Mike Hedges: ...areas for future generations, as opposed to the Conservative leader in the Senedd, who said that development is okay, as long as the infrastructure is put in place, such as doctors' surgeries, schools and transport infrastructure?
Mike Hedges: Can I thank Luke Fletcher for giving me a minute in this debate? EMA is very important. From my time as a further education college lecturer in RCT, if EMA had not existed many students who went on to successful careers in ICT would not have been able to continue their studies. EMA provides the finance to allow them to continue studying and then move on to higher education. EMA allows those...
Mike Hedges: ...do. I believe housing is important, and until we deal with housing effectively to create a balance between supply and demand, there will continue to be a problem. A lot of the problems we have in education and health stem from inadequate housing. There are two answers to the housing crisis, using actions that have previously worked. The one I prefer is to build council houses at the scale...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank you for that answer, Minister? I visited all the secondary schools in Swansea East on GCSE results day, and I visited those that had A-level results on A-level results day. They were happy with the results, but, as the Minister knows, there were problems with some of the questions set. He knows this because I've raised it with him on several occasions. What discussions has the...
Mike Hedges: I thank the Minister for that response. Can I correct something that's been said earlier? School budgets are not the responsibility of the headteacher; they're the responsibility of the governing body in law. That's an important point to remember. Yes, maybe the average amount of money in school governing bodies is relatively high, but that doesn't mean that some schools aren't running with...
Mike Hedges: 11. What assessment has the Minister made of the effect of inflation on 2022-23 school budgets ? OQ58383
Mike Hedges: Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. The priorities in every budget are the same: to improve health, support local government, improve the environment and reduce carbon emissions, improve educational attainment, improve the economy and improve the quality of life for people in Wales and reduce or preferably end poverty. Well, we have all these debates as we all have different ways as to how...
Mike Hedges: In one of the richest countries in the world, no child should go hungry. No child should live in a house that is in poverty. Unfortunately, very many do. The expansion of free school meals—which I've asked for over several years, and was then taken up by Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government—is a very positive step, but I have mothers in my constituency who dread the school summer holidays...
Mike Hedges: .... I would also like to thank John Griffiths for giving me a minute in this debate. There are traditionally two legal routes out of poverty. One is via sporting prowess and the other is via education, but education is not a level playing field, and it has become less so with the development of technology. I had access to every book that my wealthier contemporaries had, although it was via...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank Jack Sargeant for giving me a minute in this debate? I'm very pleased to see Wales qualify for the world cup finals, but footballers start playing when they're in primary school, usually in their school and the local club. Without those teachers who freely give their time and those who coach and run junior football teams, there would not be a successful national side. Every...
Mike Hedges: ...in the end, children eat and parents don't. I welcome the Welsh Government's actions—I won't name them all, but things such as help with fuel costs support, the cost of sending your children to school, Healthy Start vouchers, support for hundreds of thousands of people with council tax bills every year, and I also welcome the two successful 'Claim what's yours' campaigns, and the most...
Mike Hedges: ...requesting a Welsh Government statement on this year's A-level, AS-level and GCSE examinations, and in particular, GCSE Welsh second language; French GCSE, which included a question on a topic that schools had been told had been removed; AS-level pure mathematics; A-level physics, which the teachers were told would be non-synoptic, but was synoptic; and AS-level chemistry, where the actual...
Mike Hedges: ...incentive to bring a branch factory here, they don't want to come. Successful places such as Palo Alto, Cambridgeshire and Mannheim do not have to bribe companies to come; they provide the educated workforce, the infrastructure and the opportunities for inward investment and start-ups. Again, what we need in Wales is fewer LG-type investments and more Admiral Insurance. Plaid Cymru's...
Mike Hedges: ...agreement. I would like a Government statement on when and how the option for a more sustainable model of supply teaching, with fair work at its heart, which would include local authority-led and school-led initiatives, is going to be implemented.
Mike Hedges: Would you ask schools just to set the colours that they want children to wear, rather than making it complicated?
Mike Hedges: I obviously support free school meals to all children in state primary schools, and await the plan to extend to secondary schools. The increase in energy costs and food costs will have a devastating effect on children living in low-income families. It is inevitable that some children will be cold and hungry during the next year. Spending a night in a cold bedroom, not being adequately fed and...
Mike Hedges: I, again, also very much welcome this debate. Firstly, I want to address the problems faced by schools. The local government settlement is a good one, but one year's increase cannot negate over 10 years of austerity. While school budget allocations in most councils are yet to be finalised, the expectation is they will go up in line with council expenditure. This is different to the increase...
Mike Hedges: ...the Senedd an opportunity to show the direction of travel it wants devolution to take. Many of the levers that affect levels of crime have already been devolved to Wales, such as community safety, education, training, jobs, mental health services, alcohol and drug treatment, housing, healthy communities, as well as many other services relating to social factors. Tackling crime, reducing...
Mike Hedges: ...I hope he'll take it up with his colleagues to explain to them that you can't do that. There are alternatives to the Welsh budget in terms of priorities. I would, for example, increase support for education, training and university innovation, and reduce expenditure on attracting inward investment. Provide the research capacity in the universities, provide a highly skilled workforce and...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for that response? Last month, I attended the official opening of the new Tan-y-lan school, where my grandchildren attend, and this month, I will be attending the opening of the new Tirdeunaw school. Of the six comprehensive schools in Swansea, three have been rebuilt on the same site, one completely refurbished and one is a relatively new school. The only school...
