The question before us this afternoon is what is to be done. We've brought this debate forward because the current Government's response seems to be, essentially, 'Nothing is to be done', and that was reflected in their amendment, which tells us that everything is fine. Universities are independent, Government tells us, so let them get on with it. The read-across from that is, potentially, 'Let them sink or swim', and we don't think on these benches that that is good enough, and neither do the students, the families of students, and the workers at universities who speak to us think that it's good enough. 

The motion before us today proposes practical ways forward to address some of the governance concerns and the concerns about long-term stability and viability of this really important sector. I want to refer briefly, Llywydd, today to two particular examples, current examples, that illustrate the veracity of our concerns. 

No-one will be surprised to see me pressing again about the really serious governance concerns at Swansea. We've raised it here many times and I'm not the only one. We've had these extraordinary suspensions of really senior staff, disciplinary processes no closer to being clear or transparent or resolved than they were almost nine months ago; we now see that there are serious issues with financial reporting. There is no transparency. Students don't know what's going on and the staff don't know what's going on. 

The Minister, when we've raised this before, has asked us to take her word for it that HEFCW is on the case. Well, nine months down the line, if I believed it nine months ago, I don't believe it now, and I remain far from convinced. The general point is that something like this could potentially happen in any of our higher education institutions, because, while it is vital that they are independent and that their academic freedom is protected and we don't want them to be totally answerable to Government—nobody would want that—the governance arrangements in all these institutions are archaic, they are opaque. It is very unclear what the powers of the court of the university are when senior management of the university, as they have at Swansea, can persist in cancelling the meetings of the court. There is nobody to hold them to account. Our current governance arrangements, Llywydd, are based on the assumption from the middle of the last century that essentially everybody working in this sector are good chaps and they can be trusted and relied on to conduct themselves honourably. Well, I wish that it were so, but the shenanigans going on at Swansea clearly show that there are some chaps in charge who are very far from good. 

We need robust, transparent governance arrangements for our universities that are fit for the twenty-first century and, as Suzy Davies has said, for the very large institutions that we're talking about now, employing hundreds and thousands of people, dealing with thousands and thousands of students. We need those robust arrangements to ensure that the voices of students and staff are clearly heard in those processes and we need more consistency across institutions. This, to me, is crucial if the Government is serious in resisting the English-style marketisation of the sector, which it says that it is. 

So, I want to refer briefly to one very current example of financial instability and the dangers that that presents, and I want to highlight here the difficulties facing University of Wales Trinity Saint David. I want to focus briefly to begin with on the example of Lampeter university, as it was, a much-loved institution. Not many of us realise it's the fourth oldest higher education institution in Wales, Scotland and England; I was trying to see whether it was across these islands, but I couldn't get the date for Dublin. It's vital to its community. It plays a huge part, even reduced as it is, and I've been contacted by many constituents who are really, really concerned. We've seen a drop of student numbers and numbers of staff over the years, and there are some people contacting me who are questioning Trinity Saint David as an institution's long-term commitment to the Lampeter campus.

Constituents are also really worried about the potential impact of these difficulties on the further education services provided by Coleg Sir Gâr. This is an example of how these institutions have grown, and they are groups of institutions and they must have governance arrangements that work in that context. We face risks to our further education sector across Carmarthenshire because of financial problems in other parts of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David sector, because the college is part of that group. This is an example of how the fragility of the universities financially can have potential impacts beyond their own borders. 

My constituents expect the Welsh Government to hold the university to account for these problems and to be there to support it. I have to say, with regret, that I entirely concur with Bethan Sayed that the Government's amendment is nothing but self-congratulatory nonsense. If the Minister really believes that there are no serious problems in our higher education sector, she is clearly not living in the same country that I live in. She asks us to believe that everything is fine. Staff at the universities know that it is not, students know that it is not, the communities where those universities are based know that it is not. I urge the Senedd to reject all the amendments except amendment 4 and to support the motion as it stands, to ensure a fresh start and a secure future for these vital institutions.