Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:22 pm on 21 June 2022.
Diolch, Llywydd. I will speak to all the amendments in this group. As I stated at Stage 2, I believe in a more rounded tertiary education system, including traineeship programmes, employability programmes and apprenticeships, and I therefore continue to be concerned about the place of these programmes within the Bill. Their full inclusion is absolutely essential to improving a sustainable and innovative economy. Amendment 86 exists to obtain further information regarding the responsibility for the inspection or a review of degree apprenticeships. I believe it is absolutely integral that it is made clear that the commission's duty to assess the quality of higher education includes degree apprenticeships.
On amendment 97, I seek to make it clear that Part 4 of the Bill can apply to degree apprenticeships, if the other conditions in section 109 of the Bill are met. Further on this, amendment 114 would serve to clearly define degree apprenticeships in the Bill to ensure the definition encompasses any course that combines part-time higher education and an approved Welsh apprenticeship, as defined in section 109. With this in mind, I also submit amendment 116 in order to add degree apprenticeships to the wider definition of tertiary education in the Bill, alongside higher education, further education and training, and I ask the Minister to consider this.