Higher Education

Speech by Peter Black delivered to Plenary on Wed 21st May 2008

Peter Black: I note that Alun, in his last point, is asking the Government to acknowledge the fact that there is a £61 million funding gap. From reading the Government amendments, it is quite clear that it is prepared to leave paragraph 3 in the motion-in the hope that we would then vote for it-with one exception: it wants to take out the words 'with concern'. That is quite a fatuous amendment. The Government is prepared to acknowledge that there is a £61 million funding gap between higher education institutions in Wales and those in England, but it does not seem to have any concern that that is the case. One wonders why that concern has suddenly disappeared' it was there when we had all-party agreement to start addressing that funding gap. Presumably, Plaid Cymru will be supporting the Government amendment. As Kirsty pointed out earlier, Ieuan Wyn Jones told the Assembly in a previous debate that addressing that gap was crucial. Now, that crucial element has disappeared and he is not even concerned-it seems that Plaid Cymru is not concerned-about the fact that there is a £61 million funding gap between the various higher education institutions-

David Lloyd: How do you propose that the Liberal Democrats would address this funding gap-top-up fees or cuts in public services?

Peter Black: You offer a very stark choice, Dai, and it is very nice of you to write the budgets for us. You know, as well as I do, that when the parties came up with an agreement on this-Plaid Cymru signed up to that as well-we all agreed that we would address this funding gap over time. You cannot just conjure up £61 million out of thin air-I accept that-but we should be working towards eradicating that funding gap over a period of time, even if that period of time is a fairly lengthy one. We do not even seem to have that commitment from the Government or from Plaid Cymru, who were once gung-ho about how crucial it was to address that funding gap. [Interruption.]

We would address it over a period of time by directing resources that are available to the Government already, such as the huge amount of reserves you have, the end-of-year flexibility and the whole list of freebies that you have included in your policies, [Laughter.] We would start to direct some of that resource to dealing with this funding gap. It is all very well to mock, but at least we have not given up the ghost on this, Dai, as Plaid Cymru has done. Plaid Cymru is prepared to let higher education institutions in Wales rot without the proper funding that they need to deliver the education that the students need, and that our economy needs for its future prosperity.

Alun Cairns: Does Peter Black think that the Government is like a flock of ostriches-sticking their heads in the sand choosing not to acknowledge that the gap exists? That is what Dai Lloyd said in 2005.

Peter Black: That supports what I have been saying over the last three minutes. The Government is no longer even concerned about the gap; Government Members are prepared to stick their heads in the sand and just try to ignore it.

David Lloyd rose-

Peter Black: I want to move on now.

The Deputy Presiding Officer: Order. I do not think that he is taking any more interventions.

Peter Black: I have already taken interventions from you, Dai. Frankly, you do not seem to have anything constructive to say, so I will move on to talk about part-time students, who also make up an important part of this motion.

In Wales, 46 per cent of enrolments were from part-time students. Given that we have an ageing population, and that we have Leitch and Webb calling for the need to up-skill the workforce, the number of part-time learners is set to increase. We need to prepare for that and we need to encourage it. Part-time students, particularly adults, are penalised by a system that unfairly favours full-time students. Many part-time students receive no support during their studies and face huge financial difficulties during their degree course and afterwards. The majority of part-timers are studying for skills-related reasons-job progression, professional updating, career change or re-entering the job market. Part-time learning supports them to enhance their employability and to build and demonstrate key soft skills. Given the Government's commitment to upskilling the workforce, and given the need for it, the support that we give to part-timers is crucial, as is the support that we put into further education, which also plays a key role in providing skills to enable people to progress in their careers and to enable our economy to flourish by making sure that people have the skills that employers want. In that way, we can attract the high-value employers that will deliver high-quality, highly paid jobs, which will improve the gross domestic product of Wales as a country.

I would hope that the Government, at the very least, could withdraw its amendment deleting the words 'with concern', and maybe reconsider its support for this motion as it is set out at present. Higher education institutions in Wales need that support, but above all, they need the funding if they are to compete on a level playing field with higher education institutions elsewhere in the world. If they do not receive that funding, they will also be in trouble.