It’s a pleasure to contribute to this debate. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to discuss issues related to adult education and community education. We’re always discussing schools, universities and colleges, and I think we are duty bound to redress that balance a little, and this debate today gives us an opportunity to do that.

In preparing for the debate, the one thing that struck me was the fact that adults in Wales are less likely to participate in education as compared to other parts of the UK. There are a number of reasons why we should be concerned about that, but we know that people are living longer, the demographic is changing and patterns of work are changing. We’ve heard already that a third of the workforce will be over 50 years of age in just a few years’ time. The working career is getting longer, and there’s a trend for more people to change careers during their working life and to do that more often. But far too often, of course, lifelong learning is seen as something that is secondary as a consideration as compared to other structures within the education system.

With the economic uncertainty that we’re facing, and the structural changes in the workforce—and we heard earlier today about the impact that automation is going to have on the workplace—it’s increasingly important that Wales has a flexible workforce, which is consistently learning new skills for employment and for the modernisation of working practices. The Government, of course, is working on a policy of 1,000 apprenticeships for people of all ages, and that is a policy that Plaid Cymru has, of course, supported and does support. But we should, perhaps, place the same emphasis, I think, on securing fair play for lifelong learning as well.

Now, there are a whole host of benefits. We’ve heard of some of them emerging from lifelong learning: economic benefits, obviously, and social benefits, benefits in terms of the health and well-being of individuals. But what I think underpins all of that is the need to create a culture of ongoing learning in Wales, and to strengthen that culture, and in thinking of education, we shouldn’t simply think of schools, universities and colleges, but place far more emphasis on informal education and as we do in this debate, on community education and lifelong learning.

It’s a debate that we’re having at the moment in the context of the education sector in Wales, and the debate on continuing professional development for the education workforce. The days when you got your teaching qualification and then you had four or five days of training to sharpen some of your skills—those days are long gone, and it is just as true in all other sectors. Given this current age where there are huge technological advances, it’s important that the workforce is flexible and keeps up with those advances.

So, if we are to transform the economy in Wales, if we want to take full advantage of those opportunities, and if we want to demonstrate the innovation and flexibility that characterise prosperous economies across this world, then we do need a workforce and a wider population that is continually upskilling. To do that, of course, we need to look beyond those areas that we have perhaps traditionally focused upon. But we need to change the culture, as I said, in order to ensure that we reach that aim.

For older people, of course, particularly perhaps people who have retired, accessing regular opportunities to develop and learn new skills is crucial in terms of ensuring that their health, their independence and their well-being are maintained. Many older people participate in adult education in order to have social contact, in order to improve physical activity, and to keep their minds sharp, and that is just as true and just as valid, of course, as any other reason for undertaking such education. So, investment in adult education is an investment that not only brings economic benefits but also, more importantly, wider social benefits.

From the point of view of the Plaid Cymru amendment, of course we do encourage the Government to confirm its proposals for student support and higher education funding in particular as soon as is reasonably practicable, because vice-chancellors tell me that there will be young people who will need to decide this September what they will do the following September, and they need to know what the nature of the financial support will be. Those institutions themselves, of course, need that information, because it’s a difficult climate that they’re currently operating in, in financial terms, and they need that long-term assurance. Thank you.