Mike Hedges: ...a cold home, they are at increased risk of asthma, respiratory infections, slower development and higher risk of disability, mental health problems, as well as low self-esteem, low confidence, poor educational attainment, poor nutrition and injuries. We do a lot of things talking about children and giving them an opportunity in life—starting off in a cold home puts you at a huge...
Altaf Hussain: ...has been officially observed by the United Nations for the past 11 years to highlight the fact that, all around the world, people with Down's syndrome are treated badly; they are denied a quality education; they are denied good healthcare; they are denied the chance to work and earn their own money; they are not allowed to make decisions about their own lives; their voices are not heard....
Rebecca Evans: ...million to the indicative allocations that were published at the last budget. That, in part, is due to the fact that we provided over and above the consequential funding that we received for both education and social care in the previous statement from the UK Government. And, as a result of the reprioritisation exercise that we undertook across Government, we were able to provide that more...
Rebecca Evans: ...of the A465, for example, where we've seen lots of new local jobs being created, lots of employment for people who have experienced long-term unemployment, or who are not in employment, education or training, for example, and, of course, a number of community initiatives have been supported through the community initiatives programme, which was set up as part of that as well. So, I think...
Rebecca Evans: ...contribution to your local area, there are also fantastic opportunities within local authorities to progress within your career. I think that the more we can do to start getting young people at school and college to start thinking about careers in local government, the better, because as you say, there are great opportunities, and it really is a job where you can make a huge difference.
Llyr Gruffydd: ...in Wales. Needs arising from our ageing demographics, for example, would then translate into increased funding for health and social care. Low employment would incentivise increased spending on education and training. Climate adaptation would necessitate funding then for more green energy investment. Without such reform, Wales is just going to be locked into the current cycle where we...
Jeremy Miles: ...point. It's a part of our ongoing discussions with the inspectorate. He will know that the reforms that the inspectorate have undertaken in Wales have moved away the focus of accountability in schools from that single, summative judgment, which is where, often, some of the tensions have arisen, and we, I think, have seen some of the consequences of that elsewhere. What we know from those...
Alun Davies: ..., I must admit my eyes were dragged straight to the final chapter, where he says he wanted to make a few reflections. I agree very much with what he said, thanking people who were retiring. As an education Minister, I remember the work of Rhiannon Walker, and I think it is important that we put on record here today thanks to her for her work in her retirement. It's also important to look...
Jeremy Miles: I agree with the Member on the important role of the commission and of the vision that we share in terms of the contribution of the commission to reforming post-16 education in all parts of Wales, and I will refer her to the response that I gave last week on the specific question that she’s asked.
Jenny Rathbone: ...should be condemned as not fit for human habitation. I absolutely welcome the civil penalties that you will be able to put on people who are in idling stationary vehicles, particularly outside schools. I don't think this is quite such a big issue around hospitals, but if it is, then obviously it's just as reprehensible there. But it has to be part of a culture of ensuring that people are...
Mark Drakeford: ..., it is derisory; it is absolutely derisory. The Chancellor said that this was a budget for growth. How could he have concluded that all the capital needs of Wales—the need to modernise our school system, to invest in equipment in the health service, to provide for the digital services on which the future economy of Wales relies—were to be provided for from £1 million? It is £1...
Alun Davies: ..., that it's quite instructive that the Welsh Conservatives would prefer to support the UK Government than they would to stand up for Wales? I must have got my geography lessons terribly wrong at school, because I just discovered on the weekend that the Huddersfield to Leeds railway serves Wales, and that Crewe to Manchester serves Wales, but only if you're a Tory. Because at the end of the...
Rebecca Evans: ...were able to do so in this financial year to meet the costs of that. And I think that that is a really big and important step, but it just shows how far we are willing to go to support our NHS and education workers here in Wales. In terms of Ukraine, I think that, again, important points were made in terms of trying to ensure that the UK Government provides the funding that is needed to...
Sam Rowlands: ...in north Wales. Minister, I do welcome efforts being made to recruit more dentists. I certainly welcome those efforts being made, along with the trials of the use of the mobile dental units at schools, which, as my colleagues mentioned, could be cost-effective and certainly help reduce those waiting lists. But like others in the Chamber here today, I take particular exception to parts of...
Jeremy Miles: ...authorities over recent years, which shows the continuing priority that we as a Government attach to making sure that local authority budgets, and in my case, of course, the budgets available to schools, are as high as they can be, despite the very, very real pressures that I know the Member appreciates the Welsh Government's budget is also under. Obviously, how those budgets are allocated...
Jeremy Miles: I agree entirely with that. In the Member's own area, the Blaenau Gwent Welsh in education strategic plan includes specific targets and challenging targets, in the local context, to increase the number of post-16 learners studying Welsh as a subject and studying through the medium of Welsh in a wider range of subjects, including—and I'll just refer back to the question from Huw...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank Joyce Watson for that important supplementary, and I recognise there's a particular challenge sometimes, as she was saying, for people going back to education perhaps later on in life. I know that she shares my pride in the fact that we are committed to making sure that, whether you're studying full time or part time, you have access to the same support pro rata, which I think...
Jeremy Miles: ...facts. The facts are these: the funding that we received as a Barnett consequential from Westminster was passported fully on to local authorities, and not only that, it was increased through the education budget. So, in Wales, unlike what happens in Conservative England, where the budget for post-COVID intervention has completely disappeared, we have not only—[Interruption.] We have made...
Altaf Hussain: ...more than giving voice to their trade union masters, true social partnership puts people and social inclusion at the heart of decision making. The social partnership network brings together higher education institutions who share common values related to lifelong learning and social mobility. It is a commitment to creating strategies and activities that contribute to a more diverse higher...
Jeremy Miles: ...accounts, which can support those at a later point in their learning journey, that's very much the focus of those interventions. I think it's really critical that both through the work that further education colleges do with their local economy, as well as the work of things like the regional skills partnerships, we have a very clear understanding of what the pipeline of skills is that's...
