Angela Burns: ...for all the work that you are doing in this area, because it is vitally important. Lynne touched on a question that I wanted to bring up, about how we are making sure that it gets out to secondary schools and primary schools, because of course one of the big issues I have concerns over is the use of social media and the way that social media really does drive vulnerable...
Angela Burns: Minister, I wonder if you could tell or confirm to us what formal arrangements you have in place for monitoring and evaluating the value for money of the twenty-first century schools programme deliveries, whether it's Carmarthenshire or throughout Wales.
Angela Burns: ...strong towns will help to develop strong communities, and cohesive and engaged communities will help to improve the whole area for the benefit of all. And that has an enormous spin-off effect into education and health and the economic drive. And, therefore, we really urge that this is something that Welsh Government should have a look at.
Angela Burns: ...to download. However, in Clare Walk in Pembroke, that same film could be downloaded in a mere 11 minutes. My concern about this is because, as we know, broadband speeds are vital for health, for education, for communications and for entertainment. You have had serious sums of money, and I note that in the Labour manifesto, you are offering free broadband to all in your Christmas festive...
Angela Burns: ...and diced in this way.' If we don't have this essential data, how can we do workforce planning and management, how can we really target recruitment and retention? Are we not setting up Health Education and Improvement Wales to fail, because, if we can't access the data, and the Minister's obviously not got the data, I don't suppose for one moment HEIW have got the data either. I would also...
Angela Burns: ...threat of people leaving. Finally, I do remain concerned that gaps remain in a lot of the diagnostic workforce across the board and I just wondered if you could provide an update on Health Education and Improvement Wales's workforce strategy and how it specifically plans to address the gaps in the diagnostic workforce. I'm sure we all agree that, if we can diagnose people earlier, we can...
Angela Burns: ...must be independent. And that's not only us and the current CHC organisation that obviously believes they should be independent, but also the seven health boards, the three NHS trusts, Health Education and Improvement Wales, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, the British Medical Association Cymru, and numbers of other organisations who are also very keen that a new national body...
Angela Burns: ...scared at times, I think, of being quite straightforward with people. You talk a lot about prevention, and I think there is an awful lot of very good prevention work going on, and particularly in schools through the healthy eating initiatives. But of course, being a healthy weight isn't just about what you put in your mouth; it is about the exercise that you take and your attitudes to the...
Angela Burns: ...re ageing and there is a real gap coming along stream. So, I just wondered how innovative we could be as a nation, and I wondered what discussions you might have with, for example, the Minister for Education, first of all to encourage volunteering as part of the school programme. Because I think that with the new curriculum we have a real opportunity to perhaps try and slide that in, so...
Angela Burns: ...the international pharmaceutical federation, World Pharmacists Day brings to the fore the varied work pharmacists undertake in various countries. For example, in Africa, pharmacists provide health education seminars and manage clinics for chronic diseases such as mental health disorders, HIV, diabetes and hypertension. Specifically for us in Wales, pharmacists play a key role in the...
Angela Burns: Minister, the mutual investment model that finances most of the twenty-first century schools programme in Carmarthenshire and throughout the rest of Wales is a really welcome evolution from the old-fashioned PFI, but, of course, with all of these issues, there's always a balance to be had between loss of control and being able to be fiscally exposed. Now, the mutual investment model does have...
Angela Burns: ...too aware that today's children and young adolescents are putting up with societal pressures that we did not have to put up with. There are horrendous things going on via the internet, bullying in schools, there's just a whole raft of things, let alone the pressure of performing, of examinations and of trying to move forward as people. If you're fit and you have that release, and you have...
Angela Burns: ...has to join up the various arms of the Government, could you give us an outline of what you might be able to do to ensure that young people in the Rhondda and in the Cwm Taf whole area have proper education that teaches them about the dangers of smoking, about the long-term consequences to their health? Because if we can get people young enough and make those lifestyle changes, then not...
Angela Burns: Thank you very much for that answer to Caroline. Of course, you'll be aware that, three years ago, the Children, Young People and Education Committee did an inquiry into the whole of supply teaching, and one of the costs that isn't always recognised is the impact that a supply teacher has on pupil outcomes, especially in disadvantaged areas and the links to poor pupil behaviour. Now, of the...
Angela Burns: ..., and, two, that they are able to earn a better standard of living, a better wage, so that they can then put that back into the economy. That, in turn, generates the cash for us to spend on health, education and all the other myriad public service requirements that we have. And, so, the working base is actually picking up quite a hefty burden. So, my question to you, Cabinet Secretary, is,...
Angela Burns: ...economic plan, which recognises all the regions, also weight and factor that Welsh lives very strongly in many rural areas? Unless you support those rural areas—the tourism, the health, the education, all the rest of it—then, actually, the Welsh language will also suffer as a consequence of the decimation of rural Wales.
Angela Burns: ...the appropriate workforce to support these systems of care, which are so important in rural communities. For people to choose to work in healthcare in rural communities, they want good local schools for their kids and a decent job for other members of their families. So, whilst health and education are absolutely vital threads in the canvas of rural living, it is the economy of rural Wales...
Angela Burns: ...Government policy is centred on making sure that the large urban centres are catered for to the cost of the more remote and less populated rural counties of Wales. Policies surrounding healthcare, education and economic growth cannot be implemented through a one-size-fits-all approach, and the Government needs to remember that, for many, a rural way of life is one of survival and hard...
Angela Burns: Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what support is in place to aid school governors in their roles?
Angela Burns: ...so far. I was pleased to see that you are monitoring the prevalence of STIs that are detected, and I assume that, as part of that, you are talking about, or they are being given information on, the education and use of condoms et cetera, et cetera. But I was slightly concerned to see that, of the 559 at-risk people who took the drug, 153 are unknown or have been lost to follow-up, and I...
