Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. The formula that underpins funding of schools, and in particular rural schools, is based on the sparsity element of the census of 1991. The special education formula was last reviewed in 2006 and the primary and secondary school formula was last updated in 2003, First Minister. By any stretch of the imagination, those are dates that have long since...
Andrew RT Davies: 8. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government policy for supporting rural schools in South Wales Central? OAQ52019
Andrew RT Davies: ...issue. I might be mistaken, but I don't think that this type of exercise on such a political issue has been undertaken by the Welsh Government before amongst such a cohort of children in our schools. It is important that young people's voices are heard, but it is also important to understand how the Welsh Government will initiate the consultation and will work with schools to make sure...
Andrew RT Davies: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government engagement with local education authorities in Wales?
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. This is an area I've taken a special interest in, because I think one of the most rewarding periods I had was the 13 years that I was a primary school governor. But, regrettably, in that time, I did become aware of many vacancies that did exist at that time and I have to say, in the evidence that I've seen gathered here via written questions, et...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, Jo Johnson made an announcement on the weekend about some of the changes that he was making to university courses and the availability of two-year courses in the English higher education system. Obviously, student finance and the amount of debt that students take on is of grave concern to many students when considering their options. Have you made any assessment of the...
Andrew RT Davies: 8. What is the Cabinet Secretary doing to promote school governorships and the filling of vacant governor posts within the education system in Wales? OAQ51469
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, I listened carefully to your answer to the principal question, and you touched on education and the importance of educating people about the dangers of drugs and, in particular, personal responsibility. What is your assessment of the advice that is available to help young people, in particular, via the education system, to be able to understand the risks associated with...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, you've been in position now for some 18 months. What is your assessment of the capacity within the education system for teachers and teaching assistants to be able to take on the training that they require for continuous professional development and in particular to raise standards? There is one thing bringing your policy document forward and allocating resource to that,...
Andrew RT Davies: ...entering GCSE students for the sciences, and then stand there and try to defend it. I want to have confidence, First Minister, that we will see improvement. I want to see improvement in the Welsh education system. We all want to see that. But we had in the last GCSEs the worst results for 10 years. We’ve got the PISA examinations coming forward now in 2018. I asked you in the first...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, that was a pathetic answer. On your watch—[Interruption.] On your watch—[Interruption.] On your watch, we have had secondary schools in Wales—. And these aren’t my comments, because we can’t get the data—we’ve applied to the Welsh Government to have the data that the Cabinet Secretary based her speech on. Here’s the speech—. The speech is here; it’s her...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, recently the Cabinet Secretary for Education delivered a speech that highlighted that there were secondary schools in Wales that until recently had not been entering a single pupil for a GCSE science exam—not a single pupil in secondary schools in Wales. Also, there had been a tendency for many schools to enter pupils for the easier BTEC...
Andrew RT Davies: ...document that the Welsh Government brought forward last week, ‘Prosperity for All’, which the First Minister introduced as a statement in the National Assembly here. And, obviously, we had the education tranche statement yesterday to put a bit more meat on the bones of the original statement. And the document obviously tries to encapsulate what the Welsh Government will be seeking to...
Andrew RT Davies: ..., for the statement that you’ve presented this afternoon. I think I said on your appointment as Cabinet Secretary I wished you well. You have a very important job. Children go through our education system, or students go through our education system once. They get one chance at it and it is vital they have the best environment possible to learn and thrive in that environment. But the...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, when you were giving your evidence to committee some months ago, and then the education Secretary came in just after you, there seemed to be a little bit of confusion as to exactly how the money would flow around the system to provide this provision when it is universally rolled out from the pilot scheme. How are you taking this across Government because, from my understanding of...
Andrew RT Davies: ...chapter of the document that he launched today, and the third part of four that he has addressed in his statement talks of, on page 15: ‘Still, there is too much variation in the attainment of school leavers’. I see the Cabinet Secretary for Education agreeing with that and shaking her head in agreement. This is coming from a Government that has been responsible for education for 18...
Andrew RT Davies: ...it is fair to say that many of the Valleys communities can say that, in some instances, they might well have heard all this before, but actually, if you look at economic activity, if you look at education standards, and many of the key indicators, sadly, we haven’t seen the improvements we would all wish to see. Above all, it’s about—in the next five, 10, 15 years—building that...
Andrew RT Davies: ...note that the First Minister, in his statement, talked of using existing childcare services. I’ve sat on the children and young people committee’s scrutiny sessions of both Ministers here—the education Minister and the communities Minister, and the communities Minister has direct responsibility for delivering this—and there does seem to be a difference of opinion as to exactly how...
Andrew RT Davies: ...and breadth of Wales. Frankly, that economic activity would just cease to exist unless that ability to move around was safeguarded and some sort of facility enabled. If you look at the higher education sector in particular, it is vital that the gains that we have made over the last 20 to 30 years in the field of research, to be at the forefront of many areas of research, are protected as...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could we have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Education in light of the comments from the First Minister that seem to have reinstated the PISA target for 2021, after her assertion in the Children, Young People and Education Committee meeting last Thursday? I do think it is vitally important that everyone with an interest in education does know who is running...
