I will start as I often do when it comes to debating the education maintenance allowance, and praise the Government, and praise the Minister, for continuing to protect it. The fact we have EMA here in Wales, whilst in England they don't, is something we should all be proud of in this place, and it's something we should all be ready to protect.

As we all know, the cost of living has had a detrimental impact on so many of our constituents; amongst them are students, particularly students from low-income households. What we've seen since 2004 is a real-terms cut in EMA. The payment has remained the same, the thresholds have remained the same, since 2011, and now, low-income students are feeling the effects of that more than ever. My £30 got me a lot further than the £30 of a student today.

Now, this is an important debate to have, because EMA and other support programmes can help us to reach our goals in addressing the skills gaps present throughout our economy. This is an investment not just in the futures of people, but in our communities. I'll give an example: all of us are aware of the skills gap in the construction industry, and I've used the construction industry a number of times. The Construction Industry Training Board tells us that 1,400 students within the education system study a construction course. The CITB are also confident that, if all 1,400 of those students, year on year, completed their course, there would be little to no skills gap in construction. The very fact that we have a gap is a sign that things are not right. This also identifies an issue, by the way, with assessing the retention of students, and that is the lack of data around retention. This, of course, must be resolved, but the crux of our debate around EMA has to be around the retention of students.

Of course, I recognise the limitations on the Minister, and I thank him for meeting with me to discuss some of those challenges yesterday, and I hope that his scope for reprioritisation—. And I'm probably coming to the defence of the Minister here—I'm sure he'll be pleased by that—but I would argue, actually, that this goes beyond the education portfolio; this shouldn't just be at his door. What we are talking about here is a social justice issue, what we're also talking about here is an economy and skills issue, and I would hope that Ministers in those portfolios recognise that and will do everything they can to work with the education Minister on this issue.

The state of EMA is not only a financial issue. There are practical problems: problems that can be resolved for very little investment, if any at all. Since September, I've dealt with a number of cases on behalf of students who have seen significant delays in receiving their payments. The worst of them was waiting from September to December for a first payment, and whilst of course payments are backdated, during that period nothing was coming in. In some cases, this meant that some students were unable to attend school or college, which then had an effect on their ability to claim EMA in the first place—a vicious circle—and, in instances like this, the effect on attendance needs to be considered. Worryingly, I had one particular case where a personal tutor had taken a dislike to a student and was recording their attendance down in the wrong way and was refusing to rectify that.

I've raised consistently the complexity of applying for EMA—another practical issue that puts students off applying for EMA in the first place. This is something that must be addressed. And that is why I also believe that there is a need for a top-down review of EMA, looking at the finances, yes, but also the barriers presented to students and how they can overcome them. The reality is, as well, that we have very little literature in Wales around the effects of EMA. We have fantastic work done by the Bevan Foundation. Unfortunately, a lot of it is now out of date, and that's why my office has tried to do our own little review of EMA, but what we do need, of course, is Government support in trying to do that.

I'll conclude, Dirprwy Lywydd, by referencing again the crux of this debate. The crux is the retention of low-income students, not just so that they can realise their own potential, but also benefit our communities. For many of these students, we tell them to see education as a long-term investment, but for so many they can't think in the long term. The long term is tomorrow. Unless we support these students now, we will continue to see an issue with retention, as many have no choice but to seek work. I look forward to contributions from other Members and I look forward to hearing from the Minister. Diolch yn fawr.