Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Acting Presiding Officer. It's two and a half years since I stood in this Chamber to say that I was both proud and privileged to address the Senedd on the Children, Young People and Education Committee's 'Mind over matter' report. At the beginning of that debate, I said that the emotional and mental health of our children and young people was one of the most important issues, if...
Lynne Neagle: ...and national consistency. We support the aim of empowering teachers to design a curriculum that meets the needs of pupils. We also recognise that the new curriculum will not be uniform across all schools. But we think it’s vital that children in Wales receive consistent opportunities and experiences from their education. On that basis, we’ve asked for further clarity on the checks and...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Llywydd. I’m very pleased to contribute to this Stage 1 debate to outline the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s main conclusions and recommendations in relation to the curriculum and assessment Bill. I want to begin by stating that our committee supports the general principles of this Bill. The evidence we received made it clear that improvements are needed to...
Lynne Neagle: ...the importance of the first 1,000 days of a child's life; inexplicable, given how much we know about the impact of parental mental health on the welfare of babies. The Children, Young People and Education Committee undertook a major inquiry into perinatal mental health in 2017. We heard time and time again from witnesses about the importance of support for families during pregnancy and the...
Lynne Neagle: Minister, the Children, Young People and Education Committee published our follow-up to our landmark 'Mind over matter' report last month, and we are eagerly awaiting your response to our updated recommendations. The report does, I believe, set out a clear route-map for the changes that we know are so urgently needed to support children and young people's mental health. Although there has...
Lynne Neagle: ...care department has been particularly active in Erasmus+, building strong relationships with organisations in Finland, Poland and Sweden. One Coleg Gwent childcare student has worked in a special school in Poland for two weeks and has benefited from seeing the difference and similarities compared to special schools in Wales and said the experience would improve their future practice. I...
Lynne Neagle: ...a huge impact on children and young people, and I very much welcome the commitment in the COVID reconstruction plan you published today that you will make sure that our young people do not lose out educationally or economically, and that you will support all of our young people to stay in education. Many young people who travel from Torfaen to Hereford college for their post-16 education...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Minister. I know that you are very well aware that I share the concerns raised by other Members about the mental health of higher education students at this very difficult time, and also that the committee has written to all vice-chancellors in Wales to seek assurances about support for students. But what I wanted to ask about today was specifically suicide prevention. I was very...
Lynne Neagle: 4. What steps is the Minister taking to support the mental health of higher education students in Wales? OQ55617
Lynne Neagle: Can I thank you for your statement, Minister, and also place on record my thanks to not just the school staff, but also staff in LEAs who've worked really hard to get the children back to school? It is really wonderful to have them back there. I welcome your assurance on the issue of testing that you're having very regular discussions with the health Minister. As you'll be aware, there have...
Lynne Neagle: ..., as I'm personally very keen to see the Welsh Government commit to a zero-COVID strategy for Wales. I was also very heartened by your restatement of your commitment to prioritise the reopening of schools. Of course, the other point that the Children's Commissioner for England made was that schools should be the first to open and the last to close, and that is also something that features...
Lynne Neagle: ...to be issued shortly to the Minister. So, we are very much staying on those issues to try and make sure they're addressed, and, of course, it highlights so powerfully just how important access to school and early years provision is for our children and young people. Can I thank Siân Gwenllian for her contribution and for her support for the stance that the committee has taken around the...
Lynne Neagle: ...that for some children and young people, this has been a really isolating experience. They've missed their friends, they've missed their families, and they've missed vital milestones like exams, school leavers' celebrations, proms, to name just a few. We noted our disappointment that the Welsh Government's preferred option of taking an earlier school summer holiday and returning in August...
Lynne Neagle: ...collateral damage during the pandemic.' Those were the words of Dr David Tuthill of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health when he gave evidence to the Children, Young People and Education Committee recently. As a committee, we recognise that children and young people currently appear to be less susceptible to the virus than adults, but there is no doubt that the wider effects...
Lynne Neagle: ...safe by working from home. It is vital that the budget recognises that, and I wholeheartedly endorse Mike Hedges's comment—there is no more important strategic investment we can make than in the education of our young people. Has there ever been a time when that investment for our young people has been more important when the future looks so bleak? And just finally, then, in terms of...
Lynne Neagle: ...to date, and I'm certainly looking forward to the committee undertaking the Stage 1 scrutiny of this Bill. I do want to give a very, very warm welcome to the publication of the guidance on a whole-school approach to mental health, which was published today. As the Minister knows, I've been very involved in the development of that guidance through the ministerial task and finish group and...
Lynne Neagle: ...recognise that we have a very long way to go in Wales in delivering parity between mental and physical health. There have been two landmark reports in this Assembly: the Children, Young People and Education Committee's 'Mind over matter' report on children's mental health, and the health committee's 'Everybody's Business' report on suicide prevention. The loss of life to suicide remains a...
Lynne Neagle: Jenny Rathbone makes a very important point about children's right to an education, which is enshrined not just in the UNCRC, but in our own children's rights Measure. I know, Minister, that you've met with the UNCRC monitoring group during the pandemic, and one of the concerns I've had is that, whenever I've tabled questions asking how children's rights are being considered in the decisions...
Lynne Neagle: Minister, I'd like to place on record my personal thanks to you for the absolutely phenomenal effort you have made to maximise children's time in school this summer and, crucially, for putting children first through all of this. Garnteg school in my constituency have been truly outstanding in lockdown, but we know that the variation in what children have been receiving across Wales has been...
Lynne Neagle: ...of women who are under pressure to return to work although they have responsibilities for caring for children. Of course, that is very challenging, as we are not likely to see children back in schools on a normal basis for quite some time. What can the Government do to send a very clear message to employers in Wales that they need to be compassionate with working parents during this period...
