Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 10 November 2021.
I thank the Member for that question as well. We have been discussing this with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and we've provided more funding for them this year so that they can do more work with us in this area. But he's right to mention that one of the challenges in this area is also the workforce that can provide Welsh-medium education, and also the availability of qualifications in Welsh. We've been discussing those with Qualifications Wales as well. The new commission that will come in the wake of the legislation that we hope to pass here in the Senedd will have a specific duty to ensure the progress of post-16 education through the medium of Welsh, and, so, I believe that will be an important opportunity to extend the provision. One of the things that we need to look at in more detail is the relationship between post-16 education and schools, particularly in the context of the last part of the question, namely apprenticeships provision and post-16 education through the medium of Welsh, so that students become aware during their time at school of the options to undertake vocational qualifications through the medium of Welsh after they leave school.