Thank you very much, Darren. Could I begin by acknowledging the point you made about how quickly we’ve been able to turn this around? This is down to the incredible hard work by officials in the department. They have worked at this pace because we need to move to a more sustainable situation for funding both students and our institutions as quickly as possible. I want to commend the hard work that they have put into this.

The Member, Presiding Officer, says that we are saving money by not implementing the higher threshold of £80,000. Of course, that is a notional saving. That money doesn’t exist. That was a suggestion of where the threshold should be, so it’s not correct for the Member to say that this is a saving that has accrued.

Let me be absolutely clear: when I published the Diamond report in September, I wanted to secure a stable and sustainable student support and higher education funding system for our country. I have analysed the latest projections and I have had to take into consideration cohort protection, expected growth in the national wage and inflationary forecasts, whilst delivering for part-time, full-time and postgraduate students, and I’ve had to do that in the round. That means there has had to be some give in the system, but let me be absolutely clear: one third of students in Wales will receive the full package of support of over £9,000. Seventy per cent of students in Wales will be in receipt of some means-tested grant under this system, and the average student will be in receipt of approximately £7,000. I have to say, Darren, considering what your party has done to maintenance grants across the border, which are no longer available, this represents a good deal for Welsh students in the current climate that we find ourselves in.

Can I turn to the issue of the two recommendations that have been rejected? The first is around apprenticeships. The apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship policy is being developed by my Cabinet colleague and we have a very clear way forward on how we will meet this Government’s commitment to additional apprenticeships in Wales. That is being developed separate to these proposals. With regard to higher cost, the Welsh Government does not intend to regulate post-graduate provision. So, together with that principle and the lack of available data about the actual cost of teaching, we don’t think it’s sustainable to provide additional funding in that way at the moment, but the consultation exercise is there to engage with people around some of these issues.

It is not my intention to introduce caps but, at the same time, I can’t take anything off the table in the future working of that group. The group will be made up of officials from within Government, but it will also have external advice from the sector and from those people who have a direct interest in this. I will consider further whether I will extend that invitation to political parties, but I will need them to demonstrate some in-depth knowledge of the workings of the HE sector before I consider that further.

Can I be absolutely clear about the future of the Coleg? This Government has taken the decision to remove funding of the Coleg from HEFCW, actually to fund the Coleg directly from Welsh Government, which we will do to the tune of £5 million in the new financial year. It is a matter that was welcomed recently in committee—I appreciate that you weren’t there. This matter was recently welcomed in the committee and has been welcomed by the Coleg themselves.

Intensity levels—we have agreed to look at the intensity levels starting at 25 per cent, but the consultation exercise specifically asks about how we could regulate lower intensity levels in the future. But we are starting—for the first time, we will have parity of esteem for our part-time students. That has not been achieved before. It is not available anywhere else in the UK. In fact, I haven’t yet been able to find a country in Europe that provides this package across all modes of study. We are leading the way. I can tell you, officials from the Scottish Government and the Northern Irish Government have already been on the phone asking how the Welsh Government is delivering this innovative package of support.

With regards to disability, I want to make it absolutely clear: we will continue to fund specialist payments for disability that are available under the current system. They will continue under the new system.