Lee Waters: ...to see how that works, and I think it'll be interesting to see if that does bring us a different result from the one that was brought last time. So, we need to keep that under review. In terms of schools, then, we do have the active journeys programme that we've been funding and that Sustrans have been delivering. We're going to be putting out to tender a larger contract based on the same...
Lee Waters: ...guidance for future developments on creating an active travel environment. It'll take some time, I guess, for that to work through, but I think we have made significant progress there. In terms of schools, the education Minister and I had a number of conversations about this, and we both attended the last meeting of the cross-party group on active travel that Huw Irranca-Davies very...
Lee Waters: ...them anywhere. We have to concentrate our resources on building routes that will allow people to make whole journeys to places they need to get to, in safety and comfort from their home to work, or school to the shops. Only then will we be able to convince significant numbers of people to change their travel habits. I am prepared to take flak for building fewer miles of route in fewer...
Lee Waters: ...Government have failed. We have spent £200 million of Welsh Government and EU funding in the last five years on the Superfast Cymru broadband scheme, and that is money that is not available for schools and hospitals and public services, because we've had to intervene where the UK Government has not. So, I think it’s only fair to recognise the efforts the Welsh Government has made in an...
Lee Waters: ...approach where we are tailoring our apprenticeships to support the Welsh economy, to deliver higher skills that are focused on the needs of regional economies, to offer better routes through from education into employment and also to encourage a greater employer contribution. It's not just for the state to provide apprenticeships; this is something that businesses must do. We're happy to...
Lee Waters: ...be launching a new IT platform to make the apprenticeship journey clearer and more user-friendly. Our programmes, Junior Apprenticeships, Preparation for Apprenticeships and Have a Go, operate in schools and are each preparing young people for vocational education. We'll be supporting people into apprenticeships via the Working Wales and the Job Support Wales programmes, providing a path...
Lee Waters: ..., it's fair to say that employer investment and engagement in training remains a challenge for Wales as it does in other parts of the UK. Government cannot be the sole financier of post-compulsory education and training, and you'll need to create a system that incentivises employers to invest alongside the support made available via Government. We need to commit to genuine lifelong...
Lee Waters: Thank you, Counsel General. I was very grateful to you for attending the round-table I organised recently with law schools and law firms looking at the impact of automation on the legal sector in Wales. It was clear from the discussion we had there were both opportunities and threats: opportunities for the firm, like we heard from Hoowla, who provide software to manage cases and automate work...
Lee Waters: ..., because it was easy to rush to a quick, glib answer to what is a very difficult issue in this age of austerity. I think there was universal agreement that the provision of musical services in schools was both a public good and a cultural right. But with declining resources for local authorities and a duty to provide statutory services, there was no easy way out. And as tempting as it...
Lee Waters: ...that you and the Minister for digital, the leader of the house, and the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning are able to attend the round-table I'm convening next month with the law schools and with the big law firms to consider the implications of this for the sector. I know you've shown a great deal of interest in how developments in technology can improve access to justice....
Lee Waters: ...first time because they don't always feel equipped to be able to make an informed decision—they don't always feel they know enough—and I think it's essential that there is a thorough political education campaign that goes forward in parallel with this change in the law, and I was pleased to hear the Llywydd say that that will be the case. But, of course, it needs to go beyond just...
Lee Waters: .... I think the principle is the right one. It now needs to be rolled out at scale. Similarly, I'd like to hear about progress in developing the same programme, Learning with Autism, for further education and workplaces, in line with the timetable, I believe, you had in mind for starting roll-out in 2019. And the national integrated autism service itself—from the conversations I had with...
Lee Waters: ...as the Bill goes through to see whether or not that is going to be robust enough to address my concerns. Last Friday, I went to visit Serendipity Day Nursery in Pembrey, who were the first school in Carmarthenshire to achieve the learning with autism early years programme, which has been developed under the integrated autism service programme. I was very impressed by what they had done...
Lee Waters: ...is new to the Conservative group in the Assembly, but not that long ago, the Conservatives had a pledge to ring-fence health spending in Wales. The consequence would have been a massive cut in education spending. So, it's a little rich for the Member now to give us lectures on health spending levels when we've protected it and grown it.
Lee Waters: Thank you. I know the Cabinet Secretary will agree that early recognition is important in providing support for children and young people, and schools sometimes struggle to provide the most appropriate support, both in terms of having the skills and capacity within the school, but also in accessing services in the community and through CAMHS. Mental health charities and schools report that...
Lee Waters: 7. What steps is the Cabinet Secretary taking to help schools to promote mental wellbeing? OAQ52241
Lee Waters: ...system and I'm delighted also to see it mentioned prominently in the economic action plan. We've seen too many large housing developments created with no local shops, no community centres, no schools—essentially without souls. We've placed the car at the centre of our planning system for the last 30 years and witnessed a dramatic expansion of car-based development. In the time from 1952,...
Lee Waters: ...of addressing the scale of change we need to carry out, it needs to start with an honest analysis of where things are at. You quoted the Estyn report, which said that, in two thirds of primary schools, there are important shortcomings in standards of ICT that should be a wake-up call to all of us. My frustration goes across all departments in the way that we are embracing digital. But in...
Lee Waters: I strongly support the call for the money to still be available to build a new school. There's no doubt that the pupils of ysgol Dewi Sant desperately need a new school, but I'm afraid that Carmarthenshire County Council have let them down badly in the way they've gone through a process. If you read the business case sent in to the Welsh Government, it's a masterclass in retrospective...
Lee Waters: ...the pace of change we're likely to see over the next 10 years. Certainly, in the next decade or more, all aspects of society will be impacted by the potential of artificial intelligence, and education is certainly central to that. The amendment tabled by Plaid Cymru quotes figures from the NUT showing that 50,000 working days are lost by teachers due to stress-related illness and, in...
