Written question WQ95529

The Welsh Government is not made aware of individual school staffing changes. The employment and deployment of teachers and other school staff are matters for the local authority, schools and their governing bodies to make against local needs and priorities. Schools may have to make difficult decisions in order to operate within their budget or changes in circumstances, which may include changes to staff hours or redundancies in order to make best use of the resources available for all learners.

The Welsh Government provides funding to local authorities to support their funding of pre-16 provision in schools in Wales 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.

Schools have the opportunity to influence their local authority’s decisions on school budgets by engaging in dialogue with authorities including through their budget forum, which is required in law. Once local authorities set budgets for their schools, management of those budgets is the responsibility of the school’s governing body.