5. 90-second Statements

– in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 19 October 2022.

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Photo of Elin Jones Elin Jones Plaid Cymru 3:34, 19 October 2022

(Translated)

And we now move to the 90-second statements, and the first of those is from Jack Sargeant.

Photo of Jack Sargeant Jack Sargeant Labour

Diolch, Llywydd. My community is built on manufacturing, and we are proud of the products we produce and the skills of our working people who make them. Last month marked an important birthday for manufacturing in Deeside—we celebrated 30 happy years of Toyota engine manufacture on Deeside industrial estate. Toyota Manufacturing UK's Deeside site directly employs more than 600 people and supports many more jobs in its network of local and national suppliers. Llywydd, I'm extremely grateful that the First Minister was able to visit to mark this very special birthday, and we look forward to many more years of high-tech engine manufacture at this important site. 

To finish, we must build on the success of our manufacturing excellence in Alyn and Deeside and we must commit to investing in the skills and technology required for the future alongside our industrial partners. And finally, a very happy birthday—pen-blwydd hapus, Toyota. Diolch.

Photo of John Griffiths John Griffiths Labour 3:35, 19 October 2022

This week marks the fifth year of Love Our Colleges Week, a campaign which highlights the amazing and transformational work further education colleges do day in and day out. The celebrations this year will focus on staff, students and skills. Keeping this in mind, I'd like to draw your attention today to the life-changing opportunities on offer at our colleges to international exchange programmes, both for learners and staff.

For learners, overseas experiences will broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations, making a positive contribution to their progress through education and on to future employment. One of the most important aspects of these international exchanges is that they offer equal access to all young people within our colleges, regardless of their background. Further education staff have opportunities to share best practice with colleagues overseas, participate in training or job shadowing, as well as sharing lessons learned with their organisations in Wales.

I am pleased to say my local college, Coleg Gwent, are actively involved in several of the programmes. ColegauCymru leads on the development of these exciting overseas opportunities, and their consortium projects for international mobility would have enabled over 3,000 learners and 490 staff to work, train and volunteer overseas while gaining insights into different cultures and languages that they may not otherwise have had the chance to explore.

Photo of Laura Anne Jones Laura Anne Jones Conservative 3:37, 19 October 2022

As yesterday was World Menopause Day, I'd like to take this opportunity—and I thank you, Llywydd, for accepting the 90-second statement—to talk about menopause; something that, as women, we are going or will go through at some point in our lives. Looking at the men in this Chamber, you're very lucky that it's not something that you're going to go through, but it's incredibly important that everyone understands the issues and struggles that women, some more than others, will face when it comes to dealing with menopause. 

It is important that more awareness of what women are going through, and the struggles they face and the struggles they get in receiving treatment, is known and that this Government and the UK Government make strides towards ensuring that awareness and understanding of what half the population go through, an awareness of menopause, becomes the norm and commonplace in our workplaces across Wales. 

There are over 10 million over-50s at work in the UK today, a third of the workforce, including 4.4 million aged 50 to 64. The average age for reaching menopause is 51; although, in my family, it's the early 40s, and, I'm sure, for others. So, many of us, 4.4 million and more, will be women transitioning through the menopause, making this a key issue for the modern workplace. This is why it's so crucial that we see the promotion of the menopause in the workplace toolkit. The toolkit can provide an insight into the way menopause impacts women in the workplace, what is menopause, how menopause impacts women in the workplace, why it's important for employers, and what they can do to help.

So, I hope that, with World Menopause Day being yesterday, it'll be the last one where women suffer in silence, and, instead, we can create an open conversation on the issue in Wales. And, as a Senedd, I hope that we can lead the way on this.

(Translated)

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.