Mark Isherwood: ...an autism assessment from local neurodevelopmental teams within six months of referral, with many waiting much longer. The pandemic has also laid bare the lack of understanding of autism within our education system, also severely impacting the mental health of autistic pupils. What additional help can the Welsh Government therefore give these services now to bring down these long waits, to...
Mark Isherwood: ...the benefits they're entitled to, including UK social security benefits, as well as schemes operated by the Welsh Government and local authorities, such as the council tax reduction scheme, free school meals and the discretionary assistance fund, and establish a single point of access for free school meals, pupil development grant and council tax reduction scheme. What specific consequent...
Mark Isherwood: I was also hugely impressed when I visited that school myself. It's an exemplar that others need to follow, because attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, can be masked in an education environment. ADHD, or other related conditions, are not as a result of environmental issues or bad parenting. How do you therefore respond to the Flintshire constituents with children at other schools,...
Mark Isherwood: ...residency requirements before foreign citizens can vote here. Dismissing the Electoral Reform Society, she rejected a requirement for politics and democracy in Wales to be taught in all Welsh schools. Dismissing academics, she rejected provision to ensure that individuals are not automatically registered on the open electoral register, impacting those individuals who have purposely chosen...
Mark Isherwood: ..., hot summer of 1940. On 5 September 1940, Sergeant Glyn Griffiths from Llandudno, flying Hurricanes with 17 squadron, shot down a Heinkel He 111 bomber over Chatham. He’d attended John Bright School in Llandudno before joining the RAF as a pilot in 1938. He became a battle of Britain ace—a pilot with five confirmed victories—shooting down 10 enemy aircraft during the battle, for...
Mark Isherwood: ...should not be granted automatically. Our proposals are not radical, they're simply seeking to implement the national good practice by having a minimum residency period as a compromise. In terms of education on politics, apparently you would not take account of curriculum reforms and the Bill already provides for the concern to be raised. No, it doesn't. And, yes, we have already taken...
Mark Isherwood: During Stage 2 of this Bill, the Minister argued against this amendment, stating that the new Curriculum for Wales will allow teachers to decide how to deliver education tailored to the specific needs of their pupils. This includes political education, which will come under the core purpose of supporting learners to become ethical and informed citizens of Wales and the world, highlighting...
Mark Isherwood: ...Ministers to introduce a national framework to promote awareness of the extension of the franchise for 16 and 17-year-olds and to develop a national framework on promoting awareness on political education. These amendments respond to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee's recommendation 2, which argued that the Bill should be amended to include specific provision that...
Mark Isherwood: The teaching of our history in Welsh schools matters. The past informs the future; a loss of the past would mean the most thoughtless of ages. History teaches us that 'Welsh' means British. Both England and Scotland are named after their invaders. However, the Britons remained. Wales is named after the term used by the invaders—meaning 'foreigner' in their language—to describe the Britons...
Mark Isherwood: ...people living in poverty in Wales. In accepting our recommendation 17, the Welsh Government states that it wants to make it as easy as possible for people to claim devolved benefits, such as free school meals and council tax reductions, adding that they're working with local authorities and other key stakeholders to identify potential solutions. However, it's now almost two years since...
Mark Isherwood: ...Justice's report, 'Universal Basic Income: An Effective Policy for Poverty Reduction?', also argued that UBI is unaffordable, putting at risk the provision of important services in healthcare and education, adding that it: 'Doesn't meet the needs of low-income households facing complex problems such as drug addiction, dangerous debt, and family breakdown; provides a major disincentive to...
Mark Isherwood: ...welcomed. In particular, contributors cited the joint working between NCIG and the Wales Neurological Alliance to create a patient-reported experience measure, or PREM, as a positive step. Discrete educational activity was cited by NCIG as a positive. However, as the report states: 'Contributors questioned the extent to which the plan had enabled genuine coproduction and participation with...
Mark Isherwood: ...and avoid a spiral of poverty. How do you respond to the call by the Bevan Foundation for the Welsh Government to encourage local authorities to establish a single point of access for free school meals, for pupil development grant and the council tax reduction scheme, making it easier for families in poverty to access them? And how, finally, do you respond to the call by NEA Cymru for...
Mark Isherwood: How do you respond to concerns raised with me by school staff that social distancing is being ignored or is impossible for pupils whose school requires them to move between classrooms; that the breadth and standard of online teaching has been variable, asking whether Wales has invested in further development of online teaching and resources in preparation for a possible second wave; that a...
Mark Isherwood: ...last week by the National Autistic Society and its partners shows that as well as significantly exacerbating long-established challenges autistic people face getting suitable social care and educational support, the coronavirus pandemic has had a severely detrimental impact on the mental health of autistic people and their families. How, therefore, will you respond to the report's call for...
Mark Isherwood: ...for children who are vulnerable or whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response. You said that vulnerable children include those with care and support plans and statements of special educational needs, and I commend all the staff on the rotas for this, including my youngest son. How do you respond, therefore, to the probation officer living in Wrexham who contacted me this morning,...
Mark Isherwood: ...the support they provide in the collective fight against this pandemic? Finally, in the virtual Plenary two weeks ago, I asked you to clarify provision for critical workers to access childcare and educational settings for their children, after having been contacted by NHS staff in Flintshire who've been told that both parents had to be critical workers in order to qualify. I understand...
Mark Isherwood: What policy or guidance has the Welsh Government issued regarding provision for critical workers to access educational childcare settings for their children? A number of contacts have been made with me, by or on behalf of critical NHS staff living in Flintshire, who have been told that both parents have to be critical workers to qualify, one of whom has had to stay at home rather than join a...
Mark Isherwood: It's now, I think, two years since the children's commissioner produced her follow-up report on wheelchair accessibility in schools in Wales, 'Full Lives: Equal Access', which identified a number of areas for improvement, some of which were strict duties under the Equality Act 2010, some of which were not. It found, for example, 'over-reliance on individual schools to plan for the needs of...
Mark Isherwood: 9. How is the Welsh Government removing barriers to access for disabled pupils in school? OAQ55247
