I feel I have to begin my contribution by acknowledging the huge number of initiatives the Welsh Government have introduced over recent years to enhance the provision of a skilled Welsh workforce, particularly where they have shifted the focus to vocational training. We should also acknowledge the positive impact that skilled immigrant workers have contributed to the economy of Wales, but the fact remains that we have become far too reliant on immigrant labour, very often to the detriment of our indigenous population. I use the word 'indigenous', but I'd like to point out that in their document 'Prosperity for All', the Labour Government has used the word 'indigenous' on many occasions. [Interruption.] As I mentioned in the earlier debate, the health service in the UK turns down—[Interruption.] The health service in the UK turns down 80,000 suitably qualified British nurse applicants every year simply because it is cheaper to plunder third world countries for their trained staff.

There's no doubt that the Welsh Government has, especially over recent years, greatly expanded its skills-enhancing facilities, both in the FE and HE institutions. The flexible funding facilities now in place have greatly enhanced the ability for students to increase their skills on a part-time basis, and many are taking up the opportunities offered by the Open University to obtain higher qualifications. There has truly been a sea change in the approach taken to occupational qualifications, and I believe that this is now beginning to bear fruit in the number of the new vocational apprenticeships being taken up. Whilst we all acknowledge that it will take some time to make us less reliant on European labour—indeed, we shall always be reliant to a certain degree on workers from across the globe to fill jobs that cannot, for a variety of reasons, be filled by the indigenous population. But this, in many ways, is a desirable situation; the mixing of people from different countries helps to emphasise how alike we all are and why our country should co-operate for the well-being of all of us.