Jeremy Miles: 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 local education workforce, what that looks like in terms of the local footprint, and how we can standardise that data nationally, so...
Jeremy Miles: Well, local councils have legal requirements in that context of course. So, there is already a system in place to ensure that standards are complied with locally. So, that's already in place, so people do have rights, and those rights should be implemented. One of the things that we've been doing as a Government—and he mentioned that question of face-to-face meetings and online...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank the Member for raising this important question. I don't know the answer to her question, if I'm entirely honest, but it appears to me that I do need to look into this. It's clearly an important issue, and clearly any barrier to students in Wales having full and equal access to their rights, and certainly in terms of benefits, is very important. So, I will commit to looking into that.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that important question. I had a very detailed conversation with the students that had come to campaign outside the Senedd, and it was important to have that opportunity to hear their concerns directly in terms of cost-of-living pressures. In FE and in HE, the Government has a range of things that we're doing to support students. In terms of FE, we continue with the...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for the question. Last August, I launched a commission to safeguard the future of Welsh-speaking communities. I also approved all 22 local authority WESPs, which set out how local authorities intend to improve education through the medium of Welsh over the next 10 years.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that question. In terms of the closure of the specific school that the Member mentions, that decision was taken earlier last year. The decision has been delayde in terms of it taking effect this year, in order to consider whether it's possible to put an alternative proposal in place in order to establish a Welsh-medium school in the area. That review, as I understand...
Jeremy Miles: I've been clear with every council—I'm not going to single out any one particular council—I've been clear with every council that I expect the ambitions that they have outlined in their Welsh in education strategic plans to be fulfilled, and that is obviously also the intention of the councils themselves. I have also said that we will have regard to the extent to which the WESP...
Jeremy Miles: The Welsh Government has provided almost £1.5 million in grant funding this year to support the delivery of STEM initiatives, with the primary aims of supporting and developing STEM enrichment activities, narrowing the attainment gap and encouraging the take-up of STEM subjects both at GCSE and A-level.
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Altaf Hussain, for that really important question. We need to equip our learners. Whether they choose to lead on to careers in STEM subjects or not, we need to equip all our learners to face a future of rapid technological and economic change, and digital skills and the kind of adaptability and creativity that go with some of those, alongside the knowledge itself, are absolutely...
Jeremy Miles: The economy and education departments work very closely together to ensure that skills needs are met, with a key role for regional skills partnerships. Personal learning accounts is one example in my area, with targeted interventions in areas such as net zero and heavy goods vehicle driving already delivering successful outcomes.
Jeremy Miles: I think that's a really important point. That collaboration within Government and much more broadly than that is a really important part of our future in terms of skills provision in Wales. I think that collaboration between further education, higher education and big sector players like Airbus is a really exciting set of developments on the horizon, where you have technical, vocational,...
Jeremy Miles: Yes. The whole point of the regional skills partnerships is to bring in that industry data, isn't it, to the planning that FE colleges are able to make in order to provide. But also, the relationship between FE colleges themselves and the particular sectors in their footprint is absolutely vital to enable them to respond nimbly and in a way that both addresses the needs of the local labour...
Jeremy Miles: Certainly. 'Global Futures' is our strategy for international language learning, and I announced the publication of our revised strategy towards the end of last year. That outlines how we and our 'Global Futures' partners will continue to support international languages in schools for a further three years.
Jeremy Miles: I thank John Griffiths for that supplementary question. I do agree with him; it is concerning. We do want to make sure that young people are choosing to study modern foreign languages. He's corresponded with me in the past in particular around the decline in German provision, and I do recognise that. The pattern that we see is that, where students are enrolling for qualifications in those...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for the welcome that she's given to the work that's under way and refer her to the answer I've just given to John Griffiths in terms of the steps that we will be taking as a Government. I do think that one of the things that is really important is that the steps that we take in this policy area, as with any other, are based on the reality rather than on our particular world...
Jeremy Miles: We want to enable more children to walk, scoot and cycle to school. We are supporting this through incorporating active travel into the appraisal of new schools and colleges funded through the sustainable communities for learning programme and by funding walking and cycling improvements through our active travel fund and the Safe Routes in Communities grant each year.
Jeremy Miles: That's a really important question, and thank you for it. I think the distance threshold, as the Member was referring to in his question, is important. It's a key issue, but that's one of a number of considerations in the area of home-to-school transport. That now accounts for a quarter of all local authority direct spending on education, and it's going up. So, it's a significant call on...
Jeremy Miles: We encourage each local authority to do that, and we provide some funding support in order for that to happen as well. I agree with what the Member says—it's really important that we create the environment around a school that facilitates active travel as well as setting the regulatory expectation. Setting the framework is one thing, but finding ways in which to make a difference on the...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Last year saw the introduction of a new name for our flagship education infrastructure investment programme, namely the sustainable communities for learning programme. In doing so, we are making a clear statement about our commitments for the environment and future generations. To date, the programme has provided over £1.5 billion-worth of capital investment to...
Jeremy Miles: Dirprwy Lywydd, the programme is truly cross-cutting and has provided a platform to embed the Welsh language as well as other policies, such as active travel, biodiversity, ICT, community and curriculum, delivering and maximising the value from investments across our education estate and, in doing so, has provided a sustainability model for others to follow. As one of the first nations to...
