Joshua Kim

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1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy en

   Minister, traditionally, entry-level roles have allowed young people to gain the experience needed to progress into more skilled employment. But artificial intelligence now threatens to automate some of those opportunities. What assessment, therefore, has the Welsh Government made of the impact of AI on entry-level employment opportunities for young people in Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, and what discussions has the Cabinet Minister had with the Deputy Minister for skills about ensuring that training provision in our constituency prepares young people for the jobs likely to be available in five to 10 years' time?

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1. 3. Business Statement and Announcement en

   Trefnydd, a recent Care Inspectorate Wales national thematic review found that high turnover among children's social workers can disrupt children's journeys through the care system and cause delays, while practitioners also raised concerns about high case loads. Could the Trefnydd therefore arrange for the Deputy Minister for Social Care, Mental Health and Women's Health to make a statement on workforce stability in children's services, including social worker turnover, case loads and what action is being taken to improve continuity for vulnerable children and families, please?

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1. 6. Welsh Labour Debate: Further education en

   I'll be speaking in favour of the motion. There are two issues at the heart of this motion: the number of young people not in education, employment or training, whom I shall refer to as NEETs, and whether our further education colleges have the capacity to meet current demand. Starting with NEETs, the motion is right to refer to long-term scarring. A Scottish longitudinal study found that young people who are NEET at 16 to 19 were 2.8 times as likely to be unemployed or economically inactive 10 years later. At the societal level, with an ageing population, we need our young people to be productive as older generations leave the workforce. Also, we should develop the skills and potential of young people already living here, rather than relying on recruiting workers from overseas to support an ageing population. Before moving on from NEETs, I want briefly to address AI. On GCSE results day this year, a young constituent e-mailed me because she was concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs. Young people are well aware of AI, and I would be misleading the Chamber if I said young people have nothing to worry about, because the Open University’s 2026 business barometer found that 19 per cent of employers surveyed had reduced early career recruitment, and, among those employers, 42 per cent attributed that reduction to the wider adoption of AI doing more entry-level tasks. Our young people are therefore now competing with both human and non-human intelligences for jobs. That makes the role of further education colleges in providing young people with skills and routes into productive work as important as ever. Turning to FE colleges, I want to focus in the second part of my speech on Coleg y Cymoedd, which serves communities across my constituency of Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, and I thank principal Jonathan Morgan for providing the following figures. Coleg y Cymoedd has provisionally enrolled 5,534 full-time learners this year, compared with 4,888 last year—an increase of more than 13 per cent in a single year. Yet it is funded for only around 4,596 learners, leaving a gap of more than 900 places, which the college estimates equates to a funding pressure of around £3 million. The consequences of supporting substantially more learners than are funded include increased class sizes and greater pressure on teaching staff, potentially compromising the quality of the learning experience. On top of this, the number of learners with additional learning needs or individual development plans at Coleg y Cymoedd has risen from 309 to 454 in a single year—an increase of 47 per cent. It is absolutely to be welcomed that more young people with additional learning needs are accessing further education, but that increased participation requires additional funding. Without it, greater pressure is placed on specialist support teams, well-being provision and teaching staff. Yet funding has not kept pace—far from it. The Welsh FE sector received £21.5 million of increased participation funding in 2025-26. The equivalent allocation available in 2026-27 is £6.25 million. Coleg y Cymoedd's view is that restoring the previous level would provide an immediate means of addressing current demand pressures. These figures highlight the need to fund increased participation. I agree with the case for increased participation funding set out in this motion, but funding must also come with scrutiny. As the Welsh Government considers future FE funding, it should look not only at how many places are required, but also at what those places are delivering. Are learners completing their courses? Are they gaining qualifications employers value? And are we training people in the skills Wales actually needs? Because further education should be a bridge into skilled work and genuine opportunity. For these reasons, while funding must come with rigorous scrutiny and proof of outcomes, I support the motion. More of our young people should have the opportunity to progress in life, both for their own sake and for the sake of society as a whole.

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1. 7. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education: Priorities for Skills and Tertiary Education en

   Deputy Minister, thank you for your statement. I want to focus on the increased participation fund.

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2. 7. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education: Priorities for Skills and Tertiary Education cy

   Ddirprwy Weinidog, mae prifathro Coleg y Cymoedd wedi ysgrifennu ataf, yn dweud bod y gostyngiad sylweddol yn y gronfa cynyddu cyfranogiad wedi ei orfodi i roi cannoedd o ddarpar ddysgwyr ar restrau aros ar draws campysau'r coleg, er bod llawer o'r dysgwyr hyn yn ceisio ennill cymwysterau mewn sectorau blaenoriaeth, megis adeiladu, gofal plant a sgiliau digidol. Ar adeg pan ydym oll yn ceisio lleihau nifer y bobl ifanc nad ydynt mewn addysg, cyflogaeth na hyfforddiant, a mynd i'r afael â'r prinder sgiliau sy'n wynebu cyflogwyr Cymru, pa asesiad y mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi ei wneud o effaith y gostyngiad mewn cyllid addysg bellach ar gyfleoedd i ddysgwyr a'r biblinell sgiliau, os gwelwch yn dda?

   Official English translation

   Deputy Minister, the principal of Coleg y Cymoedd has written to me, saying that the significant reduction in the increased participation fund has forced him to put hundreds of prospective students on waiting lists across the college's campuses, although many of these learners are trying to seek qualifications in priority sectors, such as construction, childcare and digital skills. At a time when we're all trying to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training, and address the skills shortage facing employers in Wales, what assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the reduction in further education funding on opportunities for learners and the skills pipeline, please?

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1. 2. Business Statement and Announcement en

   A constituent who is a trustee of the charity Haemophilia Wales has written to me regarding the infected blood scandal, saying, 'Many of our members are now elderly and frail after decades of struggle. We just want the claims for fair and just compensation to be progressed sooner rather than too late.' Will the Trefnydd arrange a statement from the Minister for health and care on ongoing delays to the infected blood inquiry compensation scheme, particularly to explain what representations are being made to the UK Government to speed up delivery, especially for elderly survivors and for all those affected? Diolch.

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1. 7. Reform UK Debate: Nation of Sanctuary en

   I will be speaking in favour of the Reform motion. I begin with a true story from when I was working as a supply teacher at a school in south Wales. One day, the deputy head told me that a 16-year-old asylum seeker—let's call him Andy; not his real name—from a French-speaking country was joining the school, and could I teach Andy some English. After about a week of one-to-one English lessons, I was told that the police had discovered a picture of Andy's ID on his phone that showed that Andy was in fact 20 years old. I'd done my best to help this alleged child in need, and I felt that my kindness had been taken advantage of. And many in this country feel that our kindness is being abused. Of course, I'm not saying every asylum seeker is a liar. However, some are. This year, the BBC reported migrants falsely claiming domestic abuse or deceitfully claiming to be gay in order to claim asylum, in some cases successfully. Andy told me he waited three weeks in Calais before entering the UK illegally and then coming to Wales. Why did Andy, a French speaker, not stay in France? Well, the outgoing Prime Minister has himself acknowledged that the UK's current asylum regime is a significant pull factor, more permissive than the European mainstream. Immigration policy is, of course, reserved to Westminster, but Wales has an open border with England and if the Welsh Government presents Wales as being uniquely welcoming through policies such as the nation of sanctuary, it should at least consider whether that reinforces the perception that we are an attractive destination. Let's not attract more Andys. But, even in the case of genuine asylum seekers, I would argue that we should prioritise our own citizens, because it's not a case of, 'Do we help these asylum seekers or not?' I put it to you that the bigger picture, a more accurate framing, is actually as follows: here's an asylum seeker; here's a citizen in need. With our limited resources, do we prioritise the non-citizen or the citizen? Without hesitation, Reform say, 'Prioritise the citizen.' It is virtuous, actually, to prioritise the citizen. No reasonable person in this Chamber, if their family were in need, would give their food away to strangers while their own children go hungry. No major culture or religion, ancient or modern, east or west, says to help a stranger while your own children go hungry. Let me give a few examples. In Hinduism, the concept of dharma says that one's duty is firstly to those nearest to you. The Roman philosopher Cicero had a similar idea, that the closest bond is that of the family, and next comes fellow citizens. St Thomas Aquinas said that charity ought to be more abundant towards those who are more closely united to us. The New Testament says that anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith. So, yes, love thy neighbour, but look after your own first.

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2. 7. Reform UK Debate: Nation of Sanctuary cy

   Mae'n ddrwg gennyf, ond hoffwn wneud cynnydd. Sori.

   Official English translation

   I'm sorry, but I would like to make some progress.

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3. 7. Reform UK Debate: Nation of Sanctuary en

   It is therefore—

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4. 7. Reform UK Debate: Nation of Sanctuary en

   I'm not, sorry.

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5. 7. Reform UK Debate: Nation of Sanctuary en

   I'll address that point later on. It is therefore a virtue to provide for your own first before helping others. If you're going to virtue signal with things like the nation of sanctuary, at least get your virtue the right way round: put citizens first. You care about child poverty—scrap the nation of sanctuary and help at least some of our own children who will go to bed hungry tonight. According to the official Welsh Government child poverty strategy monitoring framework, in the 2022 to 2024 financial period, 9 per cent of children in Wales, around 50,000 children, were living in material deprivation, which means their families cannot afford basic everyday essentials, directly leading to lives marked by hunger and cold. Those millions of pounds spent on the nation of sanctuary could help at least some of our own children in need. Of course, you remain free as individuals to help refugees with your own money, and, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus was talking about individuals, not about the state. But this debate relates to taxpayers' money. To address the elephant in the room, you might say to me, 'But, Josh, you’re an immigrant.' Let me be clear: I’m a citizen first, an immigrant second. As a citizen, I want what is best for this country, and putting citizens first is in the best interests of this country. That is why this immigrant, who is now a citizen, fully supports the Reform motion to scrap the nation of sanctuary, because true virtue is looking after your own citizens first. Diolch.

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1. 1. Nominations for committee chairs en

   I nominate Sarah Cooper-Lesadd.

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1. 5. Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: Priorities for Education en

   Thank you for your statement, Minister. A constituent has raised with me a concern that was not covered in your priority statement today. An issue a constituent has asked me to raise in Plenary with you, Minister, is the support available for children with additional learning needs during school holidays. For many families, the challenges do not stop when term ends, yet access to suitable activities, respite support and other appropriate provision can be inconsistent across local authorities. Can the Minister therefore explain what consideration the Welsh Government is giving to improving and standardising support for ALN pupils and their families outside term time, please?

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1. 3. Nomination of the First Minister under Standing Order 8 cy

   Dan Thomas.

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