and we’ll be looking forward to how we can implement the recommendations that have been made with regard to that.

With regard to the living wage, the approach taken by Sir Ian is one of, ‘What is an adequate amount of money that is needed for people to sustain themselves?’ He’s made that link to the living wage, but the point is well made that there are other people who are pursuing training and skills development that would not be subject to that. What is really important is that those upfront living costs do not become a barrier, especially for our poorer students, in pursuing higher education. That’s the underlying principle that I will look to take forward in looking how we can implement the recommendations here. But, the points about FE are well made and this Government is cognisant of them.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the statement and can I join others in thanking Sir Ian and his panel for the work they did? Can I also thank her predecessor, Huw Lewis, who actually was one of the leading instigators of this? We’ve got to recognise the work he put into that as well.

Cabinet Secretary, you’ve answered many questions today, so I’ll try and keep mine as short as possible. My constituents in Aberavon are faced by very many difficulties. In fact, we undertook a survey of those who’d applied to higher education in Neath Port Talbot and we found that, in Aberavon, there were far fewer students going to HE than in Neath. It could be a consequence of some of the challenges they would have faced in living costs. I very much appreciate the work that’s gone on to actually support those students from more deprived areas to have that ability to go in.

But, can I move on to part-time study, which is one of my concerns? I’ve always been interested in part-time study. I very much appreciate the move into supporting part-time study. I think it’s important that we help those in work and those who are seeking to go into work or change to a different direction to actually get those qualifications. But, can you clarify a couple of points for me, please? Will it be part-time based upon modules or credits, on that basis? Because it is important, as some only do certain modules per year, or you, for example, may only do one module per year. Are we looking at that? Will existing part-time students who have never had any support in that sense, unlike full-time graduates, be able to benefit from this straight away? So, if they’re already in a programme, will they be able to benefit from that straight away? I’m a little bit concerned in case we also perhaps give some unscrupulous employers opportunities to say, ‘Ah, you’ll get funding from the Welsh Government now for this.’ Will you be monitoring closely the former employer contributions to make sure we don’t, sort of, cover their costs that they’re now backtracking on, to ensure that they still continue to support their employees who are going through part-time study?

Also, it says in here, in the executive summary,

‘The more moderate fee for part-time students should be topped-up with institutional learning and teaching grants for universities and higher education providers’.

Could you indicate what the allocation will be actually to provide that top-up support?

‘The overall funding system for part-time students should not be restricted by credit thresholds’.

Can you clarify again what you mean by ‘credit thresholds’ in that sense?

It also indicates that a part-time student should not be penalised for any prior study. Will that apply to full-time students as well? Because many full-time students may actually go back. I know of an individual who graduated as an engineer, spent 10 years working as an engineer, decided to go and change pathways, went back to study medicine and has been practising as a GP for many years since. Again, that applies, you know—. So, if you apply it to one route of part-time, are you going to apply it to full-time as well?

I appreciate also the emphasis on part-time taught Master’s and part-time research, and I note again that there are discussions as to the tripartite approach to supporting 150 research students. Have you had discussions with industry, because they’re one of the ones discussed as a third party—Welsh Government, universities and other funders, which I assume will be industry? What discussions have you had with industry to be that third party in funding those research students? I also welcome and support the continued emphasis on HEFCW putting money into research, because greater research is important. We know, many times, we have not worked to our level in the funding grant we’re receiving from our funding councils. This is important, that we continue to fund our universities, so that we can get to that level and get more funding from the research councils.

Can I thank the Member for his questions? He asked whether we will be able to make the scheme available for part-timers straight away. I’m now caught in a dilemma: Members expect this to be delivered as a package and now some Members want little bits of it to be delivered earlier than others. I think the issue is, David, that we see this package in the round and I want to be able to move forward on that basis, introducing support for students across all modes at the same time, because I think if we start doing bits earlier than others, we’ll be in danger of perhaps being accused of not keeping faith with this principle that this is a package as a whole.

But with regard to credit thresholds and previous study, you’ll be aware that the report is newly published and these are some of the details that we will need to work through in the coming weeks, before we’re able to go out to consultation on a detailed Government response. So, issues around credit thresholds, previous study, how many times you can go into the system and whether you can be a perpetual student in the system, all need to come out in the further consideration around sustainability and around the finer details of the package.

You’re right: industry, employers have a role to play here. You’ll be aware of a speech I made recently with regard to how I want a closer working relationship between higher education institutions and their local economy—their local employers. Those discussions are ongoing with Julie James and other Cabinet Secretary colleagues about how we can make those linkages, which are absolutely crucial. You raised the issue of moral hazard: if we do this, will we actually then create a problem elsewhere in the system? I believe there is a genuine desire, both in the HE sector and with employers, to work together to deliver on this agenda. Employers see the benefit of having well-skilled workers who they can support. They can retain those skills, increase their productivity and increase the productivity of that business, which has been one of the things that have dogged the Welsh economy—low productivity levels. This is an opportunity to address that.

For the benefit of Simon Thomas, I’d just like to remind him that, when the Welsh Labour Government sets up a Diamond review, it is not a good idea to second guess what its recommendations are going to be in our manifesto beforehand. All stakeholders were represented and therefore it was—. You know, let’s hear the evidence and then we discuss what we’re going to do about it.

Thank you very much for your statement. I’m particularly interested to pick up on this issue of carers. I’m particularly thinking of those who have their children very young and haven’t completed their education, but will want to go back to university once their children are in full-time education themselves. What discussions, if any, have you had with the Department for Work and Pensions about if somebody is a part-time student? Could they also therefore be eligible for part-time benefits on the grounds that they are only part-time students and, therefore, could they be eligible for other benefits, part-time? Because, otherwise, this part-time allowance is simply not going to work for them. It’s extremely difficult to work and care as well as study, if they’re lone parents. So, that would be useful to know about.

My other concern is around the Student Loans Company. I’m interested to know that you’re having discussions with them, because unlike your reassurances about existing students, they have changed the rules of the game in the middle of the story, because those who’ve taken out loans to pay for their education are suddenly finding that the Student Loans Company has been privatised and that their debts have been securitised and are being sold off to the highest bidder. And the escalator of debt that students are facing is extremely worrying, and is what is most likely to discourage people from low-income families to want to take on debt where they can’t quantify it. When you take on a mortgage, you know what the end game is going to be, but it appears to be the case at the moment, the way the Student Loans Company has gone, that the student has no idea the extent of their debt and how much it is going to increase as soon as they cease to be a student and start working.

Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for her questions? As I stated earlier, I believe the recommendations and the principles endorsed by the Cabinet keep faith with the Labour Party manifesto, in that the Labour Party said that the system would be more generous than in England, and if we implement this, that will be the case. With regard to people who are looking to study part-time, this is one of the most attractive features of the Diamond report—that we will be able to support properly, for the first time, those who are studying on a part-time basis. But we should not forget that for those people who are going back to education, especially in the field of FE, Welsh Government does provide resources to FE colleges—in fact, I’ve just signed off the allocations for this year—so that they can help those students with childcare, with travel costs. So, we do already have programmes in place to try and support those learners to maintain their places, especially in the FE sector.

I have not had discussions with the DWP. With regard to the Student Loans Company, my priority in my dealings with the Student Loans Company is to secure assurances from them that they can change their systems to allow us to move to this new system of student support. The report does have some quite harsh things to say about capacity within the Student Loans Company. We cannot move forward on any of this unless we know that the Student Loans Company can accommodate the new system. That’s one of the reasons why we have found ourselves in the position of not being able to offer postgraduate loans this year, because the Student Loans Company could not change their systems in time to allow us to do that. This is a real barrier to the implementation of any of these reforms. I have met with the chair and the chief executive of the Student Loans Company, and officials continue to have dialogue with the chief executive of the Student Loans Company, because that is the priority that I have at this stage—that they can flex their system to allow us to implement this change because, without that, we will not be able to do any of the things that I’ve outlined today. I need to be able to do that with confidence that we will get, and Welsh students will get, a good service.

Overseas students make a direct contribution, a valuable contribution, to our universities and the economy. For every five European Union students that come to Wales, one job is created and £200 million comes in payments from international students to universities in Wales. Bangor University in my constituency is collaborating with 100 partners in 20 countries in Europe, and with many other countries across the world as well. All of this, of course, helps to strengthen links with overseas countries and is an important tool in our efforts in trading overseas. Following the referendum, there is a duty, of course, on this Government to ensure and safeguard public money for research and development after leaving the EU, for example, the Horizon 2020 scheme. Projects in Wales received about £12 million in funding from the Horizon 2020 fund in 2014 alone, and Wales has also received over €140 million from the EU framework programme during the funding round of 2007 to 2013—that is, the previous funding stream on research and innovation.

The Diamond report does underline the importance of these funding sources for Welsh universities. Now, if I understand correctly, the Welsh Government policy is to allow Westminster to decide on the conditions for leaving the EU. The Chancellor has confirmed that funding from schemes such as Horizon 2020 will be safe until 2020. But, in recognising the importance of this funding for Welsh universities, what efforts have you personally made to ensure that the interests of our universities are safeguarded in this? And will you now be using your role within Welsh Government to ensure the best possible settlement for the higher education sector, as a result of Brexit?

Can I thank the Member for her questions? International students are vital to the health of Welsh higher education, and they are very welcome here in Wales, whichever part of the world they come from. I issued a statement to that effect immediately after the referendum. We welcome international students to our universities. They contribute to the rich tapestry of people who gather together to think big thoughts, to research, to work together, and they are very welcome here.

I’m acutely aware of the challenges that the higher education sector have as a result of the Brexit vote. That is why I have set up a higher education and FE group, which will advise me, as education Minister, with regard to these challenges, and why there is a significant level of HE representation in the First Minister’s European reference group. We are looking very carefully to ensure that any applications that Welsh HEIs already have in the system are approved as quickly as possible, if that’s possible, to ensure that we have a safeguard of funding.

We continue to look at what networks will be available to Welsh universities as and when we come out of the European Union. We may end up out of the European Union, but what is important is that we do not turn our backs—[Interruption.] We do not turn our backs on our European neighbours. I will be looking to see what opportunities are available, despite that changed status, for continued collaboration and working across the European Union, and, indeed, internationally, with HE institutions here in Wales and with HE institutions across the world, and including Europe.

You will be aware, unfortunately, that the Westminster Government have announced a pilot with regard to people who can stay after the period of study has ended. That has been made available to Cambridge and some other cities in England. It is a source of great annoyance to me that we were not asked about that. We were not offered the opportunity to offer some Welsh cities to take part in that pilot scheme. I have written to Jo Johnson, the higher education Minister in the Westminster Government, to express my concern, and to reiterate once again to the Home Office that there are places in Wales that would very much like to be part of these pilots for post-study visas. It’s a great shame to me that the Westminster Government did not afford either Wales or Scotland the courtesy of being part of that pilot.

Diolch, Lywydd. I’d like to declare an interest as a visiting lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Indeed, on Saturday, 10 September, I was there teaching executive MBA students—a very, very small group of part-time students, who were largely funded by their organisations. When I was full time—when I was back as a senior lecturer—often I’d be teaching groups of 100 students, but they were almost all international students, and, Sian Gwenllian, from outside the European Union. So, I welcome this extension of opportunity to students—domestic undergraduate students—to learn at postgraduate level.

But would the Cabinet Secretary be clear about the careful monitoring of domestic full-time postgraduate numbers, given that the Diamond projections are growth at an optimistic level of 20 per cent? If that growth becomes greater than that, then there will be funding implications. So, can we have an assurance that there will be monitoring within the system? And, also, the universities will likely want to maintain their international numbers as well, so there’ll be staffing implications for that too.

And the other question, separate to that: would the Cabinet Secretary explicitly endorse Diamond’s findings on the value of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, which was one of the success stories of the last Welsh Labour Government? The Coleg Cenedlaethol lecturers have a great deal of knowledge grown from experience, and I urge the Cabinet Secretary to draw on that.

Yes, I can confirm that we will monitor issues around postgraduate numbers very closely. The Member is absolutely right, the Coleg Cenedlaethol has been a great success. It has been wonderful to see the opportunities afforded to students across Wales to be able to study law in Welsh, journalism in Welsh, and a range of other courses. As you will be aware, we are in the process of setting up a task and finish group that will look at the future of the Coleg, its funding arrangements, and also extending its remit not only to look at HE, but also to develop work and opportunities in FE, which are lacking in many parts of Wales at the moment.