English: Thank you very much, and thank you to the Member who opened the debate and to everyone who has contributed too. May I make it clear that, like so many of you, I am disappointed that our public services, including FE, have been under substantial pressure over the past few years? I have to highlight, of course, that it's the austerity agenda of the UK Government that's entirely responsible for this, and this has prevented us from going further than we would have liked to have gone in order to maintain and support this important sector. And of course I am highly aware of the figures quoted by Mohammad Asghar earlier. It's important that we recognise that the FE sector makes an important contribution to the Welsh economy, and the sector is in a far better state than the FE system over the border. As a result of the cuts, we do have to ensure that we make the most of the funding available and that we provide services across Wales in a fair manner. And this is one of the reasons why we have changed the way we will fund and agree to effective planning programmes, so that we can respond to demographic changes and respond to the needs of our local economy. We have allocated an additional £7 million in the draft budget for 2019-20 to support the FE sector in tackling these demographic changes. Now, today's statement mentioned the additional demand that will come about as a result of the employability programme. One of the things that became clear in the employability plan was that we need to increase the number of courses that respond to the demand from employers. As a result, I will be suggesting that the colleges prioritise these over other courses that they provide today, in the way that Dawn Bowden highlighted. But we must ensure that these are independent bodies, although they are substantially funded by the Welsh Government.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr, a diolch i'r Aelod a wnaeth gyflwyno'r ddadl a'r rheini sydd wedi cyfrannu hefyd. A gaf i ei gwneud hi'n glir fy mod i, fel cymaint ohonoch chi, yn flin bod ein gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, gan gynnwys addysg bellach, wedi bod o dan bwysau sylweddol dros yr ychydig flynyddoedd diwethaf? Mae'n rhaid i mi danlinellu, wrth gwrs, mai agenda cyni Llywodraeth Dorïaidd y Deyrnas Unedig sydd yn gyfan gwbl gyfrifol am hyn, ac mae hyn wedi atal posibiliadau i ni fynd ymhellach nag y byddem ni wedi hoffi mynd i gynnal a chefnogi y sector pwysig yma. Ac wrth gwrs fy mod i'n ymwybodol dros ben o'r ffigurau y gwnaeth Mohammad Asghar eu cyflwyno gynnau. Mae'n bwysig ein bod ni'n cydnabod bod y sector addysg bellach yn gwneud cyfraniad pwysig i economi Cymru, ac mae'r sector mewn lot gwell cyflwr na'r system addysg bellach dros y ffin. Fel canlyniad i'r toriadau, mae'n rhaid i ni sicrhau ein bod yn gwneud y mwyaf o'r arian sydd gyda ni a'n bod ni'n darparu gwasanaeth ar draws Cymru mewn ffordd deg. A dyma un o'r rhesymau pam ein bod ni wedi newid y ffordd y byddwn ni'n ariannu ac yn cytuno i raglenni cynllunio effeithiol fel ein bod ni'n ymateb i newidiadau demograffig ac yn ymateb i anghenion yr economi lleol. Rŷm ni wedi neilltuo £7 miliwn yn ychwanegol yng nghyllideb drafft 2019-20 i gefnogi'r sector addysg bellach i fynd i'r afael â'r newidiadau o ran demograffeg. Nawr, mae'r datganiad heddiw yn sôn am y galw ychwanegol a fydd yn dod fel canlyniad i'r rhaglen gyflogadwyedd. Un o'r pethau a oedd yn glir yn y rhaglen gyflogadwyedd oedd bod angen i ni gynyddu nifer y cyrsiau sy'n ymateb i'r galw gan gyflogwyr. Fel canlyniad, byddaf yn cynnig syniad i'r colegau roi blaenoriaeth i'r rhain dros gyrsiau eraill maen nhw'n eu darparu heddiw, yn y ffordd y gwnaeth Dawn Bowden sicrhau ei bod hi wedi amlinellu. Ond mae'n rhaid pwysleisio bod y rhain yn gyrff annibynnol, er eu bod nhw'n cael eu hariannu'n sylweddol gan Lywodraeth Cymru.