<p>Work Experience Opportunities</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 14 June 2017.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 1:37, 14 June 2017

I think we all recognise that access to work experience is incredibly important for young people, and not just any work experience, but decent, valuable experience that is not reliant on perhaps what’s easiest or who you know. Thinking back to my own work experience, I actually went to the ‘Flintshire Chronicle’, where you can find an article by Hannah Blythyn, aged 15, headlined, ‘Don’t criticise what you don’t understand: Having a Go at Politicians’. [Laughter.] That article was actually looking at how young people are stereotyped and need to be listened to, and I am now in a position to do something about it. At a recent event with students at Coleg Cambria in Northop, we talked about access to work, and work experience and things were discussed. And one of the things that they came up with was, alongside your traditional work experience, to look for things that have more taster-type sessions, where people can go into workplaces and experience the different options out there, post 16, to help them influence their decisions for their further education, apprenticeships and training. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that that would be a good idea, with the young people’s idea, to do that, and what steps can be taken to make that happen?