Darren Millar: I'm sure that you, like everybody else in this Chamber, were shocked at the revelations that appeared in the media last week regarding the payment of a sum of at least £10,000 to Sir Clive Woodward for an hour-long talk at an event, and found those rather remarkable, especially given the current financial climate that many schools find themselves in, having to in some cases, unfortunately,...
Darren Millar: One of the accident black spots that there has been in my constituency in recent years has been on the A494 trunk road, particularly in the area between Loggerheads and the Clwyd Gate area near Llanbedr DC. I was very grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for making his officials available for a site meeting along that stretch of the road in late October, and also for the follow-up correspondence...
Darren Millar: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on highway safety on the trunk road network in north Wales? OAQ51310
Darren Millar: 3. Further to reports of spending on celebrity speakers by GwE, will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on accountability arrangements for regional education consortia in Wales? 66
Darren Millar: Yes, I move.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: I'm disappointed by the Government's response. It's very clear that there are times when case friends of children and young people are not parents, and there are also times when the views of parents will conflict sometimes with the views of a case friend, who may have significant influence over a child. And I think, because of that tension, potentially, in the system, it's really important,...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. The purpose of amendments 17 and 18 is to amend section 65 of the Bill to ensure that the parents of a child or young person with additional learning needs will always have the opportunity to access independent advocacy services. These amendments give effect to recommendation 26 in the Stage 1 committee report, which suggested that the Bill be amended to ensure that local...
Darren Millar: Can I also speak in support of the amendments that have been tabled by Llyr Gruffydd? We did have a Bill that was quite short, actually, in terms of the aspirations of everybody in terms of the Welsh language provisions in it at the outset, but through collaboration with the previous portfolio holder and the current Cabinet Secretary, I think there is a set of amendments here that will go...
Darren Millar: I just want to extend my support for these amendments and also to thank the previous portfolio holder for the opportunity that he gave opposition Members to engage in shaping all of the amendments in relation to the Welsh language in this group and other groups when he appeared before the committee at Stage 2. These are very welcome amendments indeed, and it is absolutely essential, of...
Darren Millar: I have to say I was surprised by these amendments coming forward at Stage 3, because there was nobody calling for an exclusion—there was nobody calling, at all, in any of the evidence that we received, for learners undertaking higher education courses in further education colleges to be excluded from the new additional learning needs support system. Now, as far as I'm concerned—and the...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank Llyr Gruffydd for his support and just say how disappointed I am with the Government's response? I do appreciate that you can use contractual levers to secure changes in the way that services are delivered, but you have the representative body of work-based learning providers—many of them private sector providers, some third sector providers, others public...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. I move amendment 16 and also want to speak to amendments 22, 23 and 24, all of which have been tabled in my name. The substantive amendment in this group is amendment 16, and it seeks to provide for an Order-making power to enable Welsh Ministers to extend the scope of the new additional learning needs system to providers of work-based learning being funded by the Welsh...
Darren Millar: Formally.
Darren Millar: I'm very grateful for the Cabinet Secretary's remarks. I think it is important that this issue is addressed and that's why I've been prepared to work with the Government to do so in a way which allows for further consideration of the matter through more scrutiny, if you like, to ensure that these important issues are addressed. I very much hope the Members will support the amendments.
