, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, just in terms of gathering data at a local level—it is important, of course, as the Member said—there is a piece of work happening already with a small group of local authorities to understand, for example, in the context of the language skills of the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
A very important question, if I may say so. The census has shown a decrease, particularly among schoolchildren between the ages of five and 15, and that's a cause of concern. But, as the Member said in his question, that's not the only data source that we…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I have an opportunity to visit primary schools throughout Wales, as the Member described, and I have to say that I also feel that schools have got a lot smaller since I was a pupil, so I possibly share that concern with him. What I'm committed to doing…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
A very important question there from the Member, if I may say so. I believe, in the context of Bridgend particularly, one of the challenges is that there hasn’t been enough progress in the past, and that’s an important part of the context that he set out in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
I thank Sarah Murphy for drawing attention to the positive developments happening in relation to Welsh-medium education in her area. I had a very productive meeting with both the leader of the council and the cabinet member for education a few weeks ago to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
The Welsh Government is working with the local authority to deliver on its Welsh in education strategic plan commitments to expand provision of childcare and education through the medium of Welsh. Forty-two million, seven hundred thousand pounds of funding…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Actually, the view of the two institutions that you referred to is that the proposal that Qualifications Wales has brought forward is likely to increase the number of young people learning science and going on to study science, technology, engineering and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
The roll-out of the Curriculum for Wales continues to be central to our reforms to improve the quality of, and engagement with, learning in schools and settings. We will continue to actively promote this, alongside our focus on cross-curricular and integral…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Diolch.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
The approach that we've taken is to take an integrated approach to impact assessment more generally. I think that is important in the context of a budget because you want to see the interplay of all the relevant considerations that you have. The child rights…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Yes, we're in the discussion to see if we can find funding at the moment, which is why I'm not really able to commit anything, but we're having those discussions as we speak.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Yes. It's simply a function of the reprofiling of the spend for establishing the commission. So, you might recall from our previous discussions that my original intention, as the Bill was being taken through the Senedd, was to have the commission operational…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Okay. I'll ask Jo. If you would respond to that, Jo.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
That happens in a range of ways. So, at a ministerial level, because it's a key manifesto commitment and touches a number of portfolios, the Cabinet, I think at the end of last year, November time, had a discussion around how to take the policy forward…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Well, just to say that this is an area where the autumn statement was silent on support for FE. So, we've been absolutely clear that we want to give priority to the further education sector. You may recall that last year's FE settlement was the largest…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Well, officials in my department and officials in the department of the Minister for Economy work very closely in these areas, where we have policy elements that are jointly funded, if you like. And when joint funding happens, the Minister for Economy and I…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Jo, do you want to give a bit more colour on that?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
The way we work in this area is that we look at the projected demand in terms of budget. We then put funding aside to ensure that we are able to meet that demand. But, to be entirely clear, whatever the demand, we will meet that demand—so that is quite…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Diolch. I might just ask you to say a little bit more about this, Jo.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
I acknowledge the pressures on any element of the budget in the economic context, but also in the context of increasing demand. So, that's clearly the case. I wouldn't recognise this as a one-year allocation. In every year since 2018, we have been able to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
We are in ongoing discussion with HEFCW on the funding situation across the sector, as you'd expect, to ensure that we understand in as much detail as possible the situation on the ground in the short term and, perhaps, the trends for the longer term so that…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
What we are allowing schools to do is to speak with their authorities on how best to deploy the funding that they have. I'm not sure I have a very clear picture of the breakdown between capital and revenue.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Well, in a sense they’re not using them mid year; that’s why they’ve accumulated. But I think there are reasons for that, to be fair to schools. I would say that the £32 million figure that you gave obviously is true, but I think that’s an unrepresentatively…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Well, what the budget does is it delivers on the planned increase. So, there is actually an increase, as you were saying, and that does show our commitment to a whole-school approach. Now, I think one of the key things that we have discovered from COVID, and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2023-24—evidence session 1
Yes.
