, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I think it is an exciting proposal. As John Griffiths will know from our previous discussions about it, I'm very enthusiastic about it, and I very much hope that our officials, together with those of the college and the local authority, are able to make…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I don't recognise the rather lurid picture that the Member paints of the planned reforms as described in the consultation. I speak to teachers all the time, who tell me that one of their main concerns is the length of the autumn term, which both staff and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
We continue to provide support to learners in South Wales East, including £8 million of funding towards additional learning needs, £12.2 million-worth of funding through our universal free school meals programme, and £43 million-worth of funding for…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I thank Sam Kurtz for the question. The point that he makes is an important point. That's the exact purpose of the budget that we're providing to Mudiad Meithrin, but also to CWLWM, so that they can provide the necessary training to the workforce, so that we…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The Member is right to say that I was very pleased to welcome the establishment of Wibli Wobli last year, as she says, and I was particularly saddened to hear of the devastating fire that occurred earlier this year. I'm pleased to hear what she has said today…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I have regular discussions with the Minister for Health and Social Services and the designated member of Plaid Cymru about our commitment in our 'Cymraeg 2050' action plan to expand Welsh-medium nursery provision. We continue to work closely with our partners…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Welsh Language Technology Action Plan
Thank you for those questions. In terms of the work with Alexa and Siri and Android and so forth, the next challenge, and we're already working on it, is to create the bank of hundreds of thousands of hours of data. That's what we need to do now, and we have…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Welsh Language Technology Action Plan
That's a fair point. In terms of the questions asked by Heledd Fychan—. It's resources that we are creating here, which are useful in terms of the work that technology developers, on the whole, can do. There are elements that are public facing, but many of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Welsh Language Technology Action Plan
Just to say, the idea of banking, language banking, is very important. It contributes to the resource available for others to develop what we are investing in. So, Mozilla Common Voice, for example, is an example of how we can use this to create a bank of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Welsh Language Technology Action Plan
Thank you very much for that, and thank you for very important and incisive questions, if I may say. In terms of what Sam Kurtz said at the outset of his contribution, it is very important, isn't it, that we do ensure, as we set ourselves the aim of doubling…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Welsh Language Technology Action Plan
Thank you, Llywydd. Earlier today, I published the final report on our Welsh language technology action plan. And I'm here today to celebrate the progress that has been made. The report looks back at the five years since we published the plan. It also marks…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
I think it is really important that we are clear about what is being changed and what is not being changed. All the evidence that we have points to the fact that students are more likely to make the decision based on the costs of living and the maintenance…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
The Member is right to say that that is a matter for universities and it is a matter for them whether they choose to increase the fee limit within the cap. As the Member will know, the tuition fee cap, when increased, will be the same as already charged by…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
The Member makes important points on the pressures on universities in terms of resources—that's why this change has been introduced. The change is being introduced within this year because of the particular pressures on this year's budget and the need to…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
I thank the Member for the questions. Just to be clear, maintenance support for eligible undergraduate students will increase by 3.7 per cent and the tuition fee cap, which has been announced, will be increased only to the same level already charged by higher…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
This is an issue of great importance to us. Evidence shows that it is the cost of living, rather than fees, which is the greatest barrier to accessing higher education. That's why we've focused our resources on support with the cost of living to…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Diolch yn fawr.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Nothing additional to what we've set out in the evidence paper, I don't think.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, from a curriculum perspective, we have a number of ways in which we will evaluate the implementation of the curriculum, progressively into the future. So, there's a formative evaluation of the curriculum itself, and, in time, as the curriculum is rolled…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, what I'm really referring to in my answer is staff time, isn't it? That's what it boils down to: staff time in compiling the information, making sure it's reported. So, in a sense, it's hard to quantify that, but it obviously does have a cost…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, I think there are two parts to that question. So, firstly, in order to track and measure whether every pupil had at least been offered residential outdoor education, we would need to collect that information from schools. We would need to amend…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, I'm not in a position to provide an estimate of it; I think that's an illustration of the inherent uncertainty in it. I think they could vary quite substantially, so it's difficult to know what the additional staffing implications would be. But…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, on the staffing elements of that, I think you would need to—as I was just saying in passing now—review the schoolteachers’ pay and conditions document, which has a maximum number of hours worked, and I'm sure that would have a cost implication. There'd…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, I think the costs, as they're described, are broadly in line with our understanding. I do think that the staffing implications of a mandatory provision are not fully explored in the RIA, for the simple reason that my expectation is that, currently…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, that's funded directly from delegated school budgets, but schools will also be using the pupil deprivation grant, and families themselves, those who are eligible, will be able to access the schools essentials grant to pay for some of those costs. I am…
