Mark Isherwood: 2. Will the Welsh Government make a statement on the effectiveness of the free-school-meals initiative for pupils in Wales? OAQ54750
Mark Isherwood: ...district nurses and community paediatric nurses. Health boards need to ensure there is comprehensive out-of-hours coverage across the whole of Wales. Hospices and palliative care providers should educate colleagues in health and social care about the range of services available—they want to. And the funding formula should be based on current population need, which will require...
Mark Isherwood: ...election within their local authorities, how will you manage issues around conflict of interest that could arise in such circumstances? What consideration have you given to the potential cost of an educational programme to inform local people of any potential changes to electoral systems used by local authorities within your regulatory impact assessment?
Mark Isherwood: ...fulfilling their obligations'. In the absence of the specific officers and roles existing in other parts of the UK, how will the Welsh Government address that specific concern? You referred to education and the pupil level annual school census. The Welsh Government said it's committed to changing the pupil level annual school census to include a question on service children. Can you...
Mark Isherwood: ..., requiring changes to the environment, as well as attitudinal and behavioural changes. And yet, every day, I'm having to write, currently, casework relating to child safeguarding, access to education, exclusions from schools and colleges, access to care and support from social services and access to health services in Wales, and having to repeat the content of this legislation to the same...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. The report refers to a number of matters. We heard reference to substance misuse, homelessness, perhaps education and health as well, which relate to devolved services. You've also made reference to a number of non-devolved matters, such as probation services, but we know that they're being reintegrated with the prison system, and the proposals of the UK Government recognise...
Mark Isherwood: That was 2007. As the young people in north Wales told us then, mediation and early intervention are needed at an earlier stage—we need to go into schools and work with families before people become homeless. Several voluntary organisations, including Shelter Cymru, expressed concern then that many homeless or potentially homeless people were not being included in the homeless statistics....
Mark Isherwood: ...specific action can you take with your colleagues—because this is a cross-departmental issue—to recognise the essential need for speech and language therapy for a wide range of children in the school environment, also recognising Welsh data on the economic value of speech and language therapy, that every £1 invested in enhanced speech and language therapy generates £6.43 through...
Mark Isherwood: Can I call for a single statement on children educated at home? If a child is arrested they cannot be forced to give evidence. So, where a child is at serious risk of harm, a court order is required if the parent declines to consent to the child being interviewed. However, a concern's been raised with me that the Welsh Government's draft statutory guidance for local authorities on home...
Mark Isherwood: Well, we heard that 40 schools in Wales are currently on nurtureuk's national nurturing schools programme, building a whole-school nurturing approach, but also, according to nurtureuk research, in 2015, there were 144 schools in Wales with some form of nurture provision, an increase on 101 from 2007. On the work of schools in north Wales, in particular we heard reference from Jack to Ysgol...
Mark Isherwood: ...and confused that women and girls do not fit the criteria generally used for boys and men, and that many autistic parents of autistic children are seriously disadvantaged when dealing with education, social services and child and adolescent mental health services, because the IAS does not provide direct work with children. And, as a charity supporting children and young people on the...
Mark Isherwood: ...monitoring system, by clarifying future funding arrangements, and by delivering the priorities of action outlined in the refreshed autistic spectrum disorder strategic action plan, including education and employment opportunities. As the Trades Union Congress's recently published toolkit, 'Autism awareness in the workplace' highlights, autistic employees can bring huge benefits to the...
Mark Isherwood: ...by the Welsh Government, was published at the end of March. This said that, 'whilst the IAS can work with parents and carers it cannot work directly with children', with consequent reliance upon education services to provide support following diagnosis, but, quote, ‘there are continuing weaknesses in education provision for children with autism’ and 'also concerns that this means...
Mark Isherwood: ...in Wales is expected to double to 222,000 by 2050 and sight loss and blindness affect independence and mobility, including the risk of falls, of injury, mental health, cognition, employment and educational attainment. It's therefore imperative that the Welsh Government and local health boards are robustly held to account over failure to meet eye care waiting time targets and the...
Mark Isherwood: 10. How is the Welsh Government supporting pupils with additional learning needs into post-16 education? OAQ54153
Mark Isherwood: ...such as these combine to provide the foundational legends of our land. The history of Wales and the history of the Britons are therefore intertwined and inseparable, and should be taught to every school pupil in Wales on this basis.
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. Last August, a landmark court ruling in a school exclusion case made it clear for the first time that all schools must make sure they have made appropriate adjustments for autistic children or those with other disabilities 'before they can resort to exclusion'. I've recently in the last two weeks received a letter from a constituent, a father with whom I've been working for some...
Mark Isherwood: 6. How is the Welsh Government supporting pupils excluded from school? OAQ53939
Mark Isherwood: ...following release from prison. It also confirms, as we know, that the Welsh Government has legislative competence in respect of devolved matters, including health, housing, social welfare and education, and this presents a different delivery landscape for probation services in Wales. How, therefore, does the Deputy Minister respond to the statement by the Ministry of Justice in this...
Mark Isherwood: ...to a higher figure of 29,000 providing care of an hour or more. The Carers Trust 'Time to be Heard Wales' research referred to found that young adult carers miss or cut short an average of 48 school days a year because of their caring role. They were four times more likely to drop out of college or university than students who were not caring. They rarely receive the assessment of their...
