Written question WQ93770

The health, safety and wellbeing of learners, staff and the whole school community is of utmost importance. School governing bodies and local authorities are responsible for health and safety in schools and have a duty to always ensure the safety of learners and staff. They must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that pupils are not exposed to any risks to their health and safety in school.

The Welsh Government does not directly fund schools but, provides funding to local authorities to support their funding of pre-16 provision in schools mainly through the local government revenue settlement. The settlement is not ring-fenced; the funding allocated to each authority is available to the authority to spend as it sees fit across the range of services for which it is responsible, including schools. This is in line with the Welsh Government’s policy that local authorities are best placed to judge local needs and circumstances and to fund schools accordingly. Pembrokeshire local authority’s 2024-25 final settlement is £218.9m.

We have also awarded Pembrokeshire local authority £4.1m for school capital repairs and maintenance through the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme this assembly term. The local authority prioritises spend for this grant, including for health and safety requirements. We have also provided funding in Pembrokeshire through the Community Focused Schools Programme where schools have been awarded over £346,000 towards security measures to segregate school and community use areas.

With so much of our lives now entwined with using technology, it is critical to support our children and young people with the skills to stay safe from online harm and become responsible digital citizens. As outlined in the Digital Resilience in Education Action Plan, since 2014 we have continued to deliver a comprehensive online safety in education programme which year on year continues to provide high quality resources, guidance and training for schools, learners and their families. These are all available on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.