Jeremy Miles: Well, I think the Member identifies a very important issue here in that the challenge that he's describing is happening against a landscape of rapid change in many ways, whether that's technological change or scientific change, whether it's the impact on the rural economy of, perhaps, workforce shortages, funding questions as a consequence of leaving the European Union and not having that...
Jeremy Miles: As we stated in the new programme for government, we are committed to eliminating inequality at every level of society, which includes implementing policies in education that will give everyone the best life chances. We recognise that this requires radical action, innovative thinking and strong co-ordination and collaboration.
Jeremy Miles: Well, the entire reformed programme for government is intended to deliver those outcomes. So, in a school setting, the curriculum reforms that we're introducing are designed to enable our young people to take full advantage of the opportunities that the world around them presents, both economically and more broadly than that. The Member will know that in the first year, we'll be introducing...
Jeremy Miles: The new Curriculum for Wales includes health and well-being as one of the six areas of learning and experience. This is fundamental to enable successful learning, and developing physical health is specified within the statutory 'what matters' code.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank the Member for that question. Physical education, of course, is one of our foundation subjects in the current curriculum, but obviously I appreciate that the pandemic has had an impact on learners' access to aspects of that for various periods of time. The new curriculum, as his question implies, will offer much greater flexibility, in fact, in the area of learning and...
Jeremy Miles: Regional consortia play a central role in supporting schools to improve and deliver the new curriculum, including through professional learning and direct engagement. I am meeting with the consortia this week to discuss how they can continue to best support schools as we renew and reform education in Wales.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I think, given the scale of the challenges faced by all in the education system as we renew and reform after the pandemic, regional, collaborative and co-ordinated working has to be a key feature of how we support schools across Wales. I think that kind of working will be at its most effective when it is voluntary and driven by local authorities with a clear shared vision of its...
Jeremy Miles: Formally.
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Llywydd. Free school meals continue to be an important element of our efforts to eradicate poverty. We have clearly seen their importance over the challenging past 15 months. Unfortunately, the number of learners in receipt of free school meals has increased throughout the pandemic. And the interim data from the pupil level annual school census for 2021 demonstrates that 108,203...
Jeremy Miles: It is unacceptable, Llywydd, that many families with no recourse to public funds also are living in extreme poverty. Changing the eligibility criteria for free school meals in these circumstances would require primary legislation to be amended. However, I strongly encourage local authorities to exercise their discretion to allow the children of these families to benefit from free school meal...
Jeremy Miles: I recognise that this has been a challenging start to the school year. We continue to work closely with schools, local government, the teaching unions, and public health specialists, to monitor the situation and to decide what steps are needed to ensure our shared goal of ensuring that children can be learning at school.
Jeremy Miles: I'd like to put on record my thanks to the education sector for the hard work that they've done in keeping schools as safe as possible. I wrote to headteachers and college leaders just yesterday, recognising the work that they have been doing. I acknowledge, as I did in my response to the previous question, that the recent times have been very challenging indeed, with numbers increasing. The...
Jeremy Miles: On the Member's last question in relation to support for rural schools—indeed, support for all schools—and the need to be able to provide for remote learning as and when that's required, obviously, I think we're in a very different position now than we were at the start of the pandemic, partly because of the very, very significant investment into making sure that schools are able to...
Jeremy Miles: We anticipate that all children in that age group will have received the offer of vaccination during the month of October through invitations to mass vaccination centres. Just on the point that the Member made about the increase in cases in the 10 to 19 cohort, just to say that the very, very extensive testing of asymptomatic pupils in that age range will necessarily lead to the...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. As we continue with the work of preparing the ground for introducing the additional learning needs system in full, it's come to our attention that there is an incorrect cross-reference in regulation 17(2) of the Education Tribunal for Wales Regulations 2021. Regulation 17(2) outlines the timetable that an individual that wants to make a claim related to...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome this opportunity to explain the background of this LCM, and to explain why I suggest that the Senedd should not agree to this LCM. I'm grateful to the Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee for considering the legislative consent memorandum and for producing a report, and I have responded to the questions raised within it. I'm also grateful...
Jeremy Miles: As you're aware, my advice to the Senedd is that we should not give approval to the Bill in its current form. The Bill was developed at speed by the UK Government, and the majority of this activity took place during our pre-election period, which prevented Ministers from engaging in the development of the Bill. This rapidly turned the development of a non-legislative common framework, which...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I thank all contributors to the debate today and acknowledge what Paul Davies said about the committee's work, and thank him and the committee for their work on this?
Jeremy Miles: Can I also thank Huw Irranca-Davies and the committee for their work, as I mentioned at the start, and for his forbearance about the question about replying to the recommendations in the report? I can assure him that we will be accepting the recommendations in full. Partly, it's a question of timing, which illuminates the larger picture, which I know his committee has been concerned about in...
Jeremy Miles: It is too early to say what the long-term impact of COVID-19 will be on learners. But we see positive signs that learners are regaining their Welsh language skills when they return to school. I want to thank our educators across Wales for their care and dedication to their learners after a very difficult time.
