I’d like to contribute today to this debate very much focusing on higher education and lifelong learning and how that links in with the Welsh economy. But there are two things I would be very keen to know today, and this is one: what course is Darren Millar doing? He told us he’s doing a part-time FE course; he didn’t tell us what he was doing. And, secondly, I would like to know from Hefin David what marks he gave to Alun Cairns. [Laughter.] I’m grateful for Hefin’s contribution; I thought that was a very good contribution.

For the economy to grow, we, of course, need to ensure that we have the people with the correct skills and the correct training available to them. And for two reasons: one, to help them achieve their potential and, two, of course, to help us grow the Welsh economy. Now, regrettably, those without qualifications outnumber those who do have them in some areas of Wales. I think that should be a regret to us all. But the future generations commissioner, I noticed, warned about 70,000 school leavers leaving without five good GCSEs. This, of course, is at a time when businesses are facing a skills shortage and experiencing difficulties in recruiting the right staff to meet their demands. There are plenty of examples in my own constituency where businesses have moved across the border into Shropshire—or are threatening to—for, sometimes, two reasons: usually, the reason’s the lack of broadband, but the other reason is that they can’t attract the right skills. Sometimes, they remain in the constituency but they move to the very edge of the constituency, on the Shropshire border, to attract those people from Shropshire who do have the right skills. I think we need to break this cycle of deprivation and lifelong economic inactivity caused by, what I think is, poor educational attainment.

Of course, there is a chicken-and-egg situation here as well. Industries come to me in my constituency and say, ‘Look, the local FE college is not providing the right skills for our business.’ So, I go and see the college and they say, ‘Well, we’ve got to provide the courses that are demanded by younger people. We’re providing the hairdressing courses, the media courses, et cetera.’ So, I go back to industry and tell them, and I say to them, ‘You’ve got to go into schools and sell your industry. Sell your industry and sell it as a positive life option and tell them about the higher pay that you can offer if those younger people go into those areas.’ They come back to me and sometimes say, ‘That’s good advice, we’ve done that’, and sometimes they come back and say, ‘Well, the school wouldn’t let us in.’ So, I think that’s one particular issue to address as well. I think Darren Millar touched on this in his contribution with regard to independent careers advice. I don’t think that’s happening at the moment, and I think it’s absolutely crucial that it does. I hope that can be addressed and I hope the Cabinet Secretary can make some comments on that.

Also, Darren Millar, in his opening comments, alluded to the over-60s as well. He’s absolutely right: I’m only 17 years off 60 myself; 60 is no longer old. Don’t forget, earlier this month, we had MPs in their 70s and 80s being elected. So, there’s plenty—[Interruption.] Absolutely, I say to Dafydd Elis Thomas. [Laughter.] People in their 60s have 20 years of working life left in them, if they want that, and there’s an example in my own constituency: Dave Fields from Llanfyllin. He’s been accepted on a postgraduate course at Aberystwyth University, it’s great and he’s excited about that, but Student Finance Wales refused his funding. He’s been made redundant, he wants to work—he wants to work for another 20 years—and he wants to get the right skills to do that, but he can’t do it. So, I very much hope that—. I looked at a bit of research on this and could see that the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee looked at this, but I hope the Cabinet Secretary can respond to that particular point.

The last point of my contribution—I’m running out of time—is on breaking the cycle of deprivation and lifelong learning and economic inactivity caused by poor educational attainment. One way of doing that is through measures contained in the UK Government’s industrial strategy, which ensures that growing enterprises have the skills and support they need to create new jobs and prosperity. I would really like to see the Welsh Government’s response to the UK Government’s industrial strategy. I’m looking at the Cabinet Secretary over there, who I did ask in the Chamber—he’s not listening at the moment. There you are, he’s awake now. I did ask him if I could have a copy of the industrial strategy. You said ‘yes’ in the Chamber. I asked the business manager as well for a copy. ‘Yes.’ But all that Members have received is a covering letter to the Secretary of State for business, without the details, and refusing to give us the contents of that, saying that that’s an appendix. Please can you we have a look at that? I can’t see why we can’t see a copy of a Welsh Government response to a UK Government consultation. So, I think I’m running out of time.