Mark Drakeford: I thank Heledd Fychan. Llywydd, primary pupils who live further than 2 miles from school and secondary pupils under the age of 16 who live further than 3 miles from school receive free school transport. An initial review of the learner travel Measure was published on 31 March, and a more detailed review will now follow.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member, Llywydd, for the question. All children in Wales have a right to access education within their own areas. Local authorities are responsible for planning school places and must ensure that there are sufficient schools providing primary and secondary education in their areas.
Mark Drakeford: I do thank Vikki Howells for that, and absolutely want to congratulate Rhigos Primary School and the team of people who have achieved that very significant award. I'm afraid, Llywydd, I have been around long enough vividly to remember a visit to a school in Rhondda Cynon Taf, the local authority represented here, with others, by Vikki Howells. It was a visit carried out by the then First...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question. I commend to him the recent lecture given by the Minister for education to the Bevan Foundation, in which he grappled with exactly the sorts of issues that Dr Hussain has raised with us this afternoon. These are complex matters. I have no wish whatsoever, Llywydd, to penalise any families who are struggling with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and...
Mark Drakeford: Can I thank Altaf Hussain for that question? From September this year, this Senedd’s new curriculum will be a reality in 95 per cent of schools and nursery settings in Wales. The new curriculum represents a radical shift in delivering that first-class education that enables our learners to become informed citizens of Wales and the world.
Mark Drakeford: ...that Sam Kurtz has mentioned. I congratulate them on having that patient participation group. We've debated that on the floor of the Senedd a number of times, wondering whether, on the model of our school councils, we ought to have an expectation that all GP practices should have a forum where they learn directly from the views and experiences of their patients. I think the last time we...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm very pleased to provide an update on the £225 million that, as a result of the co-operation agreement, we will be investing in providing universal free school meals to primary-age students. The first of those schools will come on stream in September of this year, and then a lot of work is going on with other schools to make sure that the barriers to their participation—and...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, in addition to free breakfasts, extra help through the pupil development grant access scheme and now free school dinners, parents in Islwyn will be supported through the National Music Service, helping with the costs of instruments and tuition. Those parents will know how much this is due to the sustained campaigning of their Senedd Member.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Alun Davies for that question, Llywydd. It was a pleasure to visit with him, back in April, the Star Centre at the old Sirhowy infants school in Tredegar and to see the fantastic work that was being done as a distribution centre for food in the pandemic generally and now to focus upon those whose needs are the greatest. But the Member is right, Llywydd, that it was a visit to...
Mark Drakeford: ...with schemes to alleviate holiday hunger, are amongst the actions being taken in Blaenau Gwent. As an area with high levels of in-work poverty, it will be at the forefront of our commitment to free school meals for all primary-aged pupils.
Mark Drakeford: ...that is justified by the language component of it. So, the Welsh books council has a ring-fenced budget that funds Golwg360, Corgi Cymru and other news outlets. The changing nature of Welsh-medium education in Wales actually, I think, will support a revival of Welsh-medium reporting here in Wales as well, as young people emerge from Welsh education with a capacity to read the language and...
Mark Drakeford: I am pleased that our NHS workforce grows year on year and is now at record levels with over 104,000 staff employed by NHS Wales. We are investing record amounts in education and training; HEIW’s Workforce Strategy also sets out plans for a reformed and sustainable workforce for the future.
Mark Drakeford: ...see where patterns are changing, where progress is being made and where ground is being lost, is a very important part of how we can plan to do better in the future. We know that young people in schools have led the way in looking for recyclable glass bottles for milk, and paper straws instead of plastic straws. Young people themselves have been fantastic advocates for that. And doing more...
Mark Drakeford: ...confident to be there, where teachers are prepared to intervene where they need to, in order to put things right when they see things going wrong. That should be just woven through the whole of the school day from start to finish, and I don't think it's reducible to an argument about not having enough time to do it.
Mark Drakeford: ...case, as we've heard about it, has been a shocking one, and our thoughts are of course with that young person and his family. No incidents of bullying, whatever their motivation, are acceptable in schools in Wales, and the incident itself is now being investigated by the Gwent Police, with the assistance of the local authority and others, and we must allow that process to be concluded. As...
Mark Drakeford: ...me about Carmarthen West. When I visited Carmarthenshire social services some time ago, I was genuinely impressed by the way in which those services were organised to ensure that, for example, education and social services were part of a single directorate and worked together to make sure that children's interests were promoted and their safety promoted as well by those services working...
Mark Drakeford: ...of a number of very important medicines that pharmacists have to manage. There are different ways in which you can model the need for GPs in the future. We ask the body that we have set up, Health Education and Improvement Wales, to do that on our behalf. They will take into account the views of the profession, of course, but they will have other sources of evidence available to them. This...
Mark Drakeford: The first meeting of the north Wales independent medical school programme board, chaired by Professor Iwan Davies, took place on 4 April and has met for a second time today. My expectation is that the programme board will work to deliver the first undergraduate cohort in September 2023.
Mark Drakeford: ...1 per cent of its GRE outturn last year. As I explained on the floor of the Senedd last week, local authorities hold capital in reserve because they have a pipeline of projects, whether that is in school building, whether it's in highway restoration, and, in RCT's case, in order to deal with the impact of climate change on coal tip safety in that area. It may not be of any concern to...
Mark Drakeford: ...-controlled authorities, doing the things that matter the most. RCT will provide £100 to every householder in council tax bands E to F, it will provide £50 to every family in the borough with a school-aged child within that family. These things do not wipe away all the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, and they cannot be expected to make good the failure of the UK Government to take...
