Mark Reckless: ...of those with an interest in this area and who has discussed it previously with the Cabinet Secretary, it's very positive that, in Wales, we have the pupil development grant giving options to free-school-meals children, but also to looked-after children and to those who are adopted. And, of course, in most cases, adoptive parents will want the school to be aware and will want to make sure...
Mark Reckless: ...that money is used in many local authorities—and then we have seen cuts in the health service that we haven't seen in England in real terms. And then we have this very significant gap in education spending. Labour, you must decide what your priorities are, and if education is less of a priority for you in Wales than it is for the Conservatives in England, and than we would like to make...
Mark Reckless: ...Paul Davies. I also complement Plaid on their motion, with which we agree. I’ll ask them to understand that our only reason for voting otherwise will be to ensure a vote on our own amendment. The school funding crisis in Wales is severe. NASUWT Wales calculates that there is now a £678 funding gap per pupil between England and Wales. We believe it’s important to note that that is...
Mark Reckless: But some of the benefits are likely to be seen in the early years at school if there are reliable benefits, and I think getting it into the SAIL system will improve the opportunities for researchers very clearly. But Welsh Government has spent £600 million on this in the last 11 years and describes it as a flagship programme. Given that scale of investment, the level of assessment and...
Mark Reckless: ...to initially say that the trade-off between a universal programme and a targeted programme is one that the Assembly has discussed in many other areas—quite recently, in our committee, on free schools meals and the targeted grants. I understand the Welsh Government's position that it is easier to deliver a programme in a targeted geographical area where the recipients can easily get to...
Mark Reckless: ...they do—about the mechanisms, the assumptions and the understandings, as well as the legal basis of the devolved settlement, as we in this Assembly are. But during this process, they have been educated on that. Damian Green and David Lidington in particular I think had reasonable knowledge to begin with, and that knowledge has become more expert as the process has gone on. I think,...
Mark Reckless: Cabinet Secretary, you said earlier that all children attending secondary school were entitled to free transport, but that surely doesn't apply to children attending sixth form. And in the case of Merthyr, is it really appropriate, if sixth-form provision is only going to take place for that age group at Merthyr college, for the council to be consulting on making all children of that age...
Mark Reckless: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the level of choice available in post-16 education?
Mark Reckless: ...can be no excuse if we do not see improvement in teacher recruitment. As well as improving terms and conditions, we need to increase the number of routes into teaching. Darren mentioned further education teachers, overseas teachers, teachers from independent schools. Llyr mentioned teaching assistants. I hope the Cabinet Secretary will join me in commending Teach First, which has been...
Mark Reckless: ...compared to England? And I had understood that local government had been treated relatively generously in Wales compared to England. Why hasn't that money flowed through from local government to schools?
Mark Reckless: ...agreement, what is the point of this middle way where Estyn tells you what the results are if the inspection was after 2014 but not before, and how does that help anyone if parents are comparing schools on less than accurate or up-to-date data?
Mark Reckless: ...I think my view and perhaps the view of many, at least in the Conservative group, may be different from yours, Cabinet Secretary, and from the Labour Government, but it's about accountability for schools and transparency over how they are doing. We have Estyn's own assessment and the rating it gives. We then have this red, amber and green, which I think comes from Welsh Government. And the...
Mark Reckless: ...itself, its degree of autonomy and independence, and the extent to which it may be judging the implications of its own assessment criteria. So, for instance, the assessment and how Estyn assesses schools is of huge significance in terms of what teachers do and how schools prioritise different objectives. I just wonder the extent to which those objectives are those of the Welsh...
Mark Reckless: ...us £2,000 per pupil, and that's coming out of the existing Seren budget. Second, through discussions I've had with the sector, including key admissions officers, there's a concern that some schools are cautious about putting in the necessary effort to engage with the Seren network as they fear their Estyn rating could suffer if teacher time is taken from other areas where they're...
Mark Reckless: ...as ably as he did the UK Government previously. I welcome the report from Sally Holland, the children's commissioner, and thank her for the evidence she gave to the Children, Young People and Education Committee on 18 October. I think one area she deserves particular congratulation on is the lead she has taken in galvanising local authorities around the care leavers agenda. In...
Mark Reckless: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the establishment of Health Education and Improvement Wales as a special health authority? (OAQ51095)
Mark Reckless: Can the First Minister give an assurance that no school that has a successful model for them of supply cover will have that replaced by a top-down model applied across all schools, whether in Wales or by local authority?
Mark Reckless: ...for finance said to me in a letter on 15 March, that it was a technical adjustment within the portfolio. Could the Minister therefore explain why Kirsty Williams told the Children, Young People and Education Committee on 17 October the tuition fee grant will be in excess of original estimates of £257.6m for 2016-17. We will therefore action the transfer of £21.1m from HEFCW to Welsh...
Mark Reckless: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the £21.1 million transferred from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to the Welsh Government? OAQ(5)0109(EDU)
Mark Reckless: ...we’re a bit better, but not all the data are available on that one. I don’t think there’s anything more important that the two major public services that are devolved: the health service and education. We look at urgent GP cancer referrals. We set ourselves the target of 95 per cent to be seen within two months, yet it’s only 86 per cent. The A&E four-hour waiting time: only 82...
