Jeremy Miles: Over the past 18 months, the changes to normal working patterns and the disruption in school have been unprecedented. The education profession has responded to these challenges, showing an incredible level of flexibility and resilience and continuing to show excellent levels of professionalism. May I help Laura Jones with some confusion in her speech? It is entirely unacceptable that the UK...
Jeremy Miles: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. As I start, I'd like to put on record my profound thanks once again to the entire education workforce for their incredible efforts in supporting our young people through these challenging times. Every one of us here today knows the important role that teachers and other school and college staff play in supporting young people's well-being, but, to do that, we must also...
Jeremy Miles: Formally.
Jeremy Miles: I thank Jane Dodds for that set of questions and join with her in paying tribute to my predecessor and for her commitment to both curriculum reform and to the agenda of mental health of children and young people, which was a very committed and very considerable priority for her. I hope you will have heard in both the contributions that Lynne Neagle and I have made in the Chamber today how...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for those two important questions. I think providing sufficient capacity in the system to be able to provide training and develop the professional learning environment that is needed is obviously essential. Part of the investment that we've made, of course, over the recent period is to enhance capacity in our schools to be able to respond to some of the principal challenges...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Delyth Jewell for those questions on two very important areas. In terms of the first, and eco-anxiety, I've already acknowledged in the discussions that we've had how important it is to take this into account, and it's a core part of the work that we're already undertaking in our schools in order to ensure that eco-anxiety, as with a whole range of other anxieties, is part of our...
Jeremy Miles: Diolch to Laura Anne Jones for that wide range of questions. I'll try and do justice to the breadth and depth of the questions that she covered in her contribution. In relation, firstly, to the question of the recruitment of over 100 whole-time equivalent staff to support the work of the CAMHS in-reach pilots and other interventions, I think it is a challenge to meet that target in itself,...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. An important part of this is aligning how we access learning with modern patterns of living. Work is now beginning in earnest and I'll announce further details over coming weeks. To conclude, Dirprwy Lywydd, we in Wales have a proud record of supporting mental health and well-being. And working across the sector, with key partners, we will continue on our journey in...
Jeremy Miles: This is a long-term piece of work and I want to ensure that our work in schools is replicated across other public services and across communities. This is why we have ensured strong links between our whole-school approach framework and the Together for Children and Young People NEST/NYTH framework, which complements our whole-school framework by strengthening the response of our partners and...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Supporting the emotional and mental well-being of learners is essential if we are to support every young person to reach their full potential. We in Wales have acted at pace. In the current year alone, we have provided record levels of funding to support learners. This has resulted in an additional 24,000 counselling sessions, benefiting an additional 6,000...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I think I agree with the Member's point about how important it is to make sure schools are inspected regularly in order to provide us with information around school accountability more broadly. As she knows, in future, under the new curriculum, inspection will happen on a much more regular basis. At the moment, as she knows, Estyn has suspended its core inspection programme for this...
Jeremy Miles: Our national mission is to raise education standards for all children and young people. We will continue to do this through our wide-ranging reform programme and unprecedented investment, as well as targeted support for specific cohorts and disadvantaged and vulnerable learners.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for those two important questions. On the second point, I'll write to her specifically about that, if I may. On the first point, the renew and reform programme that I've just identified is specifically weighted to reflect the needs of additional learning needs pupils in schools, so the funding that follows that and the allocation to schools specifically reflect that and...
Jeremy Miles: Could I encourage the Member, perhaps to reflect on the terminology 'catch-up'? I'm not sure that's the best way of motivating our learners in the context of the year/18 months that most of them have had. I know that other parts of the UK have chosen that, but I think providing our learners with a more supportive way of describing the way we're trying to help them is probably ultimately going...
Jeremy Miles: The well-being and progression of our learners is my top priority. The renew and reform plan sets out how we will support those learners most affected by the pandemic. We've allocated over £160 million to this support this financial year—more spend per learner than anywhere in the UK.
Jeremy Miles: Well, just to echo the point that was being raised in the discussion earlier, certainly, we can make more of a contribution than we're currently making. That's why we've set the policy for ourselves of ensuring that we are moving towards net-zero-carbon schools, but that needs to be done in a way that is deliverable, and the pilots that we've launched—there's one in the Vale of Glamorgan,...
Jeremy Miles: I think that's a really important point, if I may say. On the first point, in relation to net-zero carbon, we are on the journey to making sure that all schools are, but we aren't, obviously, anywhere near the destination at this point. Our task as a Government is to make progress along that path as fast as possible. The role the pilots play in that is to help us work through some of the...
Jeremy Miles: The education sector has a fundamental role in supporting the Welsh Government's response to the climate emergency. I was discussing this in a meeting with other Members of the Cabinet and local authority leaders only this morning. That is why net-zero carbon is a key consideration under the twenty-first century schools and colleges programme investment, and why additional funding has already...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I share the Member's interest in ensuring that we increase the registration levels of 16 and 17-year-olds. It was some 43 per cent in that age group who registered, as compared to some 77 per cent of the population generally, so, certainly, we need to support our young people in registering to vote. There are two elements in terms of the work that I can do in ensuring that. Part of that...
Jeremy Miles: Supporting young people to exercise their democratic rights is a priority not just for education, but for the whole of Government. I'm discussing with the Counsel General ways we can work together to drive up registration of 16 and 17-year-olds.
