Bethan Sayed: ...fond memories of my last national youth orchestra course. As such, I am passionate about ensuring that every child in Wales has the opportunity to seize what was such a valuable part of my own education. The time has come to not paper over the cracks, but to come up with radical solutions in the face of continuous and prolonged cuts to these services, with Wrexham being the latest in a...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much. I’m very pleased to open this debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee’s report, 'Hitting the Right Note', on funding for and access to music education. No matter what our backgrounds, our professions or our allegiances, I’m sure that, at some point, we've all drawn great satisfaction and pride from our country’s status as the land of...
Bethan Sayed: In an interview with the BBC in December 2016, Dr Owain Arwel Hughes, founder of the Welsh Proms, and a former conductor at the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, explained that cuts to school music services, and a consequent lack of tuition opportunities, were causing what he described as a crisis in Welsh music education. Dr Hughes's concerns were also reflected in the committee's public...
Bethan Sayed: ...to that meeting to meet with me because they were telling me about the fact that their children are wanting to go to Gower College Swansea in the new term, but because they can't get access to the education maintenance allowance, and they can't afford the transport there, they're potentially going to be disenfranchised from actually getting an education because of the fact that they can't...
Bethan Sayed: ...grant and the funding entwined with that that is delivering on those attainment levels, as opposed to something else that may be coming through from another place in terms of themes in the educational workforce planning?
Bethan Sayed: ..., who will only eat that food in their everyday lives? The thing I wanted to finish on was this: I was shocked the other day, again visiting a family, who said that her children were refused a school uniform grant because they weren't Syrian refugees. Allegedly there's no two-tier system, but if her children who are from a different country are deemed not as important as Syrian refugees,...
Bethan Sayed: ...Last year, in a debate on this subject, I drew attention to the fact that there simply wasn't enough progress being made in terms of implementing proper and consistent guidance for authorities and schools on recognising and providing support for young carers. I think it's fair to say that guidance and training are still ad hoc, with some places doing far better than others, as with access...
Bethan Sayed: ...of the solution to homelessness here in Wales. I think that housing first is a wonderful concept, but we have to get buy-in, not only from the housing sector, but from health, social services and education, so that we can make housing first work. I would urge the Minister to make sure that if this is going to be the future of housing and homelessness prevention here in Wales, we have to be...
Bethan Sayed: ...'ve considered this, particularly when it comes to people renewing a contract who will not see as much benefit in this legislation as those who move frequently? I just wanted to finish on financial education. I noticed from the beginning of the explanatory memorandum about affordability and about people having to take on loans, and I recognise we are trying to take something away in terms...
Bethan Sayed: I would be interested in hearing about the pilot that you mentioned in answering Lee Waters, because I’ve been asking, over a number of years, about work in schools in the context of self-confidence, given the work that I’m doing on the cross-party group on eating disorders. On that basis, I’d like to ask you what work you have been doing with the health Minister on the eating disorders...
Bethan Sayed: ...the Welsh Government was doing. Without those targets, that simply isn't possible. Congratulations too to Gwynedd Council who have tried to do away with zero-hours contracts and have restored the school uniform grant in Gwynedd. It's important that we speak about what's happening positively at a local authority level.
Bethan Sayed: Llyr Huws Gruffydd talked of deficient communication skills that emerge in the education system if people don't get the same opportunities, with 60 per cent of young people in the justice system having communication problems. That's why we as a party say that we need the powers here in Wales, in order to deal with that situation. In the context of childcare, we've heard again on the...
Bethan Sayed: ...I was the girlfriend of somebody who was being charged that day. I think that's where it hit home, because I really wasn't very happy or comfortable with the fact that a lot of my peers in my school age group were in that particular predicament in their lives. And they shouldn't have been in the criminal justice system, but they just hadn't been supported throughout their lives, because...
Bethan Sayed: ...too well the effects of child poverty in Wales. We know that a child who grows up in a poor household is far less likely than peers in higher or middle-income households to reach the same level of educational attainment. We know that a child in poverty is more likely to develop mental health issues, along with wider health problems. The biggest effect of child poverty, though, is the...
Bethan Sayed: ...currently struggling for funding, such as health boards. The child poverty strategy—scrapped, so you can avoid having to take any responsibility for failing to achieve the goals. We've even seen school uniform grants scrapped and moved, which could seriously undermine the Supporting People grant. The Independent, in March, branded Wales 'poverty stricken', with 700,000 people in...
Bethan Sayed: I appreciate what you say about the creative learning in schools programme, but what we heard from evidence in our committee was that it had no link whatsoever with the music services and that, in fact, they weren't able to bid for any part of that scheme. So, I was wondering, in future, would you be able to look at amending how that works so that it could be something that the music...
Bethan Sayed: Obviously, as Rhianon has outlined, we have a report being announced soon on music in education, so I would want to keep my powder dry on that, but I do know that it has been a productive piece of work and something that the public have been entirely engaged in because this is a really important topic. I don't need to tell AMs here my passion for this, being a viola player myself, my brother...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that reply. I have raised this issue with you here before with regard to the proposal to close Cymer Afan Comprehensive School in my region, and I heard you earlier speak about the choice of active travel for learners. But in this instance, if Cymer Afan is closed and they are expected to travel nearly 10 miles to either Cimla or Margam, it may mean that they do not have that...
Bethan Sayed: 8. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government's position on school mergers and closures? OAQ52023
Bethan Sayed: ...for example, the lack of consultation that happened when Wales and West Housing took over Tai Cantref. And we've seen something similar is happening with regard to the recategorisation of further education colleges, where, for example, Denbigh college is closing with no consultation and massive disruption to the students—something only possible because of recategorisation.
