3. Will the Minister make a statement on the support available to carers who are higher education students? OAQ54742

In Wales I have made available the most generous package of student support, which includes specific support to help those students with dependants. Last year, we issued £9.8 million as grants for dependants to full-time undergraduate students to help them remain in education.

Thank you for that response. There is excellent work happening in Bangor University, which is my local university, in order to ensure that carers can take university courses and that they are given the support to do that. The list of things done includes a bursary of £1,000; there is a residential course offered to carers between 16 and 25 to give them a flavour of university life and to see how they would cope with that; there is a wristband that's being offered to them, which is a good idea, so that they don't have to explain to various members of staff why they may need to take a phone call or leave early and so on.

I understand that the Welsh Government has asked the Carers Trust to provide a report outlining what universities could do to attract carers. I'm sure you'll be very interested in learning from what has been happening at Bangor University, but could I ask you what will happen as a result of that report? Is there an intention to provide more funding, perhaps, to support activities such as those taking place in Bangor in order, for example, to enable them to continue with their work but also to work closely with schools in order to show more clearly the routes into higher education for young carers?

Well, first of all, can I take this opportunity to congratulate Bangor on the work that they are doing to widen access and participation for this particular group of students? The £1,000 bursary was a really innovative intervention and a fantastic way to highlight National Carers Rights Day, which was the day they officially launched that and the other programmes that they have.

Can I just say that Bangor are not alone in this, in recognising the additional needs that carers do have? The University of South Wales offers carers bursaries of £1,000 for full-time students and £500 for part-time; Cardiff University makes a bursary available of £3,000 to carers over the duration of their course; and Swansea University offer a carers bursary of up to £500.

So, universities are aware of the challenges that this particular group of students meets. But I am concerned that we can do more, and that we should do more, to break down the barriers of pursuing further or higher education for those with caring responsibilities, hence the commissioning of this piece of work so that it can better inform us and the conversations that I have with the funding council and with our universities around what more they can do.

Can I just say—? This lunchtime—I'm not sure if the Member was able to attend—hosted by Hefin David, Cardiff University were here highlighting and showcasing some of their widening-access and participation work, looking to support asylum seekers, those children who are care experienced and those individuals with neurodiversity, who perhaps in the past have not felt that university was for them.

There is much good practice, but the report will give us the information and the suggestions of what more we can do. But I would like to congratulate Bangor on their hard work in this area.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

I would like to endorse the thanks that have been given here today to praise Bangor University for its exceptional efforts to support student carers. It just shows what can be done—in four years, the university has, for example, created a student carers booklet; as has been pointed out, they've introduced a red wristband to help lecturers identify carers; and they've awarded £1,000 bursaries to carers. Similarly, as the Minister has mentioned, the University of South Wales offers a carers bursary worth £1,000 and Swansea University a bursary of up to £500. These are excellent initiatives and they provide a much-needed model of support. Now, as the Minister here in the Welsh Government, will you consider introducing a Wales-wide student carer bursary?

Well, if the Member was listening to my initial answer to the Member, she will have heard me say that last year we issued £9.8 million to support 3,400 students with an average grant of £2,800 for those who have dependants, either children or adults, to allow them—[Interruption.] It is universal, for everyone. And, as I said, that was £9.8 million that we supported students with just last year.