3. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the Welsh Government's plans for a national academy of government? OAQ51380

I am considering the options for taking this forward as part of the two-year budget agreement with Plaid Cymru. Academi Wales provides support to Government and public services in the areas of leadership, governance, improvement and change, and is developing long-term relationships with key academic institutions.

As the Cabinet Secretary is aware, I believe Professor Gerry Holtham has been promoting the idea for some years that there’s an opportunity here for Wales to develop a centre that would be internationally renowned, to create an école nationale, in the words of Professor Holtham, for leaders and managers within the public sector.

There are many things that you can say about Professor Holtham, but lack of ambition is not one of them. So, why not? Why can’t we not only meet our own needs by creating a new generation of managers and leaders in the public sector, but also create a centre that will be world renowned?

I’m very pleased to say that Academi Wales has been developing a whole host of relationships with institutions and academics in various institutions across Wales and beyond our borders. I am aware of the views of Gerry Holtham and I don’t disagree with him. I know that this is something that you yourself have emphasised for some years and I am more than happy to continue that discussion with you to look at how we can make progress and work with Academi Wales to see whether that is possible for the future.

Cabinet Secretary, we all want high-quality leaders in public service. However, I'm afraid a school for bureaucrats is something that I think is completely unnecessary. We've got some excellent leadership schools already in our high-quality universities here in Wales, and I think we ought to take advantage of the opportunities that they present. Can I ask what sort of budget you have allocated from within your portfolio for this particular project and question you on whether that might be better spent, frankly, in investing in other ways?

I hope that all of us will be generous enough to see and appreciate what others are seeking to achieve, and I think seeking tabloid headlines probably undermines that ambition. I hope that Darren Millar will reflect on his contribution to this question and will reflect also on the ambition that we all share, which is to have the best possible leadership across all of our public services. That is something, actually, I believe everybody should then want to invest in.