Thank you, Presiding Officer. Adult Learners Week is an annual campaign co-ordinated by the Learning and Work Institute in partnership with Welsh Government. Each year, we see over 10,000 adults in Wales participating in Adult Learners Week activities. The campaign raises awareness of the value of adult learning, celebrates the achievements of learners and providers, and inspires more people to discover how learning can positively change their lives. I intend to use my statement today to highlight what we as a Government are doing all year round in that spirit of Adult Learners Week.

Members will be aware that in my progressive agreement with the First Minister, we committed to exploring how we can deliver a new Welsh right to lifelong learning. Work is under way within Government and with the adult learning sector on how we take this forward. I’m very grateful to the Learning and Work Institute for hosting a recent seminar on the issue, and I've asked HEFCW to promote and challenge the role of universities with regard to place-based adult, community and lifelong education.

I attended the Inspire! adult learner of the year awards on 5 June, and want to, once again, congratulate Andrea Garvey, who won this year’s Inspire! adult learner of the year award. These awards are the launching platform for Adult Learners Week, and I was awestruck by the dedication, the resilience and the bravery of the learners that I met. Their attitude to learning, their determination to reach for a better life and their sheer strength of character was astonishing. I draw a parallel with the purposes of our new school curriculum—to develop enterprising, engaged and ambitious citizens and learners. And it is equally valid to view these as the purposes for learning that is lifelong.

If we are to succeed in making Wales the strong, confident nation that we are striving for, then we must invest in people throughout their lives. Our adult learning policy rightly prioritises essential skills, and we offer this provision in the heart of our communities where our learners feel safe and secure. But we cannot disregard the huge numbers of people who need to reskill or upskill. We cannot afford to allow people to languish at the bottom of the ladder because we haven't given them the opportunity to climb right up it. That's why I'm pleased that our community learning and employability programmes support our most vulnerable adults. We deliver essential skills, qualifications and work preparation training to support people to overcome barriers to entering employment, whilst reskilling and upskilling working and unemployed learners.

Our new Working Wales employability advice service is now operating and it makes it easier for people to access professional careers advice and support to access education, employment or training. In the autumn, we will begin a two-year pilot for our personal learning accounts that aim to support adults who are in low-paid or low-skilled employment to gain the skills and qualifications needed to either switch careers or progress to a higher level in their existing employment. Presiding Officer, there is no single definition of adult learning. It encompasses learning at every level, from pre-entry to degree, and takes place in a variety of venues, from community centres to our universities. I am committed to widening access to further and higher education, ensuring that any learner with the potential to benefit from education post 16 has the opportunity to undertake it.

This evening, I will be attending a reception to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Open University. Since the OU first opened its doors in 1969, over 200,000 students in Wales have studied with them. The OU delivers distance-learning opportunities to around 9,000 people in Wales each year, making it the largest provider of part-time higher education in the country. And it is the global university that is also everyone's local university. I'm really excited that the Open University has been contracted to develop our new teacher education programmes that will widen participation in teaching. These new routes into teaching will break down barriers, delivering a whole new generation of teachers from different backgrounds, improving the learning experience of pupils in our schools, and, crucially, increasing the diversity of our teaching workforce.

Of course, flexible part-time distance learning makes a significant economic, societal and individual contribution and our reforms to student finance has seen the OU reporting an increase in applications of almost 50 per cent, and an increase of more than a third in the number of part-time undergraduates receiving student support. About half of the part-time students that we are supporting financially this year will receive the maximum level of maintenance grant and this makes all the difference for students who have other financial commitments in their lives. I would remind Members that Wales is the only country in Europe to deliver equivalent maintenance support in loans and grants across modes and levels of study. I will be making a further announcement on postgraduate incentives and support for older learners very soon.

This week also marks Refugee Week, and on Thursday, along with the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, I will launch the ReStart refugee integration project. This initiative will offer a one-stop shop for refugees who are settled in Wales and will provide support and advice on a variety of issues, including education and English for speakers of other languages provision.

Campaigns like Adult Learners Week are vital. This week is a celebration; a celebration of all aspects of adult learning, and will provide people with the opportunity to try something new with a host of activities taking place across our nation. The importance of engaging in learning, at every level, can never be underestimated. Engaging in an activity during Adult Learners Week can be that critical first step back into learning and onto a path to create a new and better life, and I would encourage everyone to get involved. Diolch yn fawr.