Jane Hutt: ...) Measure 2011. So, we're investing in disabled children's lives through our financial commitment. That's crucial in terms of resource—£21 million to deliver the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 in the Welsh Government budget for 2023. But, clearly, we've got to overcome barriers to learning so that disabled children can reach their full potential. The...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams. The Welsh Government is committed to achieving equity and inclusion in education. Our sustainable communities for learning programme promotes access for all. Schools and further education institutions supported through the programme must ensure their buildings allow access for disabled pupils, students, staff and visitors.
Jane Hutt: ...with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales and our UK Government Ministers on these issues, and the police as well. But I just want to say that people have mentioned training and education, high-quality appropriate teaching and learning. Relationships and sexuality education will of course play a very important role in this, and that's why the RSE mandatory requirement...
Jane Hutt: ...for that survivor being able to share her story and the story of her family, and her survival and the horrific impact that the Holocaust had on her life, but being able to share that as part of the education that we all need and that we're now embedding in our Lessons from Auschwitz project. I can, just finally, assure you that—with all of your commitments today—this is a commitment,...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Samuel Kurtz, and can I say how moving it is to learn more about our new Senedd Members? Thank you very much for the statement today, Samuel, because I mentioned the Holocaust Educational Trust earlier on. I know—it was since 2008 when I was the former education Minister, when we started that funding of the Holocaust Educational Trust—how important it has been to fund...
Jane Hutt: But, I think this is also about—and you mentioned the curriculum—the ways in which we are reaching out to our children and young people, because we funded the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. It's currently being delivered online, but there are seminars guided by experts and first-hand testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Those...
Jane Hutt: ..., Sioned Williams, and also can we thank you for those powerful accounts of those survivors and family members, and the importance of recognising that those stories must live and continue as they educate us—all of us—and so many have been touched by that? And those stories will be heard, of course, during the week: on Thursday, Eva Clarke, with the First Minister. There are still...
Jane Hutt: ...the appointment of the next Children's Commissioner for Wales. The cross-party appointment panel that I chaired unanimously agreed on the successful candidate, and the Children, Young People, and Education Committee, which held a public pre-appointment scrutiny hearing, saw no reason not to endorse the appointment. The First Minister has replied to the Welsh Conservatives, who have made a...
Jane Hutt: ...Memorial Day this year. In the run-up to the day, the trust has engaged with a diverse mix of organisations across Wales, including third sector organisations, businesses, places of worship, schools, student unions, museums and prisons. The trust has confirmed that some of the Welsh organisations taking part this year include the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru, African Community Centre...
Jane Hutt: ...to self-isolate, and nearly £29 million has been claimed to date. I just want to finally acknowledge that our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru has enabled us to commit to extending free school meals. It's been mentioned in this debate, but seeing an additional 196,000 primary school-aged children benefit from the offer of a free, healthy school meal, that's crucially important in...
Jane Hutt: .... There's £1.1 million for tackling food poverty, including £0.5 million to support foodbanks, meeting increased demand, and £657,000 to help establish a further 25 Big Bocs Bwyd projects in schools in the Valleys taskforce area.
Jane Hutt: ...living with hearing loss. We have to mainstream this clearly into health and social care, and not just health and social care but across Welsh Government in terms of access to housing, transport, education—across the board. There is a lot more that I could say tonight in terms of how we're moving this forward, but I would say the framework of action for 2017-20, the integrated framework...
Jane Hutt: ...a year ago, in the last year of the fifth Senedd, that we debated your motion for a Bill that would make a provision to encourage the use of British Sign Language in Wales and improve access to education and services in BSL, and I was pleased to respond to that debate. And, of course, last week, we've had other statements and debates.
Jane Hutt: ...being a key partner, we've supported over 350 Afghan individuals since August, since the evacuation. We have ensured that there’s a holistic assessment of the needs of new arrivals and access to education, healthcare, support in finding employment. But also, interestingly, we developed a peer support group for Afghan families who’ve settled in Wales already, and many will be in your...
Jane Hutt: ...the report you've just mentioned, 'Locked out: liberating disabled people’s lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19', and that was co-produced by Professor Debbie Foster of the Cardiff Business School and the steering group, who have worked together to ensure that we have a disability taskforce that's been established—I attended and co-chaired the first inaugural meeting in...
Jane Hutt: ..., on our young people and that generation, that we move forward. I've responded to the issues relating to the healthy behaviours of our young people, and we need to engage our young people and our schools, and the new curriculum will, of course, help us move forward on that front. But I think, in terms of the percentage of working-age adults qualified to level 3 or higher by 2050, this is...
Jane Hutt: ...much greater range of issues to help shift population dietary behaviours. Physical activity, of course, is crucially important to that. But it's about ensuring that we're having investment into our school holiday enrichment programme, into the street games that we've invested in, the community sport fund, and also looking at this from the young person's perspective, and that's why the...
Jane Hutt: ..., the responses that came from the third sector, for example—a large proportion were from the third sector, about a third of the responses, the public sector, as well as individuals, higher education, trade unions, a whole range of other stakeholders came forward to respond to the consultation. But I will say that, just in terms of the particular issues on the pay gap, this is very...
Jane Hutt: ...of this Government and we will measure long-term progress through the national milestones. Our national milestone focused on ensuring that at least 90 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds will be in education, employment or training by 2050 will measure the actions taken to support young people during a critical time in their lives. We know that periods of economic inactivity early in a person's...
Jane Hutt: ...people and improve outcomes for low-income households. Our support for the social wage, through initiatives such as the childcare offer, our council tax reduction scheme, the provision of free school meals—and I'll go on to that—have had the effect of leaving more money in the pockets of Welsh citizens. And I do join Luke Fletcher, who opened this debate so powerfully, and Members...
