Lynne Neagle: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide a statement on the provision of education to children and young people in Gwent who have a sensory impairment? OAQ52950
Lynne Neagle: ...revised written response to our recommendations by March next year. We will be keeping a focused eye on the Government's action in this area. The issue of the lack of suitable textbooks and other educational resources had been highlighted to the committee as a concern by those across the sector and most importantly by school pupils themselves. The provision of appropriate resources for...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm very pleased to be able to make this statement today, on behalf of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, to recognise the importance of the UN Universal Children's Day. The United Nations Universal Children's Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children...
Lynne Neagle: ...around the parity of esteem issues that you rightly highlighted. Jenny Rathbone highlighted some of the concerns that arise because of large numbers of change in the numbers of kids in school, and that was something that we picked up in our report. We had hoped that the Welsh Government would accept that recommendation, but we hope that that will be kept under review, and I think it's...
Lynne Neagle: The Welsh Government has also committed to closely monitoring the impact of the PDG and ensuring value for money, which we welcome. Estyn told the committee that two thirds of schools were using the grant effectively. Both Estyn and the Cabinet Secretary indicated that this was to be expected as it reflects the proportion of schools with good or better leadership. However, the committee...
Lynne Neagle: Diolch, Llywydd. I’m very pleased to open this debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s inquiry on targeted funding to improve educational outcomes and our report, 'On the money?', which we published in June. The aim of our inquiry was to focus on whether Welsh Government's work on using a targeted approach to support disadvantaged pupils to reach their full...
Lynne Neagle: ...calls for greater levels of psychological and emotional support, and the creation of two dedicated recurrent pregnancy loss clinics in Wales. The committee I chair, the Children, Young People and Education Committee, heard about the lack of psychological support for neonatal and bereaved parents in its recent inquiry into perinatal mental health. Public Health Wales told us that the...
Lynne Neagle: ...that you're going to be consulting on statutory guidance, because, as you know, the existing policy document is actually very good and places a lot of emphasis on generic uniform. But most schools, I would contend, are not actually following that guidance as they should be, and I'm sure you'll have seen the coverage earlier this month of children being kept in a hall for not being in...
Lynne Neagle: ...significant concerns were expressed that restricting the Bill to this group only could increase inequality between the children of non-working and working parents, particularly in relation to the school readiness gap and educational attainment. To mitigate the impact on some of Wales’s poorest families, we recommended the Minister extend the Bill’s provisions beyond working parents,...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to contribute to this Stage 1 debate to outline the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s main conclusions and recommendations in relation to the childcare funding Bill. You will see from our report that seven of our eight members support the general principles of this Bill. As you've heard, Llyr Gruffydd did not support the Bill...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you. I was pleased and relieved that the Cabinet Secretary has confirmed the replacement for the school uniform grant, and that this is an enhanced scheme that will provide help to more families. I was also delighted that Torfaen council, in recognition of the need to get the money out to families quickly, in readiness for the new school term in September, is not going through an...
Lynne Neagle: ...model for it in our Dementia Friends training. It's also vital to remember that there is really good practice out there in terms of things like inter-generational work. I had Griffithstown Primary School visit the cross-party group on dementia the other day, who spoke in such fantastic terms about the work they are doing with people living with dementia, which brings not just...
Lynne Neagle: ...national priority. But words alone will not do. They need to be underpinned by the planning, resource and commitment to deliver real change. We think that ring-fenced resource is needed to make schools hubs of cross-sector and cross-professional support for emotional and mental well-being based in our communities. We also think that those who work with children and young people should be...
Lynne Neagle: ...Officer. I usually begin by saying I’m pleased to open this debate, but, today, I’m more than pleased; I’m proud and privileged to address this Chamber on the Children, Young People and Education Committee's 'Mind over matter' report. For me, the emotional and mental health of our children and young people is one of the most important issues, if not the most important issue, for us...
Lynne Neagle: ...was a collaboration between NSPCC, the National Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation. This publication, of course, followed the publication of the Children, Young People and Education Committee's report on perinatal mental health. As you'll be aware, one of our key recommendations was that mother and baby provision should be established in south Wales, and provision...
Lynne Neagle: ..., the petition was tabled after Torfaen council had rejected the application to opencast mine at Varteg Hill. That application was to opencast just metres from residents' homes and a local primary school. I absolutely think that Torfaen council did the right thing. They looked at the MTAN and they saw that there was a buffer zone there, and on that basis, they rejected the application. It...
Lynne Neagle: ...we will be going into, that will be more transparent and that we will be able to better scrutinise those decisions. I hope, too, that our inquiry will make a big difference, because investment in education is investment in the life chances of our young people, and there is nothing more important than that.
Lynne Neagle: ..., I have to say that I don't recognise this largesse that you've described from the Westminster Government, and I also think it's very difficult now to make comparisons between England and Wales on school funding, and that is one of the issues behind why I think this inquiry is so important. We do have to get to the bottom of exactly what is being spent, how much is going into the RSG, how...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to make a brief contribution to this debate. As Members will appreciate, the Children, Young People and Education Committee has taken a very keen interest in funding issues since the time we were established. One of our earliest inquiries was into the decision to amalgamate the funding of the previously ring-fenced grants for minority ethnic...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to open this debate today on the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s report on the outreach elements of the Flying Start programme. Flying Start was introduced 11 years ago and is regarded as one of the Welsh Government’s flagship early years programmes. It is delivered by local authorities within defined geographical...
