4. How will the Welsh Government increase the take-up of STEM subjects amongst students in South Wales West? OQ58908

The Welsh Government has provided almost £1.5 million in grant funding this year to support the delivery of STEM initiatives, with the primary aims of supporting and developing STEM enrichment activities, narrowing the attainment gap and encouraging the take-up of STEM subjects both at GCSE and A-level.

Thank you, Minister. Last week, the retiring managing director of Sony Bridgend said that Wales needs to be more innovative, and that the key to our success will be in educating, nurturing and retaining talent here in Wales. Mr Dalton believes that manufacturing in Wales has a great future if we can only learn to innovate, develop green technologies and focus on untouched markets outside the EU. Minister, do you agree that we have to adapt and develop our skill strategy? How will you encourage more young people to take up science and engineering, and, above all, encourage students to study these topics at Welsh universities and then stay in Wales? 

Thank you, Altaf Hussain, for that really important question. We need to equip our learners. Whether they choose to lead on to careers in STEM subjects or not, we need to equip all our learners to face a future of rapid technological and economic change, and digital skills and the kind of adaptability and creativity that go with some of those, alongside the knowledge itself, are absolutely crucial requirements for our young people. The new Curriculum for Wales, of course, has that as a central part of the offer, whether that's through the areas of learning experience or the specific focus on STEM careers in particular.

And it's also important, by the way, to address questions of inequality. There's still a gender bias in terms of access to STEM subjects and some of the stereotypes that go along with choosing STEM subjects. So, we talked a little bit in the earlier question with Natasha Asghar about how reforming our qualifications can encourage more people to take up STEM subjects, and that's a really important part of this. But, in addition to that, we provide significant funding to a range of initiatives aimed both at primary and secondary students, by the way. It's really important that we start that work in primary, whether it's the funding that we provide to Techniquest and Explore, for example, which encourages engagement from primary school kids, in particular, but also the funding we provide for things like the Engineering Education Scheme Wales, to Technocamps, which provide coding in schools right across Wales, the further maths support programme that we fund through Swansea University, the Stimulating Physics Network programme through the Institute of Physics. There's a range of ways in which we are encouraging young people to move into STEM subjects, and I agree with the person I think he was speaking to that there is a very bright future for young people in Wales in these sectors in Wales, and we as a Government are committed to ensuring that we support schools to do that.