Rebecca Evans: Can I encourage you to write to the education Minister with your concerns? Of course, it will be for the local authority to determine where it places its schools and where it invests in its schools within the local authority area, but I'm sure that you've shared your concerns with the local authority in terms of any impact it might have on access to Welsh-medium education, and I would...
Rebecca Evans: It's nice of Nick Ramsay to join us because, of course, in answer to the first question this afternoon, I was able to talk to Lynne Neagle about our approach to education and the priority that we are putting on that. The education Minister is quite right that the gap is actually closing and I think that that is something to be welcomed. I was able to outline at the start that education...
Rebecca Evans: ...make sure that the Minister has heard your request for that statement and particularly with your concern about the impact that it might have on young people and children in their ability to stay in school. So, making sure that we take that joined-up approach across Government and so, also liaising with my colleague with responsibility for education to ensure that young people and children...
Rebecca Evans: I think it's important to recognise that free school meals are one part of an important package of support that we provide to children and families who are struggling. You'll have heard me already this afternoon talk about the additional funding that we're putting into the school holiday enrichment programme, which of course is not just about providing food to those families but providing...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Mike Hedges for raising both of these important issues this afternoon. As he says, he has been a long-time advocate for the provision of free school meals outside of term time. I'm really pleased that the Welsh Government didn't need to have to respond to a campaign by Marcus Rashford to do the right thing. We did the right thing a long time ago, right at the start of this...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for the question. The education resource and capital budget now stands at £1.9 billion for 2021-22, and that is an increase, as I say, of £102 million, or 5.8 per cent from our revised baseline. So, there's significant additional funding going into the education MEG. But, of course, the position within local authorities is also extremely important in terms of funding for...
Rebecca Evans: On the first issue, regarding schools and your concern about particular individual schools within the region that you represent, I would encourage you to write to the education Minister and potentially the local authority raising the concerns you have regarding those specific schools. And, on the second, of course Welsh Government wants Airbus to be a great success. We've invested over the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising this important issue, and I have already had some discussions with the education Minister on this issue, and officials will investigate with the WLGA and the local association for catering in education just how widespread this issue is and consider whether we need to be providing additional advice and guidance to local authorities and schools on how to work with...
Rebecca Evans: ...our minds during all of our budget discussions, and that was certainly a message that the children's commissioner was keen to reinforce with me when we had that opportunity to meet very recently. Education maintenance allowance is certainly one of those areas where we have been able to support young people, particularly those from more disadvantaged backgrounds in order to help them stay...
Rebecca Evans: I thank Helen Mary Jones for raising those three particular areas of concern this afternoon. So, it was school deficits, school refurbishment within the context of twenty-first century schools, and the process for consulting on any changes during the current period of restrictions and the context of the pandemic. I will, on this occasion, ask Helen Mary to send that in a letter to the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for raising these issues relating to the children's commissioner's report. I can hardly believe I have to say that, yes, schools should be providing opportunities for children to drink free, fresh drinking water at any point during the school day, should they wish. Schools should be signposting water stations throughout the schools, providing younger children with a cup or...
Rebecca Evans: ...that Lynne Neagle has made, and that's one of the reasons why Welsh Government was so happy to acknowledge, recognise and accept all of the recommendations in the recent report that looked at school funding and is already starting to take forward some of that work in terms of the work that the leading education economist Luke Sibieta is doing in terms of the analysis of total spend in...
Rebecca Evans: So, as the Member quite rightly points out, Welsh in education strategic plans are central to the growth in Welsh-medium education and is one of the key factors in terms of helping us achieve our ambition of a million Welsh speakers by 2050. As part of those WESP requirements, local authorities must have a statement on the availability of Welsh-medium provision in relation to home-to-school...
Rebecca Evans: So, on the first issue, which is the attendance at secondary schools in Blaenau Gwent, I'd invite you to write to the Minister for Education outlining your views and concerns there. And, of course, the next item of business this afternoon is the statement by the education Minister on the PISA results, and I know that she's keen to discuss all of these issues with Members this afternoon.
Rebecca Evans: Well, I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of the ongoing budget discussions that are taking place across the board at the moment, but I will say the pressures on education, which the Member has described, have been brought home very strongly to Welsh Government by colleagues in local government, and my colleague the Minister for Education and Welsh Language always makes a very robust case...
Rebecca Evans: We have seen a large number of schools expressing a lot of interest in the daily mile scheme and accessing the online bilingual resources that we have. I don’t want to quote a number yet because, when we get to a landmark number, I’d like to make an announcement then, but I will say that there has been great interest in this scheme, and those schools that are doing it are reporting that...
Rebecca Evans: I completely agree that schools do have a crucially important role to play in terms of managing pollution when children are being dropped off at school, because we know that the start and the end of the day are particular points at which children are exposed to high levels of air pollution. That’s partly because of the school run, and that brings into focus all the important work that we...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. It is disappointing to see whole-year groups being sent home to self-isolate when you look at other schools that seem to be managing the situation much better. I know that the Member has raised this issue with me, alongside a couple of other questions specific to education recently, and I have asked the education Minister to provide a letter with a response. I'll ensure that she...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you to Laura Anne Jones for raising that important issue. The Minister for Education does have questions in the Chamber tomorrow, so that might be an opportunity to explore some of this in more detail, but, alongside that, I will ask her to write to you with some further information about the plan for testing children in school, and also the advice that is being provided to schools...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for raising that issue. The first related specifically to the support and the advice that is being provided to schools, and there were a series of quite detailed questions there, so I will ask the education Minister to write to you with more information about the guidance that is being provided to schools in relation to PPE and other efforts to keep children and their families safe,...
