, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, thank you for the response, Minister. I'm a little disappointed, perhaps, at you not being willing to, perhaps, fully respond to the question. I appreciate your portfolio remit, but I suspect there may be areas in your portfolio that could address the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, the most recent available Welsh Government data, for 2020-21, shows that local authorities in Wales have around 1,000 smallholdings that they own and lease out to tenant farmers. That accounts for around 1 per cent of land here in…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: The Welsh Government’s Response to the North Wales Transport Commission
Thank you, Deputy Minister, for the statement this afternoon. As you responded to one of my colleagues earlier, I was pleased that the report recognises the importance of travelling connections between north Wales and England, and that the improved transport…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Trefnydd, I'd like to call for a statement from the Minister for health regarding funding for the all-Wales inherited and metabolic diseases service, including SWAN, the syndromes without a name, team within that. There appears to be some uncertainty over…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I think it's a fair question. Let's not forget the Bill itself is putting it into the curriculum, so it's not seeking to have a stand-alone thing, as it were. The way the Bill has been framed is to put it into the curriculum, but I guess the criticism could…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
No, because, as Estyn said themselves, they don't expect it to be something for them to have to do. But if a Minister at any point, or somebody, wanted to do that, it's their prerogative. I can't predict what a Minister will want to ask for as a thematic…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
So, if I answer perhaps the second question first, if I may, around the role of Estyn within this. Estyn were asked to give evidence to the Children, Young People and Education Committee—it's quite a long title, isn't it—on my Bill, just a few weeks ago, and…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
It's not something that I've explored within this. If the Minister thinks that that's necessary, then I guess that's a point for him to consider. But just on the Bill itself, though, where this is covered off, again, it says in point (3)(h) that, in the…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Yes, and teachers do all sorts of activities and ensure that the statutory provision of education takes place, and they don't—and are not able to, actually—claim overtime for that work, because they recognise the importance of it. And the evidence—and…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Can I answer?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I think if the Minister thinks he needs to seek to change the terms and conditions, that's a matter for him to deal with. Let's not forget again that, currently, the vast majority of teachers understand the importance of this and see it as part of the support…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
So, just to be really clear, that calculation is in there for those learners, because the additional costs to ensure they have the appropriate support, and some very specialist centres, actually, for children with quite severe learning difficulties…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Yes, sorry, I appreciate that point—
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Thank you, Rhianon, and absolutely please be assured that it's something that we've thought through long and hard. If I may, perhaps if just I take a moment here, if I may just cover the question earlier about the provision for ALN and pupils with severe…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
—to speak to the point I made a moment ago first?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Could I ask Dave—
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
So, it's been a really, really important part of the consideration, but can I just answer that a bit more fully in just a moment? I just want to go back to the point you made about the consistency of quality and assurance of the centres, because let's be…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I wouldn't say it doesn't matter, but I would come back to the Curriculum for Wales, which goes back to that teachers and headteachers will want to deliver what they see as being best for their learners. But let's not forget also that a lot of these trips…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Can I just—? Rhianon, would you mind if I asked Christian just to check anything I've said there, that I might have missed?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
So, the transport costs are in paragraphs 296 and 297 within the explanatory memorandum. And the hire companies, they provided costs that range from £250 up to £280 for the three days. That was for, sorry, children with additional learning needs. But all the…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
That's right. So, the calculation of the total cost is assumed at a 100 per cent take-up, because, as I said earlier, that would be the most extreme cost, as it were.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Sorry, Peter, if I may, just a point of clarification on the—. When we talk about the EVOLVE data, that's the system that local authorities use to record the number of learners who have all sorts of different activities outside the classroom. So, there might…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Can I just make a—?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Thanks. So, again, going back to that point I made earlier on the headline figure, it does assume that there'd be 100 per cent take-up for this. And then, how it's split between the two and four nights, I'll ask Christian to explain that, if that's okay…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Could I add to that? Thank you. Dave rightfully pointed out the ranges in there, and the range described in front of you is a range around the average. As any good statistician should and would do, you consider but perhaps remove the extremes of the range to…
