Degree Apprenticeships

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 25 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:12, 25 October 2022

Well, Llywydd, I've enjoyed Laura Anne Jones's latest contribution to her leadership campaign, but I have to say this to her: that she will need to slow down on the numbers to allow people to follow the points that she is making. I look forward to reading the transcript so I'm better able to follow the argument that she was making.

The apprenticeship programme—degree apprenticeship programme—Llywydd, is designed to focus on, as I said in my answer, those areas where we have particular needs in the Welsh economy—digital, energy and advanced manufacturing being amongst them—areas where, historically, women have been under-represented but white young men are very much in the Majority and, despite our efforts to attract young women into those areas through the degree apprenticeship programme, that remains the case.

What is more important in terms of the question put to me, though, Llywydd, is whether we are attracting through the degree apprenticeship route young people who otherwise wouldn't be in higher education. I am encouraged that over 57 per cent of those young people who come to take up degree apprenticeships in Wales come from families where there is no parent who has ever been to higher education. In other words, we are recruiting through that route people who would not be as likely to have higher education experience by the conventional routes. And in that sense, I'm glad that the Member has welcomed the degree apprenticeship programme, because I think—I don't think I followed her completely here, but I think, when I study her figures, I will find that, actually, it is doing what she wants it to do; it is reaching into those parts of the community that more conventional routes into higher education fail to achieve the penetration that we would like to see.

Minister

Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.

majority

The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.