I support amendment 166 and have been pleased to collaborate with Sioned Williams on the content of the amendment. Although the amendment does not alter the definition of academic freedom fundamentally, it does clarify that tertiary education providers in Wales that provide research and innovation, in addition to those providing higher education, fall within the scope of the duties imposed on the Welsh Ministers and the commission to have regard to the importance of protecting the academic freedom of such providers, as well as of academic staff at those providers.

As at Stage 2, I resolutely reject the amendments tabled in the name of Laura Anne Jones in respect of freedom of speech, namely amendments 81, 82, 83 and 84.

Unlike the amendments at Stage 2, I note that these amendments now confirm that no statutory tort is created as a result of the breach of the proposed duties. Whilst amendment 84 may put beyond doubt that a failure by a tertiary education provider in Wales to perform these duties would not confer a cause of action at private law, this addition does not address my fundamental concerns with these amendments.

These amendments largely draw on the UK Government’s fundamentally flawed and misguided Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. Far from enabling greater freedom of expression and breadth of debate in universities, their effect would risk stifling and suffocating free speech under greater bureaucracy.

As the parliamentary joint select committee on human rights concluded in its thorough investigation in 2018,