Kirsty Williams: Rhun, there are no adequate words to express the horror of the discovery of those individuals in the back of that lorry. It is a truly shocking thing to have happened, and then to have that reinforced by the comments that you have referred to—I have not seen them myself, but I can well imagine what they have said. As I said in answer to your original question, we are moving to a purpose-led...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Mark. Local authorities are responsible for providing a suitable education for all children and young people, including those with additional learning needs. Our ambitious additional learning needs reforms will completely overhaul the system for supporting learners with ALN, and it will drive improvements and ensure that all learners achieve their full potential, whatever that is.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Mark, I would not want to take issue with you at all about the importance of developing oracy skills at the earliest possible age for our children. We know that a good basis in speaking skills is a platform to success later on in their educational journey. You say that, apart from the ALN programme, what else is going on, but the ALN transformation programme is absolutely crucial to...
Kirsty Williams: Presiding Officer, the Member refers to specific incidents in Powys. Members will be aware, if they have an interest in education in Powys, of the findings of the recent Estyn report into the performance of the local education authority. Special mention in that Estyn report was made of support for additional learning needs and special educational needs and the requirement of Powys County...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Could I begin by thanking the committee for their report and their consideration given to this most important of areas? I'm very grateful that the committee took the decision to look at this subject, and as always, as Alun Davies says, the committee's consideration has been detailed, thoughtful and useful to me as the Minister for Education. As I have...
Kirsty Williams: No, I won't. The Welsh Conservatives speak disingenuously about the level of funding Wales received via the spending round for next year. As they should know, due to issues surrounding the treatment of non-domestic rates, that has led to a reduction of £178 million to the Welsh budget, and you simply cannot compare like for like when looking at departmental budgets. Essentially, Wales's...
Kirsty Williams: Yes, of course.
Kirsty Williams: I will be guided by Luke’s expertise in this issue, and I'm sure we'd all want the work to be a comprehensive piece of work, but I would be hopeful that that work would be completed before the summer recess of 2020, and therefore is an opportunity to influence the next set of budget discussions. In turn, I'd like to focus on recommendation 4, asking us to consider how the allocation of...
Kirsty Williams: The Minister for health and I are jointly leading work to embed a whole-school approach to emotional well-being. While the focus is schools, much of the work has equal relevance to other settings such as further and higher education, where complementary working is also under way.
Kirsty Williams: Local authorities have been advised that schools procuring temporary workers through an agency should do so through the National Procurement Service framework. Purchasing through this framework provides schools with the reassurance that an agency has been through a compliant tender process and is bound by contractual terms and conditions of the framework.
Kirsty Williams: I am committed to ensuring that all young people receive high-quality sexuality and relationships education. In May 2018 I announced our intention to rename this area of study and have proposed that relationships and sexuality education will be statutory in the new curriculum.
Kirsty Williams: Today I launched the formal consultation on an updated draft of the school and community-based counselling operating toolkit. This is an integral part of our work to embed a whole-school approach to emotional well-being, led jointly by the Minister for health and I.
Kirsty Williams: December.
Kirsty Williams: Both departments co-operate in numerous ways, and I recently released a joint ministerial written statement informing Members of our intention to take forward a review identifying all issues involved in post-16 learner travel. Further updates on this review will be provided to Members as it progresses.
Kirsty Williams: Well, I welcome the Member's support for the interdepartmental review on post-16 learner travel. With regard to MyTravelPass, although the responsibility for that scheme does not lie within my department, I take a keen personal interest because the impetus for that scheme was a budget deal struck between my party, when I was leader of the Liberal Democrats, and the then Welsh Government. So,...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank the Member for the question? I'm aware of the Conservatives' party policy with regard to post-16 travel. It involves scrapping the education maintenance allowance, which is financial support that helps our very poorest students. But the Member is absolutely right—one area we do need to tackle, and our departments are working closely on, is promoting active travel to school to...
Kirsty Williams: Given the Member's keen interest in active travel, and his very active lobbying in this regard, the Member will be pleased to know that we have revamped our consideration for active travel as part of our twenty-first century schools and colleges programme. And any application coming forward from a local authority that gives poor consideration of active travel to that new building will be...
Kirsty Williams: Our free-school-meals policy rightly targets support towards the most disadvantaged children in our communities. As a result of our new eligibility criteria, by the time universal credit is fully rolled out—if it ever is—we estimate more children will be eligible for free school meals than under the previous system.
Kirsty Williams: Well, firstly, I respond to the call by saying isn't it absolutely incredible, in a nation such as ours, that we have to have a school hunger campaign. Providing an allowance for breakfast for pupils eligible for free school meals in secondary schools is one course of action that I am actively considering at the moment. There are possibly other courses of action, and other solutions, that may...
Kirsty Williams: Can I first of all thank the Member for her support for the report on the way in which we are developing our WESPs in the future? The situation in Tredegar is one that I am very familiar with. Not only is there clear demand from parents in that area for primary education through the medium of Welsh for their children, the Welsh Government has made available 100 per cent capital funding to...
