Written question WQ83266
- Asked by
- Mark IsherwoodConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 13 days
Question
Will the Minister explain why military cadets are unable to access BTEC courses funded by the Welsh Government through the Cadet and Vocational Qualification Organisation(CVQO)?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Schools and colleges in Wales offer a wide range of BTEC provision, which military cadets can access alongside other post-16 learners.
The Welsh Government provided funding for CVQO from 2011 to the end of the 2018-19 academic year, at which time a decision was made to discontinue funding. The provision offered by CVQO complements that offered by other post-16 providers but we do not consider CVQO to be a priority for support. CVQO delivery is largely part-time and extra-curricular in nature, and does not form part of our core post-16 offer in Wales. Added to this, historical funding data shows that the majority of CVQO’s learners were also engaged in full-time learning at school or local FE college.
We have encouraged CVQO to look for opportunities to collaborate with local schools or colleges, as each full-time learning programme includes 75 hours funding for Community Learner Industry Focused delivery that can be used to support enrichment activities, such as those offered by CVQO. Unfortunately, we are unable to commit to direct funding at this point in time.