Rhianon Passmore: I absolutely concur that there are real pressures and real challenges, but not just for the higher education sector, bearing in mind the topic of this debate. The radical reforms this Welsh Labour-led Government has implemented in response to the Diamond review are radical and they will create a strong and sustainable funding settlement. This radical and progressive approach will also mean...
Rhianon Passmore: The higher education sector, as we know, plays a critical and vital role in the social, cultural and economic life of Wales, and maintaining and developing a vibrant and successful higher education sector is therefore at the very heart of the Welsh Government's vision in developing a world-class education system. It is unfortunately the case that higher education in Wales, much like the rest...
Rhianon Passmore: ...last decade, from over 450 in 2004-05 to just 150 in 2016-17. So, Minister, would you agree with me that this is to be warmly welcomed and that pupils are best served in nurturing and supportive education environments, and that such positive outcomes validate the progressive guidance issued by the Welsh Government formerly in 2012, setting out how exclusion should be used and to do so...
Rhianon Passmore: ...in place in order to reach that full potential, because it is a fact that music support teaching services across Wales are dissolving? You will, I am sure, be aware of my calls for a national music education and performance strategy for Wales alongside our major music conservatoire and national orchestral bodies. So, I am keen to ensure the fantastic opportunities arising within the...
Rhianon Passmore: ...the nation, and with the announcement of introducing a welcome further sixth professional teaching learning INSET day, the Welsh Government has stated within its consultation that the aim for all schools is to fix the same date for it. If this comes to fruition, what analysis could the Welsh Government give to assessing the teaching value of INSET days being worked together in one...
Rhianon Passmore: 6. What is the Welsh Government's position on bringing uniformity to the setting of INSET days across schools in Wales? OAQ53561
Rhianon Passmore: How will the Minister ensure that the second wave of the 21st Century Schools and education programme delivers facilities that benefit the wider community in Islwyn?
Rhianon Passmore: ..., the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Incorporated Society of Musicians and others a full evaluation. Can I ask for the status and health of our current, non-statutory music education performance provision across Wales, after now nearly a decade of austerity and the inevitable shrinkage of Welsh local government non-statutory services; an analysis of what mitigations are in...
Rhianon Passmore: Do you recognise the value or worth of the education improvement work that the education consortia carry out across Wales or not?
Rhianon Passmore: Okay. I do actually acknowledge the fact that if we look at what's happening across the water in England, you will see that there is a huge issue in terms of funding for schools in England, and quite frankly, the gap that you're talking about is equitable across Wales. I won't take any lessons in regard to that, despite the rhetoric that has not always been the case for funding of schools in...
Rhianon Passmore: ...Government has worked hard to protect Welsh public services from the significant cuts and has taken direct action to prioritise key public services through local government, and that includes schools. It is worth reminding ourselves that the Welsh Labour Government does not fund schools directly. Each local authority in Wales is responsible for determining how much funding is allocated to...
Rhianon Passmore: ...nation to take our true place in the world—and I won't talk about the areas of experience and learning about music and the arts today. Can you outline for me how you believe the role of the education improvement consortia will play out in delivery and potentially helping to implement the new curriculum in Wales?
Rhianon Passmore: ...'s policies. In the dark shadow of this inflicted austerity, the Welsh Labour Government has secured 83,000 more people in work since 2010; £1.4 billion of investment via the twenty-first century schools programme; 41 new schools, including the impressive £22 million Islwyn High School in my constituency; the lowest diagnostic waits since 2010; Wales leading the UK on household...
Rhianon Passmore: Would you agree with the OECD viewpoint, strongly made, that Wales is moving in the right direction in regard to its education reforms?
Rhianon Passmore: ...no exception. Despite the severe pressures on the Welsh Government, it is still delivering more than £500 million extra for our health service, £50 million more for social care, £15 million for schools and £12.5 million to help tackle child poverty. But it is right to underscore how very difficult even the protected budgets of local authorities are, thanks to the UK cuts to Wales, and...
Rhianon Passmore: ...Wales considers as a national priority the development of a national strategy or plan in funding music support services. Therefore, I would request a statement that also includes an assessment of schools that are currently unable to access music support services and on the equality of access for our very poorest students to access music performance education in Wales.
Rhianon Passmore: ...to come together to never forget can be visually evidenced on street after street. And, across Wales, men, women and children will be wearing poppies and attending remembrance services in our schools and churches and respecting those moments of silence. I've also been struck by the large poppies on the streets of Pontywaun and Risca and all across Islwyn, and I want to, in this place,...
Rhianon Passmore: ...strands and the very good initiatives that are coming forward, there is a need for a cohesive strategy or plan to be able to draw all of those initiatives under one strategic vision for music education for Wales?
Rhianon Passmore: ...of our Chair, Bethan, and fellow committee members and the clerks for their industrious and important work in producing this report. I'm often asked why do I prioritise so highly the issue of music education, and while I'm not alone, during September 2016, before I served on the committee, the public, as you know, was asked what the committee's priorities should be, and, of course, it...
Rhianon Passmore: ...ambulance's paramedic support for the access and availability of publicly placed heart defibrillators—highlighted by the dedicated Jack's Law campaign—has meant that public defibrillators in schools have already saved lives in Islwyn. I'm also grateful for the support of my colleague and fellow AM Jack Sargeant on furthering these critical life-saving initiatives. How, then, will the...
