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.