I thank the Minister and her colleagues for putting this budget together.

I’d also thank her for taking the time last week to chat about the budgetary situation. And I’d also actually like to thank the Finance Committee as well for its scrutiny work, and I’m not just saying that because the Chair of Finance Committee is sitting next to me. Turning to that work, there was a very clear lack of detail in the evidence supplied by Welsh Government to the committee relating to budget reprioritisation where this might have led to the scaling back of spending plans or even the shelving of original plans. This, of course, can have consequences further down the line, so I would be grateful if the Government could publish that detail. I’ll give an example: the bus emergency scheme funding. It was introduced to support the continuation of bus services during the pandemic, and it’s something that, in particular, rural services rely on. Now, the evidence supplied by the Government to the Finance Committee initially stated that the £28 million allocated to the BES in 2022-23 would be carried over to 2023-24 without any adjustment in funding, but it has come to light from correspondence received by me from stakeholders that this commitment is now in doubt at this very late stage. So, I would appreciate some clarity on this. Buses are vitally important as a service to our communities.

Moving on to green jobs, TUC Cymru has suggested that 60,000 new green jobs could be created in Wales if we invest properly. Unfortunately, limited access to funding, skilled workers and capacity on power lines are slowing a shift towards renewable energy. Seventy per cent of UK employers in a Construction Industry Training Board survey said they have a good understanding of how they will need to change their business to decarbonise, 88 per cent were willing to diversify to decarbonise, and 90 per cent would be willing to retrain if necessary. However, more than 78 per cent of employers that responded to the CITB survey believe there is a shortage of skills in the specific occupation to decarbonise at the present moment.

Now, the Government has always been keen to talk about the creation of new apprenticeships, and their creation is welcome, but, as I’ve said before, retention of students is key to addressing the skills shortage. Let’s take the construction sector as an example—the CITB estimates that, year on year, 1,400 students study a construction-based course. Now, conversations I’ve had with the sector all follow the same pattern—if that number of students year on year were to complete their course, we wouldn’t have a skills shortage in construction. So, very clearly, there’s a drop-off of students. Data, however, isn’t collected by the Government on how many students leave education mid course. That, of course, needs to change, but what will help is the support provided to students. The increase to student maintenance support was very welcome. However, it doesn’t catch students in colleges, in sixth forms, nor on apprenticeships. Now, the Minister will be aware of my campaign to increase EMA payments and the threshold. That would certainly help, especially during this cost-of-living crisis, where students are really struggling to make that £30 a week go far. Transport on its own wipes out that £30. Couple it with food, resources for courses, and in some cases—cases that I've picked up during my campaign—paying for household bills, and education becomes very unsustainable very quickly for so many.

Now, we tell students—and Mike touched on this—especially students from low-income households, that education is an investment and that they should look at what advantage that will give them in the future. Well, for low-income students, the future, more often than not, is tomorrow. It’s whether or not they’ll be able to afford to eat, whether they’ll be able to afford to travel, whether they’ll be able to afford to live—not in five years’ time. This isn’t just for full-time students studying on campus, by the way. This applies equally to those on apprenticeships, and I would urge the Government to consider the apprenticeship minimum wage.

Now, there is a clear case for boosting investment in this area. The Finance Committee recommended the Government consider increasing EMA. We received evidence in the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee around support for students—so too have other committees. So, it is unfortunate that this is not adequately reflected in the draft budget. But I would hope that the Government looks to address this when they bring the budget back, and I’m more than ready to play my part in making it a reality.