Diolch yn fawr iawn, Ddirprwy Lywydd dros dro.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I broadly welcome the direction of travel that you outline here. I would say, of course, that, whilst you say unemployment in Wales has fallen—and you paint a particular picture in your opening paragraphs—we are aware, of course, that many of the new jobs that have been created are part-time, second or third jobs, zero-hour contracts, et cetera, and that long-term unemployment, of course, in Wales, remains stubbornly high at 32 per cent compared to the UK average of 29 per cent. So, we need to be careful, I think, in the picture that we do paint that we do tell the whole story.

Now, employment policy, of course, is non-devolved and you tell us in your statement that the Welsh Government’s contribution to Wales’s disproportionately strong performance shouldn’t be underestimated. Well, I would say, you know, give us the powers and we could do even better. And I would ask you whether you agree with me in that respect, Minister, and maybe what representations you’ve made to the UK Government for increased competence in this area so that we can do a better job than is currently the case?

In bringing together Jobs Growth Wales and the other programmes that you mention into a single programme, I’m wondering whether the intention is to create one brand with a number of different offers within it or a number of sort of schemes operating within that programme, or whether the intention now is to move to one offer that has the flexibility to meet the broad range of needs that we have here in Wales.

The matrix provided by the Government recently of the approved programmes for different routes into employability, I think, tells its own story. There have been concerns about complexity and duplication as well, of course, between Welsh Government programmes and Department for Work and Pensions programmes. I would ask, maybe, that you tell us a bit more about how you want to ensure that that situation is improved upon. But, what I’m asking is this: is today’s statement an admission, really, that those concerns were right? I think you said that there was a reference to the fragmentation of services. Many people have felt it is quite congested, it’s quite complex to navigate and that this rationalisation is a recognition that that was correct. Is it maybe suggesting that the Welsh Government has spread its programmes a bit too broadly in the past, possibly, as well, in relation to resourcing? That’s an important factor here, of course, because I’d like to hear you confirm to us that the funding whole—with a ‘w’—the totality of funding will correspond to the sum of the parts of the existing schemes. Or, do you expect, actually, that there will some sort of financial saving from bringing some of these programmes together?

You tell us that the new programme that has been proposed will be informed by recent evidence and research, by evaluations that have been undertaken, and that you will conduct pilots and test different approaches. I don’t see the word ‘consultation’. I would presume and expect that your intention is to consult with stakeholders and employers and others.

You hope to see this programme being delivered from April 2018. Well, it needs to be designed, it needs to be piloted and it needs to be tested. I presume that there will be a tendering process for some sort of delivery body, which will itself need some lead-in time, I would imagine, to hit the ground running by April 2018. So, maybe you could tell us a bit about the process that you hope to undertake to get to that start date of April 2018, especially, of course, set against the backdrop of leaving the European Union. There’ll be a huge impact on this sector particularly—and financially particularly, I would imagine—given its dependence on ESF funding in the past. Really, I’m just questioning here whether you’re embarking on this change on the presumption that the funding that’s currently provided from the EU will be provided by the UK Government. Otherwise, one would question how can you develop and design your new main employability programme for Wales without, frankly, having a clue what level of resource is going to be available to you.