Over 27,000 people have benefited from these new courses since their introduction in 2017, and we've invested over £55 million to build provision. Over the next three years, we are allocating a further £52 million in the programme to help employed people upskill and reskill into priority areas. Last year, I provided almost £6 million to improve digital capacity and to address the challenges of net zero in adult learning providers and colleges. And thanks to our progressive and unique higher education student finance reforms, we’ve seen adult part-time higher education participation rise, and in particular a significant increase in students—including many from disadvantaged backgrounds—studying with the Open University.

Building upon these successes, we are now entering the most significant reforms of tertiary education since devolution, and renewing our commitment to lifelong learning is at the heart of these reforms. That's why the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022, which received unanimous support at Stage 4 from this Senedd, begins with a strategic duty for the new commission for tertiary education and research to promote lifelong learning. Furthermore, the Act creates a new duty on the commission to secure proper facilities for further education and training for adults, with full details to be set out in secondary legislation, which we'll be bringing forward for consultation in 2023.

As we move towards establishing the new commission, we’ve been working closely with an adult learning external reference group that I have asked to co-design a programme of national co-ordination to reinvigorate the delivery of adult education in Wales, and I’ve allocated £2 million across the current and next financial year to support this work.

Building on our reforms to the school curriculum, we are implementing a citizens’ curriculum for adult learners in Wales. This will support adults through education to access public services, to be engaged citizens and to enjoy improved health and employment outcomes.

I am pleased to be working in partnership with the Learning and Work Institute, Adult Learning Wales, the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Cardiff and Vale College, Oasis Cardiff and the Open University, who will be delivering five new citizens’ curriculum pilots, which will help tackle the barriers that prevent wider adult learner participation. 

These pilots, which will commence this month, will focus on different elements of adult learning: on health and wellbeing, on global learning, on language education, on how schools and housing associations can support community learning, and how we develop greater community cohesion and citizenship. In addition, we are commissioning a 'state of the nation' survey of adult literacy and numeracy, to understand where lack of these core skills is a barrier to work and wellbeing. We are also developing a professional learning framework for staff across all parts of the post-16 sector, and our professional learning fund forms part of our wider commitment to the professional development of the workforce across the post-16 sector, and we are working to improve the availability of digital routes into adult learning.

Having supported expanded access to the Open University’s OpenLearn platform, I want to further explore the potential for digital to widen access to adult learning, especially for those who face obstacles to participation and those looking to take those vital first steps back into learning. My officials are commissioning a mapping exercise as a first step towards developing much clearer, much more co-ordinated information for current and potential learners to access online courses.

Dirprwy Lywydd, taken together, I believe this demonstrates clearly our commitment to making Wales a second chance nation. Fully realising this vision will take time, and we will continue to face challenges, particularly in the current fiscal context. But I am confident that we are on the path to making Wales a nation of second chances, where it is never too late to learn. Diolch yn fawr.