Darren Millar: ...new jobs, which I hope will be well-paid jobs across the whole of Wales, as a result of the zones. And, therefore, there's going to need to be a very close working relationship with the higher education sector and the further education college sector as well. So, I wonder what action the Welsh Government is taking to make sure that there is a dialogue and an alignment with our education...
Darren Millar: ...receipt of funds from the Welsh Government that are yet to adopt the IHRA definition; and indeed, some of them have outright rejected it. This is particularly concerning, I think, in our higher education sector. We have eight universities in Wales; only one, Bangor University, has adopted the IHRA definition, and that compares extremely badly to the higher education system in other parts...
Darren Millar: ...that our NHS continues to be under significant pressure, when people have still, unfortunately, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment—not me, Joyce Watson—the worst education system in the UK, and the lowest take-home pay? Why is it that you would allocate a further £1.1 million for this, what we regard as an unnecessary commission, in the year after it has...
Darren Millar: ...facing. As you well know, the Welsh Government receives £1.20 for every £1 that's spent on a devolved matter in England, and the public, it seems to me, want that money spending on issues like schools, hospitals, roads and other priorities, all of which you appear to be disinvesting in. You're spending it, of course, on this commission—a commission to support what we perceive to be an...
Darren Millar: ...is careers advice, and the importance of careers advice when people are making choices about the future. I have to say, my own view is that our careers advice, particularly for young people in schools, is pretty appalling; it's not very good and it doesn't always promote the wider opportunities that there are, particularly with apprenticeships. I think that we do need a greater focus on it...
Darren Millar: ...be useful. And it would be helpful to know whether there's any external expertise that you might be able to bring in. You've referred to the four different specific mission areas, if you like: education, economy, health and well-being, and climate and nature. And obviously, we do have a changing new curriculum. I know that the Welsh Government has done some work trying to promote the...
Darren Millar: ...views of people across this country? And finally, I want to say to you, Minister, that I think it’s time that we invested the resources that are going to this commission into our NHS, into our schools and into our public services. You keep claiming that you’ve got no money to invest in some of these things, you keep claiming that you’ve got no money to be able to put into the pockets...
Darren Millar: ...are universities here in Wales that are yet to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. Minister, I'd be very grateful for a statement from the Welsh Government Minister responsible for education, to make it absolutely and abundantly clear that no university or other place of education in Wales should receive any further Welsh Government funding, any taxpayer funding whatsoever,...
Darren Millar: Trefnydd, can I call for a statement from the Minister with responsibility for education in relation to student support during the current cost-of-living pressures? I have raised this in the past, but I haven't seen a statement on the subject. As you'll know, students at the moment—all students—are entitled to a grant of £1,000 per year towards their living costs. That is an amount that...
Darren Millar: ...to go up over the next two years. We had an autumn statement that protected the triple lock on pensions, that increased people's benefits at the rate of inflation, that protected the budget for our schools, and also, of course, invested more money into our national health service. Now, I know that your Government's record on funding the national health service is appalling—the only...
Darren Millar: ...active travel routes in our communities. We know also that there is a place for smart speed limits, where they change at certain points of the day, whether that's pick-up and drop-off time outside schools, which we have in some parts of Wales, with a 20 mph zone that kicks in for a short time and then it zips back up to 30 mph, or even seasonal speed limits. You know, in busy places where...
Darren Millar: ...ân Gwenllian about the need to make sure that we've got doctors coming through the system who are proficient in the Welsh language. It's also really important, of course, that those who are in the education workforce, teaching, who do have Welsh language skills are able to continue to use them. I raised in the Senedd yesterday a situation in a further education institution, where there...
Darren Millar: ...on this matter. I’ve been contacted by many residents in Colwyn Bay regarding a potential development in the Pwllycrochan area in the town, and, unfortunately, as you will appreciate, many of the schools in the town are bursting at the seams, there’s a lack of dentists, our healthcare facilities are struggling as well to cope with the demands that are placed upon them, and we’ve got...
Darren Millar: ...to attend in their locality. I think that learners should have every opportunity to enjoy a breadth of provision, whether they want to undertake their extra post-16 learning in an FEI, a further education institution or college, or whether they want to attend a local sixth form. But the reality is that those choices aren't there in all parts of the country, and we've seen an erosion of...
Darren Millar: Thank you for that response, First Minister. I was actually raising the question because of concerns about access to further education for some of my constituents. You'll be aware of the excellent provision that there has been over many years at Coleg Llysfasi, which is just outside Ruthin, which provides agricultural courses and animal-related courses as well, in terms of their small animal...
Darren Millar: 7. What action is the Welsh Government taking to promote access to education in rural Conwy and Denbighshire? OQ58201
Darren Millar: ..., dentists, nurses and teachers, not more politicians, and we need a Welsh Government that is focused like a laser beam on addressing the pressing issues that we have in our health service, our education system and our economy, helping people with the cost-of-living challenges that they are facing, supporting businesses as they recover from the pandemic, and helping people get access to...
Darren Millar: ...'t have the opportunity to miss the importance of these sorts of events in our history that we must make sure that we learn from? Because I certainly knew nothing about it. I went through the Welsh education system and heard nothing. We must not let that happen again.
Darren Millar: Well, if he wants to talk about prospects for people, then we need to sort out our education system in Wales, which your Government is responsible for, and is the worst, unfortunately, in the United Kingdom. In terms of what the United Kingdom is doing to help people at the current time with the cost-of-living situation in our country, we know that the national living wage has risen to a...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, thank you very much for your statement. I do welcome the fact that you're looking at the school year and the school day, and I think, obviously, with any system that's lasted for 150-odd years, there's sometimes a very good reason for keeping it, and sometimes there may be a good reason for ditching it. I notice that you've got a 10-week trial that's going...
