Mark Drakeford: ...for reminding me of that. Let me say this to him. He's offered one solution this afternoon. It's a solution that my party will not adopt; let me be as clear as I can with him about that. Compulsory education for everybody through the medium of Welsh is not the answer to the Welsh language in Wales. It will alienate people who are sympathetic to the Welsh language; it will set the language...
Mark Drakeford: ...thing is that we know that the census was conducted during the time of the pandemic. I remember time and again hearing people discussing the impact of the pandemic on young people in Welsh-medium schools when they were not attending school, and when they weren't hearing a word of Welsh when the schools were not open. So, there are a number of things underpinning these figures, and it's...
Mark Drakeford: ...as pharmacists to work in the Welsh NHS. That is true of doctors as well as nurses and those professions allied to medicine. We are increasing the number of places at the Cardiff medical school and at the Swansea medical school, and, of course, we are creating a new clinical school in north Wales, and there will be further numbers there. If you look over the period ahead for which we have...
Mark Drakeford: ...s mental health. We have invested significantly in mental health support from early intervention to specialist services. We have also introduced statutory guidance to embed mental well-being in schools and we are implementing the NEST/NYTH Framework across Wales.
Mark Drakeford: ...questions where you don't know where to start, really. First of all, let's put the record straight. I see that the Member was busy tweeting that Wales was going to get £1.2 billion in funding for schools and hospitals. Well, of course, that's not true at all. Forty-four per cent of all the consequential that comes to Wales is a consequence of changes to business rate support announced in...
Mark Drakeford: ...to hear about those discussions, and I'm sure, after having the opportunity to speak to Huw Thomas, that he is determined, if there is any agreement on the future, to safeguard not just what the schools do at present in the hall, but community use in its entirety of a very important resource for the lives of people who live in the capital city.
Mark Drakeford: ...separately for all the other things that the local authority could provide. So, if you are a claimant of council tax benefit, the local authority system will check whether you are entitled to free school meals. You won't be asked to fill in another set of forms—another set of barriers. Now, what we need to do is to make sure that the other half, the other 11 authorities, are moving in...
Mark Drakeford: ...do to prevent their use by this group as part of our new tobacco strategy. We are also looking at messaging around young people and e-cigarettes as part of the JustB programme aimed at secondary school pupils in areas with the highest smoking prevalence rates.
Mark Drakeford: ...a better response to it in the future, whether that is in the investment we are making in flood relief, whether it's in the way in which we are able to redesign some of our twenty-first century schools projects to make sure that buildings play their part in reaching net zero. All of that is dependent upon the capital budget available to the Welsh Government. I can give the Member this...
Mark Drakeford: ...draw our attention to the fact that it is the lives of our young people that will be most profoundly affected by these decisions. It was a pleasure to meet a series of students from Hawarden High School on my way into the Chamber earlier today. In practical terms, Llywydd, the only public sector pension fund that makes investments in Wales is the local government fund. Other pension...
Mark Drakeford: ...Labour Government here. We have a fixed budget that we have to determine, and if we pay people more than we are funded to—and we have met the pay review body recommendations, in both health and education—if we pay people more than that, then that money has to come from somewhere else. Now, I might, for a moment, just draw attention to the experience in Scotland. There, the sister party...
Mark Drakeford: The Minister for Education and the Welsh Language set out a range of measures to tackle the impact of poverty on educational attainment in his statement to the Chamber on 22 March. The Minister has committed to bringing forward a statement updating Members on progress before the end of term.
Mark Drakeford: ...I'd be really grateful to Jack Sargeant if, on our behalf, on behalf of the Welsh Government, he can reinforce, with that business forum, our determination to go on working alongside them and the education system to make sure that we turn out young people who have the skills that they will need to create successful futures for themselves, and to contribute to those great employers that we...
Mark Drakeford: .... What is more important in terms of the question put to me, though, Llywydd, is whether we are attracting through the degree apprenticeship route young people who otherwise wouldn't be in higher education. I am encouraged that over 57 per cent of those young people who come to take up degree apprenticeships in Wales come from families where there is no parent who has ever been to higher...
Mark Drakeford: ...afternoon, and went through with us the things that the foundation believes are having a positive impact here in Wales, both the things that we have done jointly with Plaid Cymru in extending free school meals—and there are over 4,000 children additionally in the Member's region receiving a free school meal as a result of the work that we have done together—and looking at the impact of...
Mark Drakeford: Our pupil development grant—access provides funding directly to eligible families for the purchase of uniform, kit and other school supplies. We announced an additional one-off payment of £100 to all children and young people eligible for PDG— Access this year, taking funding to over £23 million for 2022-23.
Mark Drakeford: ...to address key skills shortages and support employers to diversify their workforce. Our degree apprenticeship programme is fully funded and occupationally focused. A direct comparison with higher education participation is superficial.
Mark Drakeford: ...that Jenny Rathbone makes. The only way that we will be able to succeed in creating banks that people can use is by using facilities that are already there and operating. And community-focused schools is one of those, but there are many, many others—rugby clubs that are open and are the focus of many communities; maybe they can do more if there is a bit of help for them. Voluntary and...
Mark Drakeford: ...negotiations over the sums of money needed to support the 47 items in the co-operation agreement to make sure that they can be properly implemented, including the £260 million on universal free school meals in primary schools. So, there is no difference between us on the idea that there is more that we could do, or would want to do, but we face the same dilemma that the Scottish...
Mark Drakeford: ...of almost all farmers in Wales in October of this year. Ninety-seven per cent of all farmers in Wales received those payments in October last year, and we'll be aiming to do the same again. On school meals, I don't think it can be fair to say that this is an ideological difference between us. The measures that the Conservative Government in London will announce on Friday will go to...
