, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny session with the Welsh Government - Education
Thank you very much, Buffy, for that. As Members will be aware, an agreement was reached that allowed the budget for 2026-27 to pass. That budget agreement included an extra £112.8 million for local government. That will mean an average increase of 4.5 per…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny session with the Welsh Government - Education
Thank you and good morning, everyone. I will ask officials to introduce themselves, if that's okay.
, Plenary
Debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee Report, 'Routes into post-16 education and training'
The Welsh Government has responded to each of the recommendations addressed to us in this report in writing. Today, I will set out our broad response to the various sections of the report. First, the committee recommends that an overarching strategy for…
, Plenary
Debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee Report, 'Routes into post-16 education and training'
Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm grateful to the Children, Young People and Education Committee for their report on their inquiry into routes into post-16 education and training. They have produced a significant piece of work with a wide-ranging scope, covering…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much, Joyce. And it’s £2 billion since 2014 and a further £3.5 billion that we are doing under the programme’s nine-year rolling programme. And I’m really glad as well that you highlighted that what this shows is a really positive partnership…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
The sustainable communities for learning capital programme has invested over £2 billion of Welsh Government funding since 2014. In addition to this, I recently approved strategic outline plans for a further £3.5 billion of Welsh Government investment for the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you, Cefin. I'm really glad that you got the opportunity to see what they're doing in Cardiff and the Vale. I've been, and I know that my colleague Vikki Howells has been, and it's absolutely inspirational. And there's a high level of rigour as well…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
The 2025-26 draft budget includes a £200,000 increase in the budget for junior apprenticeships. This 50 per cent increase will ensure that current provision is fully funded and supports further growth in the next academic year, so that more learners can…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Well, can I thank John Griffiths for that supplementary and say that I'm delighted to congratulate and commend both the local authority and all of the schools in question? It's really great to hear of the progress that they're making. And I think that what it…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Improving attendance continues to be a top priority. Whilst we have seen improvements, returning attendance rates to pre-pandemic levels is an ambitious task. To support this, I have announced £8.8 million, across this year and next, to increase capacity…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much, Natasha. And I want to be clear, as I hope I was with Cefin, that this isn't a question of just doing new work. This is about looking at what we're doing already, and we are doing lots and lots and lots of work around recruiting and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
On 13 January, I published a written statement setting out my intention to work with the sector to develop a strategic education workforce plan to address a wide range of issues and improve recruitment and retention in the education workforce.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you, Cefin. As you’ve highlighted, we’ve got a whole range of incentives designed to tackle shortages in key subjects, and we’re investing a substantial amount of money in those. For some teachers, that could mean an incentive of £15,000 each. I’ve…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you, Cefin. I’m very happy to give you that assurance that I am very committed to creating a bilingual workforce. It’s early days for the new workforce plan. I can assure you that the Welsh language will be a key part of that, just as it was a key part…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much, Cefin. You won’t be surprised to find that I don’t agree with you that the statement was an admission of failure. The statement was the result of my reflections since coming into post on the range of workforce issues I’ve been dealing…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
I’m not aware that anybody has abolished cueing completely in England, actually. If you can point me to where they have actually outlawed cueing—. We have been really clear that we expect the teaching of phonics to be the key part of teaching literacy in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
We’re doing this work in phases: we've clarified expectations with schools that we expect all schools to be teaching phonics; we are putting in place enhanced professional learning to assist schools with the teaching of literacy and numeracy; and we have a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Can I thank Natasha Asghar for her questions and welcome her to her new portfolio and wish her well with it? Like her, I hope that we can continue to have constructive engagement. We all want the best for our children and young people in Wales. You referred…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thanks very much, Rhys. As you know, our ALN system is a nought-to-25 system, and we have legal obligations under the Learning and Skills Act 2000 to provide provision for post-16 learners; there's a process that families go through with Careers Wales. In…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much, Darren. Obviously, the numbers of children and young people on ND waiting lists are a cause of major concern for us across the Government. As you've highlighted, additional money was announced by the Cabinet Secretary for health to really…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Can I thank Mark Isherwood for that supplementary question? As he's highlighted, the UK Government has made the decision it has on levying VAT on private schools. That's to generate investment in our schools in the state sector. I'm happy to confirm to the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Llywydd, I understand that you've given permission for question 2 and question 8 to be grouped today. The additional learning needs statutory framework secures additional learning provision for ALN learners, underpinned by a whole-school approach to mental…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Diolch, Delyth, and can I acknowledge you've been raising long-standing concerns about this? As I said in my initial answer, we are having this joint summit with stakeholders, to look at some of the really thorny issues about this. I'm sure you're also aware…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
I have had numerous discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales about learner travel. We will jointly lead a learner travel summit in the spring. This important issue will benefit from our combined efforts, and those of our partners…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 2
Thank you.
