Michelle Brown: Well, actually, Cabinet Secretary, my question was about whether you personally, as Cabinet Secretary for Education, have considered reviewing the way transport is arranged, at a high level, but I'll go on to my final question. Parents are reporting to me that cuts in local authority funding are resulting in children and young people with disabilities who were previously taken to school by...
Michelle Brown: ...locally and that, given the geography in Wales, planning transport routes can be a challenge, but there's a distinct lack of consistency and it's all a bit of a hodgepodge. Depending on what school you go to, you might travel by school bus or public transport. You might travel in a completely different way from your neighbour who is attending a school maybe just down the road. Now, I know...
Michelle Brown: ...to speak about a specific case, so I'm just using this as an illustration. I have a constituent who was told by the local council that her 11-year-old daughter would be expected to get on a school bus, then change onto a connecting public bus. to go to school some 15 to 20 miles away. It's probably not an uncommon story across Wales. A while ago, as well, I took a trip on public transport...
Michelle Brown: ...the house says that progress has been slower than she'd like. Where do you think these impediments to progress are coming from? What measures are you taking, in conjunction with local authorities, educational establishments and the health service as well, to overcome those impediments and achieve the very laudable objectives of the last plan and this new one? And then, turning to the...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I move our amendment in the name of Caroline Jones. UKIP believe that it's the people in the education system at all levels who have a better idea of where the waste is and where any incorrect spending priorities are. They're the people who know what changes are needed to release more money for front-line teaching. One of the things that has gone wrong in the...
Michelle Brown: ...countries that we see as being less generous than ourselves. We see that people often compare our NHS to the cost of healthcare in the USA and we assume those countries have a less inclusive higher education system than us, yet the average student debt in the US is £27,000, compared with the UK student average debt of more than £32,000. So, even if the argument is about accessibility,...
Michelle Brown: ...to 30 mph for some time now. They've been campaigning for it for the sake of the safety of residents and pedestrians and road users. The road's a residential road, with parking along it adjacent to schools and in a number of side roads. It's a daft situation, to be honest: the speed limit heading into that area of Holywell is at 30 mph leading into the town, then it goes to 40 through the...
Michelle Brown: ...t forget, and we shouldn't forget, the 1,000 plus children and young people who are currently waiting between 12 and 18 months for a neurodevelopmental assessment, which is going to impact on their educational attainment. So, you know, while the—. The Cabinet Secretary says there have been improvements in various things, including the management of complaints, clinical oversight, and...
Michelle Brown: ...conversations with Westminster about the impact of the apprentcieship levy. The additional learning needs Bill has introduced a presumption in favour of pupils with ALN being placed in mainstream schools. This is a move I wholeheartedly applaud. I grew up in an era when people with additional learning needs and disability were effectively segregated from the rest of the population. I...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. You'll perhaps be aware that the BBC reported today that approximately £4 million is being taken out of school budgets to pay for local authorities' apprenticeship levies to the UK Government. They're also reporting that while some councils are paying this levy out of the overall budget, 13 of them are paying it out of the school budgets. Amongst...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, as you have overall responsibility for the education system in Wales, it's ultimately your responsibility to ensure that public funds are applied properly to the benefit of children and young people in Wales. How do you monitor how educational budgets are being used by local authorities, schools and consortia?
Michelle Brown: ..., all are ready. It is also impractical to say that, because a child is age X, they're ready to be taught Y. Parents know their child better than the Cabinet Secretary, her panel of experts and the schools. As the Cabinet Secretary has pointed out, RSE is not just about biology—it's about values, ethics and making informed decisions. As such, it is not for the state to dictate what a...
Michelle Brown: ...or gender—something that has overwhelming support from the majority in today's society. But I'm sure that I'm not the only Member in the Chamber to have concerns over the overhaul of sex education in Wales. It is the role of the national curriculum in Wales to facilitate children's education by identifying pupils' abilities and encouraging them to be the best they can be, whether it's in...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. Recent Estyn reports have noted that, in terms of quality leadership in schools, there has been a lack of succession planning, a limited number of well-tailored professional development opportunities for senior and middle-level leaders and teachers and that school leadership is not being considered an...
Michelle Brown: ...be reinstated. However, I do think the grant in some ways treats a symptom rather than the cause. I agree with the chairman of the National Union of Teachers Wales, Neil Foden, when he described a school uniform as eliminating differences between pupils and said undermining it creates divisions. I also agree with him that a school uniform is a way of avoiding social stigma because pupils...
Michelle Brown: Well, do you not—? You've just given me a lecture about walking to school and safe routes to school, but you didn't actually answer the question, because I wasn't talking about children who can walk or travel in some way under their own steam, taking exercise to school. I was talking about children who have to be put into vehicular transport to be taken to school. Don't you think it's a...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that answer. My question wasn't really specifically about rural schools. I possibly fogged the issue a little bit by mentioning rural schools. My question was actually about local schools, as in schools that children can walk to every day. Children who travel to school by car are exposed to an increase in pollution of 40 per cent for that journey,...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer, and good afternoon, Cabinet Secretary. In 2016, there were two reports about school closures. One said that, in the previous 10 years, there'd been 157 school closures across Wales—three out of five of those closures being rural schools. The other said that there were a further 50 schools earmarked for closure. At the same time, local authorities are trying...
Michelle Brown: ...to extend the eligibility criteria to two years—with a little bit of caution, because it may well take a lot longer than two years for a child to recover from the effects of being on free school meals or other disadvantage. So, can the Cabinet Secretary explain to us why this period isn't longer, and why she has chosen two years as opposed to three, four, five or whatever? Guaranteeing...
Michelle Brown: ...Working Wales, again, this programme has laudable aims and I really do hope that this ambitious plan works in the way it's been intended. However, how are you going to ensure that placing people in education and training will not be used as a cover for unemployment figures, and the Government's failure to provide a business environment that's conducive to job creation? Improving...
