Mark Drakeford: Local authorities are responsible for funding schools in Wales. Welsh Government has prioritised support for schools through the local government settlement. We also continue to provide significant additional grant funding to support our educational reforms and improve outcomes for learners.
Kirsty Williams: The Minister for health and I are jointly leading work to embed a whole-school approach to emotional well-being. While the focus is schools, much of the work has equal relevance to other settings such as further and higher education, where complementary working is also under way.
Mark Drakeford: Our national guidance focuses on enabling schools to secure the best outcomes for all learners by considering both their educational needs and wellbeing while managing ongoing risks of COVID-19. We continue to take action to minimise disruption to learners and ensure schools are safe places to learn and work.
Kirsty Williams: Our vision for Wales is for a fully inclusive education system where all learners have equity of access to education that meets their needs and enables them to participate, benefit from and enjoy learning. We are fully committed to supporting schools, local authorities and other organisations to deliver this.
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government is committed to providing all children with an education that enables them to reach their full potential. Local authorities have a duty to meet the needs of children with special needs such as hearing impairment, the majority of whom are educated in mainstream schools with additional support.
Kirsty Williams: Local authorities are responsible for sixth form education. When proposing change they must comply with the school organisation code, in the interest of learners, with the impact of proposals on the quality and standards of education being their prime consideration.
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government, regional consortia—ERW—and local authorities are collectively supporting schools in mid Wales to improve educational outcomes in line with the priorities in ‘Education in Wales: Our national mission’.
Mark Drakeford: The education portfolio will spend £2.4 billion in 2018-19. This comprises £1.6 billion resource, £169 million capital and £542 million in annually managed expenditure. It pays amongst other things, for the pupil development grant, the education improvement grant and the twenty-first century schools programme.
Kirsty Williams: Educational standards in Wales have improved significantly over the last decade. 'Our national mission' will focus on raising school standards, reducing the attainment gap and delivering an education system that is a source of national pride and public confidence.
Mark Drakeford: The regional education consortia support, and work closely in partnership with local authorities to promote high standards of education. I am encouraged that Estyn’s most recent annual report, published last December, noted that there has been further improvement in standards in primary schools.
Kirsty Williams: The regional education consortia work closely in partnership with local authorities to promote high standards of education and the fulfilment of learning potential. The year-on-year increase in the number of schools needing the least amount of support demonstrates the effectiveness of regional ways of working.
Llyr Gruffydd: ...rhan o ymdrech i leihau'r baich sydd, i rai pobl, ar y proffesiwn addysgu ar hyn o bryd? I warmly welcome the fact that the Government is to seek to develop a national strategy on small and rural schools, and I do agree with the Minister that federation does offer a model and an alternative option in many contexts in order to tackle some of the challenges facing many of our schools. But,...
Carolyn Thomas: ...from six depots to one, rationalising staff by nearly 40 per cent, year after year salami slicing departments by 30 per cent. When we could not cut vital services, such as social healthcare and education, any more we took to street scene then and anything deemed non-statutory. And now we're really concerned about leisure services, as we've been discussing at committee. Ten years ago,...
Kirsty Williams: Today, I published a written statement on Schools Challenge Cymru. The final evaluation report will be available later during the spring term. In the meantime, my officials will continue to work with the education consortia to ensure we fully capitalise on the learning emerging from the programme.
Kirsty Williams: We have discussed how education and CAMHS joint working can be improved, to help children and young people who require emotional support. We will continue to maximise opportunities to improve the health and well-being of children through the development of the new curriculum and through the school inspection programme.
Kirsty Williams: By explicitly including well-being in 'Education in Wales: Our national mission', I have put out a clear message that the well-being of learners is important and that schools need to focus on this. This will be supported by the new curriculum, developments in professional learning and the CAMHS in-reach pilot.
Mark Drakeford: The Wales infrastructure investment plan sets out investment of over £6.5 billion in infrastructure across Wales over the remainder of the current Assembly term, including the twenty-first century schools and education programme and the Grange University Hospital.
Mark Drakeford: Our investment proposals for Powys include just under £80 million to deliver band A of the twenty-first century schools and education programme and completion of the Newtown bypass.
Kirsty Williams: We strive to ensure that excellent facilities are available to our learners. Our twenty-first century schools and education programme has encompassed a wide variety of schemes catering for the different needs of all learners and communities.
Vaughan Gething: We continue to work with health boards and Health Education and Improvement Wales on recruitment and retention challenges, with short, medium and long-term action. This includes our successful Train Work Live campaign, increasing medical school places and working to ensure more Welsh students study to become healthcare professionals.
