7. Debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee Report: Degrees of Separation? The Impact of Brexit on Higher and Further Education

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:16 pm on 20 March 2019.

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Photo of Lynne Neagle Lynne Neagle Labour 5:16, 20 March 2019

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank everybody who has spoken in the debate today? Your contributions are very much valued, including the Minister's. Can I also take this opportunity to thank all the organisations who engaged with our inquiry and provided such insightful written and oral evidence, and also take the opportunity to thank our excellent clerking and research team? This was a difficult and challenging inquiry because of the fast-moving situation, and I’m very grateful for their expertise and input. I won’t be able to reply to every point that Members made today, but if I can just pick up on some of the points made.

Can I thank Suzy for her contribution and her continued support for recommendation 1, and also the points that Suzy Davies made, which were echoed by Bethan Sayed, about the need to really get to the bottom of why EU students come to study here in Wales? As you’ve highlighted, we have already seen a significant drop, and we do need to very urgently get on top of that, so that we can ensure that our universities are as resilient as possible. Thank you, too, for your welcome to the FM’s announcement on the multi-annual funding and the regional funds—that is going to be crucial going forward.

I’d like to thank Bethan for her contribution and her support for the recommendations on immigration and, again, on establishing why students come here. Also, Bethan raised the importance of Erasmus+, and I wholeheartedly agree with your comments on that, and I’m grateful to you for highlighting the involvement of FE in Erasmus+, because it is often seen as a HE initiative. I have got a personal bugbear about Erasmus+, in that I was once an Erasmus student, so I do very much see the value of that, particularly for young people from our most deprived communities. I was in that position, I’d never had anyone in my family go to university, yet I had the brilliant opportunity to go and study in a university in Paris, and I think it’s vital that we continue to see, particularly our young people from our low-income families, continue to get that opportunity. So, we’ve all got to keep pushing on that.

Hefin David also raised the importance of Erasmus+, which I know that he’s been able to see from a very useful front-line perspective, and highlighted the importance of recommendation 1 and 2 also. I completely take on board what you’ve said—I have little confidence in the Prime Minister’s approach to immigration myself. I think the immigration Bill does provide us with an opportunity to make those arguments, and to make them as strongly as we can. And I hope that we, as a committee, can work with the Welsh Government, to ensure that we continue to emphasise to the UK Government the importance of certainty in this area, not just for our students, but for our staff in our universities—it's absolutely crucial.

So, can I just close, Deputy Llywydd, by thanking again everybody who has spoken today, and everybody who has contributed to this inquiry? The committee will be taking a very keen interest in developments going forward and continuing to monitor Welsh Government activity in this area, and I'm sure, along with all other Members, hoping for some certainty as soon as possible. Thank you.