Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 26 August 2020.
Well, Llywydd, this recalled Senedd is specifically there for me to report on the coronavirus regulations. That's what I did. Other matters have been extensively discussed. I've made a number of statements, as has the education Minister, and everything we have said is already there on the record and I don't think it needed repetition this afternoon.
As to higher education, then of course we continue to be in very close conversation with our higher education institutions. A record number of young people from Wales are able to go to higher education next year, both in Wales and beyond. And there are record numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who have secured university places, and I know that the Member will have welcomed all of that.
We now work with the sector to make sure that it is able to provide safely for the large number of young people who will be coming back to universities in Wales. And that's an important matter. I have considerable respect for the actions that higher education institutions are taking to make sure that young people can be looked after safely and can pursue their studies safely. We are seeing in some other parts of the world that the way that young people can behave outside that regulated setting, when they're not in the classroom and they're not in a hall of residence and so on—that the temptation of being back together again can lead young people to behave in ways that then lead them and others to be victims to the virus. So, our discussions with the sector have to go beyond the things for which they are directly responsible and for us to work together to make sure that young people have the best possible advice so, when they do return to college, they do so in a way that does not unintentionally add to the difficulties that coronavirus will place for us all during the autumn and the winter.