Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:35 pm on 15 December 2021.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 2:35, 15 December 2021

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, you'll be aware, of course, that a shortage of vets in Wales is still a problem for us here, and that's been exacerbated by Brexit and the pandemic as well, of course. Now, the British Veterinary Association says that more vet school places are part of the answer, and the official opening last week of Aberystwyth University school of veterinary science is certainly to be welcomed. The veterinary students there, of course, will be spending just the first two years at Aberystwyth University, followed then by three years studying at the Royal Veterinary College's Hawkshead campus in Hertfordshire. Now, meanwhile, Scotland of course has two veterinary schools and England nine, all of them offering the full five-year courses leading to a full degree. So, do you agree with me, Minister, that if the shortage of vets in Wales is ever to be properly resolved, then Wales needs a full vet school, offering its own five-year degree courses? And if you do agree, and I trust that you do, will you therefore open discussions with Aberystwyth University, and the agricultural sector more widely, to consider how the Aberystwyth course can be rapidly developed into a full five-year course, with the necessary facilities, to help resolve the vet shortage that we have here in Wales?