Mark Isherwood: Claiming that it will ‘Transform the education support for children and young people’ with autistic spectrum conditions, the ‘Refreshed Autistic Spectrum DisorderStrategic Action Plan’, published today, then only really refers to the Bill you’ve already referred to, the additional learning needs and education tribunal (Wales) Bill. How will you provide assurance to parents such as...
Mark Isherwood: ...here, as you know, led to some close games—well, not games, serious games, at the end, of chicken, engaging the Government to strengthen its commitments in practice to healthy relationships education. I referred in the Chamber to having been out with Hafan Cymru’s Spectrum project, teaching children and young people about healthy relationships, abuse and its consequences, and where to...
Mark Isherwood: As you state, small and rural schools can provide real academic, cultural and social benefits. When I called on the previous Welsh Government to respond to concerns that Flintshire County Council was using old and inaccurate data and acting in breach of the school organisation code in respect of a number of proposed school closures there, including small and rural schools, Ysgol Llanfynydd...
Mark Isherwood: ...only a third of the veterans assessed in 2014-15 described themselves as being employed either full-time or part-time. It’s also been found that only 52 per cent of early service leavers were in education, employment or training six months after leaving the armed forces. In 2012, CTP Future Horizons was launched with the Ministry of Defence to help early service leavers, and after six...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. As you said, the code specifies the need to pay particular attention to the impact of the proposals for school closures on vulnerable groups, including children with special educational needs. Despite that, you recently took the decision to support the decision by Flintshire to close John Summers High School, which caters for some of the most vulnerable pupils in the area, taking...
Mark Isherwood: 5. What provision has been made for additional learning needs in the Welsh Government’s school organisation code? OAQ(5)0035(EDU)
Mark Isherwood: ...and human right abuses must be co-produced in equal partnership, acknowledging that everyone is an expert in their own lives. As the commission report states, these seven key challenges apply to: education; employment; living conditions in cohesive communities; access to justice and democratic participation; mental health services and support; abuse, neglect and ill-treatment in care and...
Mark Isherwood: ..., include within that—I’m sure you’ll confirm that you have—the matter that, as you’ll recall, had things on a tightrope at the end, which was the essential need for healthy relationships education. We were promised action to address that in the regulations and codes and the strategy following. There was some concern at the recent cross-party group on violence against women and...
Mark Isherwood: ..., are failing, with private autism assessments by experts otherwise employed by CAMHS being dismissed. An e-mail received yesterday from a mum in Monmouthshire states: ‘My child deserves to be educated and receive healthcare and the chance to gain meaningful employment as an adult. I as a mother should not have to be placed under the enormous strain and stress to gain these things that...
Mark Isherwood: .... I hope that these concepts will be central to driving forward the change that we all earnestly seek. Again, finally, in a similar context, during the session with the Children, Young People and Education Committee before recess, you stated that Welsh Government would be refreshing its child poverty strategy during this Assembly. There are around 200,000 young children in Wales living in...
Mark Isherwood: ...to them.’ They also want sanctions to be relevant to the offence committed and for perpetrators to recognise the impact of their actions. Many of the respondents emphasised the importance of education, indicating that restorative approaches should be used more widely and consistently. It is a concern, therefore, it said, to find that there is currently very little restorative practice...
Mark Isherwood: .... The Wales Audit Office are at the forefront of co-productive evaluation and behaviour-change initiatives. Working With Not To is building a great network in north Wales, and links with the School for Social Care Research and a host of statutory and third sector organisations are already making things happen on the ground. How will you engage with them, again, to hopefully together share...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. Referring to the Welsh economy, academics at Cardiff Business School reported two weeks ago that Welsh output or gross value added is most sensitive to changes in higher rate tax, any cut in which will always raise tax receipts and any rise will always, quote, ‘reduce tax revenue’. Given that Wales has had the lowest prosperity levels per head amongst the 12 UK nations and...
Mark Isherwood: ...was only after he contacted me, and I referred them to Stonewall Cymru, that they then discovered the access to independent advocacy. What action can you take, all these years later, to ensure that schools and local authorities know that they should be advising such young people of their right to independent advocacy at the beginning of the process?
Mark Isherwood: It’s now a number of years since the Health and Safety Executive produced a statement, stating that school trips have clear benefits for pupils, but misunderstandings may discourage schools and teachers from organising such trips, and they want to make sure that mistaken and unfounded health and safety concerns don’t create obstacles that prevent these from happening. What engagement have...
Mark Isherwood: ...community in Wales and the organisations working with it and supporting it are calling for a statutory underpinning to impose duties on service providers, particularly health and social care and education, so that the problems evidenced by the sector and, particularly, people on the spectrum and their carers and families are addressed and given a statutory identity? Finally, my colleague...
Mark Isherwood: ...Wrexham Glyndŵr University last Thursday, and on their achieving above the UK average for full-time first degree leavers achieving graduate-level employment. If call for two statements—first, on educational provision for young adults with autistic spectrum conditions and learning difficulties. I learned at the weekend that colleges making provision for vocational pathways in education...
Mark Isherwood: ...disadvantaged areas. I call for two statements, the first on bullying. Today is Stand up to Bullying Day as part of the Stand up to Bullying campaign, aiming for individuals, local communities, schools and businesses to stand up to bullying and ensure their pupils or employees are provided with effective support to tackle the problem. We regularly hear in this place—in this Chamber, in...
Mark Isherwood: ..., mental illness and addiction. We’re picking up these enormous costs through the criminal justice system and the health service and these are set to rise. The 2009 Westminster Children, Schools and Families Committee report found that the state is failing in its duty to act as a parent to children in care, by not adequately protecting them from sexual exploitation, homelessness, and...
Mark Isherwood: ...Assembly went into dissolution, and this Assembly hasn’t yet had an opportunity to discuss or scrutinise the draft or the consultation that it launched. Whilst integration of health, employment, education and social services is welcome, there remains concern in the autism community that the lack of statutory backing means that it may not ensure the change that we all want to see for...
