9. What ambitions does the Welsh Government have to expand apprenticeships? OQ57483

I thank Jenny Rathbone for that, Llywydd. We are committed to expanding apprenticeships in Wales against our programme for government commitment to create 125,000 over this Senedd term. We will focus on quality apprenticeships, supporting jobs growth, decarbonisation, investment in infrastructure projects, social mobility and to increase skills in technical occupational areas.

Thank you, First Minister. A hundred and twenty-five thousand is a really excellent target. I wondered if you were able to say how many there are today, just so we understand just how much road we've got to travel, and in your view, is this going to be sufficient to meet all the challenges that Wales faces in our public services, particularly health and social care, and in addition to that, the really, really important optimised retrofit programme, which is so desperately needed to make all our homes warm and carbon neutral?

I thank Jenny Rathbone for that, Llywydd. Because of the sort of lag in the way that statistics are produced, we will see the first update on progress towards the 125,000 target in February this year, when data for the fourth quarter of the 2020-21 academic year becomes available. Our confidence in being able to reach that number rests on the fact that we succeeded in reaching our 100,000 target during the last Senedd term. I do have to say, and I know that the Member for Cardiff Central will certainly understand that, that the slope that we have to climb to get to 125,000 has been made steeper by the withdrawal of European funding, which did such a lot in the last Senedd term to allow us to invest in the skills that are necessary for the future of the Welsh economy, and without that help, and with the UK Government completely turning its back on assurances that Wales would not be a penny worse off, our ability to deliver that apprenticeship programme is now more difficult. But we will go on doing it, because we know that that is a key investment in the skills that our young people and others need, and the skills that the Welsh economy will need, and the optimised retrofit programme represents a massive opportunity for employers and for learners. We are focused on making sure that our colleges of further education are able to teach the skills that will be needed in that programme and others for the future.

I was privileged to make a visit to one of our colleges of further education in north-east Wales quite recently, and saw for myself the way in which the skills for the future, including the optimised retrofit programme, were being put into practice already in the new curriculum, and the new ways in which those skills were being delivered. That's what gives us the confidence that, despite the ambition of the target, and the new obstacles we face in meeting it, that the effort is being made across Wales that will stand us in good stead for the future.

Thank you, First Minister.