Jeremy Miles: ...Peter Fox for raising this and for the way in which he's raised it. It's a very profound challenge, isn't it, and a challenge that many of us who are—considerably, in my case, at least—beyond school years find it hard to understand the scale of, really. But it is a very significant issue, and as Peter Fox was saying, the evidence given to the CYPE committee is very vivid in the scale...
Jeremy Miles: I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues about education, training and development and their portfolios.
Jeremy Miles: ...to play in that. I think it will help us to meet the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable learners, and that's been an important consideration in how it's been designed. Embedding that equity in schools is, obviously, critical, and I think that because the curriculum takes the learner where they find the learner, it enables us to provide bespoke learner journeys, if you like, which can...
Jeremy Miles: ...the EMA, at its current level at least, is extended. We continue to allow learners to benefit from an extended period, as I was saying, of backdated EMA payments. We recently issued a notice to all schools and colleges reminding them of the mechanism by which that works, and highlighting the discretion in the scheme for learners with particular extenuating circumstances—caring...
Jeremy Miles: ...that point. In terms of the broader point, the point that she makes in this context, as was the case with the previous question, is quite proper in terms of how important transport is to accessing education. But because of geographical distribution, it's particularly pertinent in relation to Welsh-medium education, as her question suggests. There is an element of flexibility or...
James Evans: ..., I would like to thank you for your answer. I was deeply concerned to read that the Liberal Democrats in charge of Powys County Council are considering forcing children to miss one day a week of school in favour of so-called virtual education. I'm sure you'll agree with me that this puts a huge amount of pressure on parents and pupils. And I hope you'll also agree with me—and I got that...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Jenny Rathbone for that question. They can expect our commitment to further education to continue; I was determined that we would reflect that commitment in our budget settlement for this year. So, for the 2022-23 year, you will see investment of over £400 million directly to colleges for core provision and support, which is the largest increase, actually, in many years, and that was...
2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Adam Price: I'm grateful to the Minister for his response. Of course, you and I will be very familiar with this line, as it travels through the middle of the town where we were educated. It provides a wonderful journey, of course, through mid Wales. But many of my constituents have been having poor experiences recently, in terms of regular delays, poor availability and poor reliability. During the past...
Lee Waters: ...plans. Dŵr Cymru has a commitment to reduce the average per-capita consumption of its domestic customers to 110 litres per person per day by 2050, and it plans to do this with a combination of education and behavioural change campaigns alongside increased household metering and leakage repairs. And we are continuing to work closely with them on that and Natural Resources Wales, along...
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Heledd Fychan: How is the Welsh Government ensuring that transport costs do not impact learners' attendance in school?
Peter Fox: ...support available to residents to prevent or relieve homelessness. This is intended to help them secure housing, which, of course, is an important platform to enable families to find a job and educational opportunities. However, it seems that there are some unintended barriers within the scheme that may prevent people from securing a home. There appears to be a potentially lengthy...
Joel James: ...have a greater capacity to help with medical emergencies, but I feel that you have failed to recognise that the drop in the number of fires is due to firefighters doing a very good job, not only in educating people to assess risks, but in helping people to implement greater fire protection. And you have made no mention of how you'll maintain this if you broaden the role of firefighters to...
Jane Hutt: ...the responsibilities between local government and between the Welsh Government and the UK Government, and that we look at those issues in terms of access to health. Indeed, I have mentioned health education, substance misuse. I understand that substance misuse treatments like Buvidal have been available for patients, but we need to identify if this is not happening. It is available outside...
Rebecca Evans: ...in the calendar year. And we've also provided a range of programmes that put money back into people's pockets at the time when they need it most, including our council tax reduction scheme, free school meals, and pupil development grant access, for example, which helps families with the cost of sending their children to school. So, we can absolutely provide the reassurance and the...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. We do have the most progressive student support in the UK, and the Minister for Education and Welsh Language will be making a statement very shortly.
Lesley Griffiths: I don't have the details of that £155 million, so I don't know whether it could be spent on schools or health. There are different budgets, there are different rules and regulations. I'm afraid I don't have the detail to agree with your comments.
James Evans: ..., and I believe, and a lot of other people believe, that that would be a perfect place for an agricultural college. There's support for this from local people, local companies support it, and an education provider said that they would support it as well. And that means that that land could be used for farming and to help the next generations of young farmers. So, will the Welsh Government...
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...
