Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Darren. I guess a cautious welcome is the best I could have hoped for from Darren Millar, given previous statements that he's made on this subject. Can I say that it is my intention—indeed, it is a requirement placed upon me by Standing Orders—that there will be a full consultation on these issues, with Wales and anybody in Wales who has an interest in this regard?...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. This Government is committed to ensuring that every child and young person receives an education that inspires, motivates and equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary to fulfil their potential. In Wales, we have an education system that partners equity with excellence. Our system provides a range of choices to meet the different needs...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Simon. As I said, my primary responsibility in the field of education is to ensure that local authorities that have a current duty to know whether a child is in receipt of an adequate education are exercising those functions, and what extra support they need to exercise those functions adequately. I have accepted the children's commissioner's recommendation for a compulsory...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Paul. Welsh Government, the regional consortia and the local authority are collectively supporting schools in Pembrokeshire to improve education in line with the priorities set out in our national mission.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Paul, and thank you for your support for the Welsh baccalaureate. It's important to recognise the increasing recognition of the Welsh bac by universities both inside and outside of Wales. Even where a university won't use the points associated with the Welsh bac in an offer, they recognise that the extended set of skills that students develop as part of undertaking the Welsh bac...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Andrew, I think this gives me a fantastic opportunity to thank those who take on the role of being governors of schools across Wales. There are approximately 22,000 governors, which constitutes the largest body of volunteers that we have in the country. I've yet to come across a great school that has poor governance. Often, when things go wrong in a school, it is as a result of a...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Andrew. Responsibility for promoting school governorship lies, primarily, with the local authority and school. I recognise that, in some areas, recruitment is more difficult. My proposed revisions to the legislative framework for school governance will enable schools and governing bodies to constitute flexibly according to the skills they need to meet their specific challenges and...
Kirsty Williams: You're absolutely right, Darren. North Wales are in the very fortunate position where there are strong links between individual schools, the regional consortium, GwE, and Bangor University, which look at specific classroom practice and the impact that that has on children. GwE have agreed to take on a leading role across the other consortia to develop similar programmes of linkages between...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Vikki. I have encouraged and will continue to encourage strong engagement between schools and universities. This was the main theme of the recent civic mission summit in October and was highlighted as a key theme in my remit letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
Kirsty Williams: I agree, Vikki, that we need to do more to integrate approaches like Seren into schools in Wales. I'm working with universities to ensure that they work on the delivery of their civic mission. As you say, that's especially important in communities that perhaps don't have a university on their doorstep. So, for instance, the modern foreign language mentoring scheme that has proven very...
Kirsty Williams: The reason I mentioned the issue of potential gaps is because the powers that we have would allow—and they're existing powers, it should be said, for local authorities to satisfy themselves that children are in receipt of an adequate education. Those powers already exist, and I have given additional resources to local authorities to gain a greater understanding of the level of elective...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Llyr. I think it is important that you said that being home educated in itself is not an indicator for risk or abuse to children. The Welsh Government did publish revised non-statutory guidance in January of last year, but you will be aware that I have accepted in principle the Children's Commissioner for Wales's recommendation for a statutory elective home-education register....
Kirsty Williams: Diolch yn fawr, Llyr. The Welsh Government respects the choice that some parents make to home educate their children. I'm considering how we can strengthen the support available to the home-educating community, not just limited to education support and services, but to include universal and specialist support services, where appropriate.
Kirsty Williams: Of course, I'm aware that the Welsh Government funds a number of students to undertake study at Coleg Elidyr, and the whole purpose of the process going forward is that we can work collectively to get the code right, and I would be very pleased to meet with the Member to talk about any concerns that he has. Of course, the code will be subject to full scrutiny by the committee here at the...
Kirsty Williams: Only this morning, I met with the leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, and the implementation of the additional learning needs Bill was an item on that agenda. What's absolutely clear is that we are introducing a phased approach, so that we can successfully move from one system to the other. But I've been quite clear in my statement that new children coming into the system, or...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Angela. On Monday, I announced our plans for implementing the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill, which is at the heart of our ambitious programme to transform the education and support for learners with ALN. The code will be consulted on next year and will be in place by the end of 2019.
Kirsty Williams: The Member will be aware that, this summer, the Welsh Government funded the school holiday enrichment programme, or the lunch and fun programme, predominantly aimed at disadvantaged children so that they could access educational provision and a hot meal during the school holidays. That programme has been very successful, and we hope to be able to fund even more local authorities next summer...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Michelle, let's be absolutely clear: children who are care experienced at present do not achieve the qualifications in the numbers that I would like for them to do so. There has been significant progress in recent years with the number of looked-after children leaving school with five good GCSEs, but we have a significant way to go to ensure that all those children reach their...
Kirsty Williams: I thank Michelle for the question. I'm sure the Member is aware that looked-after children are subject to the pupil development grant. There are additional resources that are made available to support the education of looked-after children, and looked-after children who wish to attend university will be entitled to the full package of student support under the Diamond proposals.
Kirsty Williams: As I said, we keep very close eye on the number of applications that students are making to universities. I'm well aware of the questions that the Conservative group have tabled; it was 61 individual questions on this particular topic in one day. I'm grateful to the Conservatives for taking such and interest in this programme and I will endeavour to ensure that the data that Darren Millar...
