2. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve access to further and higher education for workers in Wales who might be looking to retrain? OQ56422

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government has invested £40 million in jobs and skills this year, supporting individuals seeking new or alternative employment or training. Our personal learning account programme helps employed people improve their skills or reskill in priority sectors, delivering learning flexibly around each individual’s existing work and other commitments, and doing so through colleges right across Wales.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. I was very pleased to see in your Government's budget the commitment to expand the personal learning account programme. Now, this programme, as you say, provides vital support to employed workers, but also those furloughed workers and individuals at risk of redundancy. We know one of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic has been the loss of jobs and the greater hesitancy of businesses to invest, which would have created new jobs and offered greater opportunities for those seeking employment. The Welsh Government scheme to support people getting higher level skills and qualifications in priority sectors now prepares our workforce for a range of opportunities as we see the economy recover. Could you, therefore, provide an update on this fund and how it will be delivered to those individuals? 

Llywydd, I thank David Rees for that important question. I know that my colleague Rebecca Evans, as finance Minister, was very keen to find additional funding for the personal learning account programme—£5.4 million additional funding there—because of the outstanding success it has already been. And, as David Rees said, Llywydd, for workers it provides courses and qualifications that are fully funded by the Welsh Government, organised to be manageable around those individuals' existing commitments. They're available regardless of previous qualifications, and 3,000 people have already started personal learning account courses and we have 6,000 and more applications for the scheme.

And for employers, Llywydd, it offers a flexible and responsive scheme designed to overcome current and future skill shortages, sector specific, aimed at new and high growth areas in the green economy, engineering, construction, the digital economy and in advanced manufacturing. And in that way, as David Rees says, we will develop a pool of skilled and committed workers ready to take advantage of those new opportunities and attracting those new opportunities into parts of Wales, creating the jobs of the future. 

Even before the pandemic, First Minister, I'm sure you would agree that the shape of the global economy was changing, which is why, in recognition of this, the Welsh Conservatives, in addition to ReAct, will introduce a second chance fund to help anyone of any age to pursue level 3 qualifications in college to help them move from the low pay, low skills trap up the career ladder no matter where they started. And that's the thinking behind our plans for scaling up of degree apprenticeships as well. Do you not agree, though, that routes to excellence have narrowed under this Welsh Government and, instead of funnelling everyone through Master's degrees, we should be looking at aptitudes and attitudes to ensure more people in Wales get the skills they need to succeed personally and to believe that they play a valuable role in helping our country to prosper?

Well, I agree with what the Member says about the changing nature of the global economy and the need for Government to go on investing in the skills that our workforce will need to face that future. I don't, of course, agree at all with what the Member said about narrowing opportunities. Opportunities over the last five years have extended enormously because of the changes that we have made in higher education. Following the Diamond review, we have record numbers of students in higher education in Wales, particularly opening up opportunities for people wanting to undertake part-time study on a level that is not replicated anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

I'm glad to have the support of the Welsh Conservatives for the Welsh Government's degree apprenticeship programme: £20 million invested in this innovative programme during recent years, 200 employers involved in it and 600 students. It's just another example of innovative ways in which this Welsh Government has expanded opportunities, alongside the personal learning accounts that David Rees referred to—a whole range of ways in which people in Wales now have access to opportunities for reskilling and upskilling that will make sure that, when those opportunities become available, we have a workforce here in Wales ready to take advantage of them.