8. Debate: The General Principles of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:27 pm on 15 March 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 5:27, 15 March 2022

Diolch, Llywydd, and I'm grateful to the Members for their constructive and thoughtful comments today. I'll endeavour to respond to as many points as I can, but I'm not sure I'll be able to repeat the comprehensive nature of the responses that Hefin David kindly referred to in his contribution. 

Jayne Bryant spoke about the need for a stronger and more robust sector, which this Bill contributes to, and the need for legislation in order to do that. I'm grateful to her for that remark and for her welcome to the Bill. In relation to the point she made regarding composition, this is a matter that is important to me, and she will know that provision is in the Bill to ensure that the range of skills and experience that appears across all part of the sector will be a requirement for Ministers to engage with when making appointments. In relation to the ambition that she described around associate membership, I will look at the context of the explanatory memorandum about how we can make clear our expectations and ambitions as a Government in that space.

She made some important points in relation to strategic duties. Some of them were echoed by Laura Jones and by Sioned Williams as well, and I hope that the responses I gave at the start will give each of those three Members some assurance.