I think it’s good that we’re debating and discussing further education in the Assembly today and reflecting on its contribution to education and skills in Wales, because I do believe it is a very impressive contribution, which should be recognised, and we should discuss how we can strengthen it and take it forward.

One aspect of further education, of course, is the opportunity to have a second chance at education, and that’s what my local college, Coleg Gwent as it now is, provided for me and many others. So, I was able to do GCSEs there, A-levels there, and then go on to university and obtain a law degree and then a career as a solicitor on the back of that second-chance education during evening classes, whilst unemployed at the time, and then moving into work. So, I very much value that aspect of further education and the opportunities it brings, and I believe we should bear that in mind in the round when we look at the role of further education and how we develop further education and support it.

Coleg Gwent now, Dirprwy Lywydd, is providing a quality education and many quality skills for the population in Gwent. Last year, we had very strong A-level results in Gwent through the efforts of Coleg Gwent, and indeed positive value added as demonstrated by the advanced level information system analysis conducted by Durham University, or under the formula developed by Durham University. Indeed, the Welsh Government learner outcome reports for 2015-16 show Coleg Gwent’s main qualifications success rate of 85 per cent—amongst the best in Wales. Also, very recently—hot off the press, as it were—one of Coleg Gwent’s learners, Tom Seward, has just won the Welsh round of the Sparks UK electrical apprentice of the year. So, I think there’s quite a lot of evidence that Coleg Gwent is providing top-quality education and skills, and those are just a few examples of that.

In taking forward the offer that Coleg Gwent is able to make in my part of the world, Dirprwy Lywydd, I’m very encouraged that they’re not resting on their laurels at all. They’re very ambitious for the future to build on the success and the opportunities that they have provided and will provide. Chief amongst that—. A main example of that ambition, Dirprwy Lywydd, is their proposals for the relocation of the Nash campus in Newport to the riverfront, which would go alongside the University of South Wales campus and establish what would be called the Newport knowledge quarter. It would be a partnership between FE and HE, very much geared to the needs of the local economy and working in tandem with businesses. It would integrate FE and HE and put the further and higher education combined offer in the faces of the local population with a very prominent city centre riverfront location. So, I think that’s very exciting indeed. I know that plans are being worked up at the moment and obviously the Minister and his officials are part of that work. I am very supportive of it, as I know other local politicians, the local authority and many others are. I hope that it will come to fruition.

What we need, I believe, Dirprwy Lywydd, are transformative projects of this type, showing what further education and higher education working together can deliver and how they can really understand the skills needs of their local population—what the employers require to take the local economy forward—and deliver those in a way that is state of the art in terms of further and higher education in the UK.

So, I hope that the Minister is able to offer some words of encouragement in his response today. We have met and discussed the proposals. Obviously, there’s an amount of work yet to be done to flesh out the strategic outline business case and the other parts of the process that are necessary, but I do believe that it’s one example that we could look to with real pride in Wales in terms of how we’re at the forefront of knitting further education and higher education together with a clear and very strong partnership of all the major partners locally, and we would then transform the offer to the benefit not just of Newport but the immediate region as well.