Mark Isherwood: ...about integration you mean assimilation. We have to explain to people that integration is not assimilation. We have to respect the law and culture of the land.' She added, 'What we need to do is educate people and say, "We're all human beings, we're friendly and we should try to understand each other's cultures." When they learn about other cultures, then they will possibly become...
Mark Isherwood: ...society in Wales in the twenty-first century, and to achieving this by promoting an understanding of, and respect for, this country's diverse cultures, through cultural engagement and interaction, education and training, organising cultural performances in music, dance and other art forms, as well as activities including speaker sessions and workshops. In south Wales, Cwmbran-based KIRAN...
Mark Isherwood: ...2003 the UK Government and in 2004, this place, the Assembly recognised British Sign Language as a language in its own right. But 16 years later, we've made little progress in some areas, and our education as a whole, a generation later, is still failing our deaf young people. It has to stop, and we have to do something about it. Given all these areas, the progress achieved, the good news,...
Mark Isherwood: Welsh Women's Aid believes that schools need to be equipped with the resources they need to properly publicise the benefits of the new RSE curriculum—relationships and sexuality education—in order to ensure and protect children's rights. How do you respond to the reinforcement by Welsh Women's Aid of the need for a designated and trained RSE lead practitioner to develop and deliver the...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. On 6 February, we debated the Deffo! Wales Deaf Youth Forum petition asking for deaf young people to have better access to education, qualified staff to work with, and help to develop the skills of deaf young people using British Sign Language. Deffo! is concerned that, in your subsequent response to a letter you were forwarded from them, you stated that none of the £289,000 extra...
Mark Isherwood: 3. How is the Welsh Government supporting pupils using British Sign Language in schools? OAQ53779
Mark Isherwood: ...funding between England and Wales, claiming that councils there are worse off. However, as local government funding policy has diverged significantly since devolution, including direct funding for schools and business rates retention in England, it is completely impossible to make this comparison. Their default position is always to blame everything on the UK Government and to conveniently...
Mark Isherwood: My casework is full of families in crisis because children's communication, social, sensory and processing needs have not been understood, not been identified. I've got children who've not been in school for months, even years, without alternative provision being put in place. I've got a girl of 11, who the council is insisting has a male taxi driver. Because of her autism, she cannot have a...
Mark Isherwood: ...benefits, and this makes it less likely for claimants to access local authorities benefits they might be entitled to, such as discretionary housing payments or council tax reduction or free school meals? They call on the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities to work with Jobcentre Plus in Wales to co-locate services and enable applications for local authority benefits to be made at...
Mark Isherwood: Deffo! Wales Deaf Youth Forum submitted this petition to improve access to education and services in British Sign Language, or BSL: improving access for families to learn BSL; adding BSL on to the national curriculum; improving access to education in BSL for children and young people; and providing better access to services in BSL, such as health, education, social care and public transport....
Mark Isherwood: ...by the top 10 per cent of taxpayers. In Wales, the top 10 per cent are only contributing 44 per cent because there's so far fewer of them. Let us remember the research in 2016 by Cardiff Business School, which said that reducing the higher rate of income tax in Wales would raise additional revenue by attracting high earners. Let us remember that the Welsh Government itself has admitted...
Mark Isherwood: ...young man—they don't see the struggle these kids go through every day to survive in a neurotypical world.' Typical of many, a mother told me that her 13-year-old daughter had been out of education for four years due to lack of knowledge and understanding of autism. Another told me that her autistic daughter is 240 miles away in a mental health hospital as a result of years of anxiety...
Mark Isherwood: Whether delivering preventative services, driving forward the local economy, providing education, social care and leisure centres or collecting bins, resilient local government is essential. The Welsh Local Government Association described the initial local government settlement as, quote: 'a deeply disappointing outcome for councils across Wales with the gravest implications for...services'....
Mark Isherwood: ...to go forward on this matter itself? Similarly, during recess, there was news from the UK Government that cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid training are to be included as part of the school curriculum in England. Could I call therefore for a statement from the Welsh Government in that context where, in February 2017, our colleague Suzy Davies held a debate to propose that all...
Mark Isherwood: ...wage plus 15 per cent for cleaning and contract staff in 2006. Six years ago today, the Assembly formally announced that it had become an accredited living wage employer. The Cardiff Business School report 'The Living Wage Employer Experience' notes that the living wage has influenced UK Government policy, quote, 'most notably with the 2015 announcement of the national living wage' and...
Mark Isherwood: ...its first special envoy on gender equality last year, who works to promote gender equality at an international level, including action to target sexual violence in conflict and unequal access to education. Last month, the UK hosted a historic conference for female parliamentarians from around the world. The UK Government works with like-minded partners at home and abroad to promote...
Mark Isherwood: ...spends the money it has to spend, rather than simply the amount. She pointed out that, yes, they do get 20 per cent, currently, more per person to spend than in England, and yet spend less on school pupils, that 45 education institutions are in special measures, the bureaucratic approach to raising standards, and referred to the sinking ship that is Labour Wales. Michelle Brown referred to...
Mark Isherwood: ...funding between England and Wales, claiming that councils there are worse off. But local government funding policy has diverged significantly since devolution: for example, direct funding for schools in England, not Wales, and business rates retention there, not here. It's impossible to make the percentage comparisons he keeps making. We also know that there is an overly bureaucratic,...
Mark Isherwood: You refer to healthy relationships education for children and young people, preventing them from becoming victims or perpetrators, and the introduction of relationships and sexuality education in schools from 2022, but schools not having to wait until the formal roll-out if they feel sufficiently equipped before then to do this. When I questioned you on this recently in the Equality, Local...
Mark Isherwood: ...and address the physical, psychological and social needs of people in that community, including those on the streets, as a best practice model? You refer to account executives for secondary schools and working with Careers Wales. Again, how will that address the concern that was raised when Careers Wales was no longer able to facilitate pupils in schools going into the workplaces for...
