Mark Drakeford: ...Investment Plan in 2012, we have invested £9 billion of core capital funding in projects across the whole of Wales, including improvements to the A40, as well as infrastructure investment in schools, housing and health care.
Mark Drakeford: Analysis presented in 'Brexit and Fair Movement of People' found that EU citizens play a vital role in a number of professions including the NHS and higher education.
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.
Mark Drakeford: We have provided a further £50 million as part of the Welsh Government’s pledge to provide £100 million of additional funding over this Assembly term to raise school standards to deliver the right support for all children. In addition, we remain committed to helping our most disadvantaged learners through the pupil deprivation grant.
Mark Drakeford: ...for action on independent living sets out how we are working to remove barriers so that disabled people have access to the same opportunities as everyone else. Equality of access to transport, education and health are all key areas for action, along with the physical environment.
Mark Drakeford: 'Education in Wales: Our national mission' is clear on our commitment to ensure all learners in Wales are fully supported to reach their full potential. Working with partners, we are determined to overcome the particular challenges that face some groups of learners, including some Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners.
Mark Drakeford: Local authorities are responsible for the provision and monitoring of child-centred support for children with additional learning needs. The recently passed Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill places learners’ needs, views, wishes and feelings at the heart of the planning process.
Mark Drakeford: STEM skills are vital for our children’s future success. We have set out our approach to encourage engagement in STEM subjects in our STEM in education delivery plan. Actions include curriculum and qualifications reform, support for teaching professionals, and measures to enhance girls’ take up of STEM subjects.
Mark Drakeford: ...Wales metro, £350 million for construction of the Grange university hospital, £50 million for the new Llanwern Railway station and £345 million earmarked for band B of the twenty-first century schools programme.
Mark Drakeford: The Gwent missing children hub successfully brings together the police, social services, health and education when children go missing or run away from home. The hub works together to share information and assess the risks that these young people may face, to improve their lives and make children safer.
Mark Drakeford: The School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 requires that, before school organisation proposals are published, they must first be subject to consultation. Our school organisation code sets a high standard for consultation, ensuring those with an interest can express their views and those views are conscientiously taken into account.
Mark Drakeford: ...that has been achieved, we will go further still. We will secure over £1 billion-worth of investment through the mutual investment model schemes, which are so important in our health service, our education service and in transport. Beyond that as well, we will look to draw down as much of the £208 million of EU structural funds available to us for capital projects, and we will press...
Mark Drakeford: ...of responsibility for Careers Wales to the Minister for Skills and Science, £18.8 million in revenue funding and £6 million of annually managed expenditure funding has been transferred from the education main expenditure group to the economy and infrastructure MEG. No budget has been cut as a result of the supplementary budget, and any negative adjustments at MEG level are offset by...
Mark Drakeford: ..., but with a requirement for them to come together to consider the coherence of their plans across the south-west region as a whole. For other services, mandated regional working, such as on education improvement, will be for regional joint governance committees to determine and to decide upon the most suitable collaborative footprint, within a statutory framework. There will also be scope...
Mark Drakeford: ...the roll-out of the Welsh Local Government Association’s summer holiday programme, Food and Fun. This programme provides a free, healthy breakfast and lunch, along with a suite of enriching and educational activities that seek to tackle learning loss.
Mark Drakeford: The reforms that were announced in November in response to the Diamond Review will create a sustainable student support and higher education funding system for Wales. This will make Wales the only country in the UK to implement a system providing parity for undergraduate full-time, part-time and postgraduate students.
Mark Drakeford: Our education priorities are set out in ‘Taking Wales Forward’ as it is a devolved matter.
Mark Drakeford: ...Office identified improvements in Cardiff council’s performance, financial planning, HR management and accountability. Estyn concluded in October that significant improvements had been made in education services. The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales found in 2016 that children’s services had a clear sense of direction and high levels of confidence amongst staff and managers.
Mark Drakeford: ...local authorities across our border in England. The funding formula we use in Wales is an objective formula. It is driven primarily by numbers of people who live in an area, the number of pupils in schools, and by expert advice in relation to the costs of meeting deprivation, rurality and particular services. It is why Labour leaders on the finance sub-group voted this year to implement...
Mark Drakeford: ...in Wales and to organisations such as Keep Wales Tidy to improve local environment quality. Our aim is to help empower communities in their local area and to encourage community engagement through education, collaborative working and enforcement programmes.
