Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...expansion—they’d signed an agreement to say that they wanted to see an expansion in Welsh-medium provision. The Welsh Government has provided 100 per cent of the capital funding to open a new school, but it looks likely that they are trying to pull back from that situation. I’m aware that the Minister for Education has already spoken with the person responsible for education in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...capital funding; £2.5 million has gone in to increase the capacity in Ysgol Gymraeg y Ffin in Caldicot. What’s clear, in terms of revenue, is that if these children don’t receive their education through the medium of English, then the money will be spent on Welsh-medium edcuation. So, in terms of revenue, there shouldn’t be any difference in terms of where they are and what...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I hope, with a wide range of partners, to promote the Welsh language in Monmouthshire. The Welsh Government has provided additional investment of £2.5 million through the Welsh-medium education and childcare capital programmes to expand provision in the local authority.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: .... What's interesting is that aim of reaching that target is something that has been recognised by the council on the local level, and the fact that they will be establishing a fourth Welsh-medium school in the area is an acknowledgement, I think, that there is a need to step forward. So, currently, about 6 per cent of children in year 7 from the area attend Welsh-medium schools. In 10...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, John. I'm pleased the south-east has benefited from capital funding to expand Welsh-medium education and childcare provision that are provided in the area. This, of course, will nurture new Welsh speakers. And also, through the Urdd apprenticeship schemes, 35 young people are working in the Valleys taskforce areas to support Welsh language opportunities for children and...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: It is a challenge to recruit teachers across the world currently, and I have been working very closely with the education Minister to ensure that we look at how we can help to attract more people into following a Welsh teaching course, and a lot of money has been going into it. For example, we have provided an additional £150,000 to ensure that more people undertake Welsh A-level because we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...same aims as that process. So, the task of the 2050 project will be to co-ordinate the work of planning on our journey towards 1 million Welsh speakers, from the early years, through Welsh-medium education in the statutory sector, through to post-16, and Welsh for adults. We will also double the use of the Welsh language by creating new projects and evaluating current projects. And,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...matter, and, of course, local government is under financial pressure. We understand that, but what we don’t want to see is that it becomes more difficult for people to receive their sixth-form education or their tertiary education through the medium of Welsh. We don’t want to make it more difficult for them. That could potentially happen at present, and that is why we are trying to see...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...question for the Permanent Secretary, and I would assume that the answer is that if you want to progress, it makes sense to progress when you know that more children will be coming out of the Welsh schools. So, this is a long-term strategy, and, therefore, it will be easier to recruit people as we move forward, because education in Wales and the number of people coming out of the schools...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...to include targets, and I’m sure that you would agree that it’s really difficult to put targets in when we’re in such a different situation. Just to give you an example—you mentioned higher education. Well, of course, the fact that the Prime Minister said last week, ‘Right, people can stay for two years after they graduate’, that will then attract more students. So, things are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...promote the Welsh language in those areas and to try and engender more interest from local people. What’s also important is that there is progression or continuity, that people go from primary school on to the secondary schools, and that has been a problem in the past—particularly in your area, I’m afraid. But, of course, we’re not just talking about schools; there are other things...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: When local authorities are developing their Welsh in education strategic plans, they do have to be cognisant of the transport issues in relation to how those children get to school. There is, of course, a statutory requirement for them to provide that to Welsh-speaking schools under the age of 16. There is an issue for those over 18, and this is where the issue comes in, because it is not a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, we are spending quite a lot of time at present trying to ensure that we improve the situation. I have had another meeting this morning with the Minister responsible for education, and both of us have written to the Minister with responsibility for transport, and so there is an effort being made to ensure that we are able to come to a different place as regards this problem. There will...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Young people are at the heart of Cymraeg 2050. We’re working with schools and FE colleagues to increase opportunities for young people to use Welsh. Of course, we've also expanded the role of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, but we also acknowledge that there is a need for us to do more.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...Now, a lot of the things that we’re doing include those things in the early years. We’ve increased the number of cylchoedd meithrin to start those children on the journey towards a Welsh-medium education, and there are 12 cylchoedd meithrin that have been established in the first year of the programme to increase the number of these groups, and more will open this year. In terms of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...can go on to teach through the medium of Welsh, where that’s possible. We’ve seen that there’s a relationship between the people who study Welsh at A-level and those who go into Welsh-medium education, and we’re trying to encourage more of them. We’ve put £150,000 towards trying to encourage children of the right age to choose A-level Welsh as a subject, so we hope that will...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Since launching Cymraeg 2050, we've been focusing on laying firm foundations, for example, through planning, education and ICT. We're also ensuring that the Welsh language is an important part of all policy areas across Government, as well as looking at strengthening language planning functions in our institution.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...Welsh agriculture, produce and innovation. The visit included a productive bilateral meeting with the First Minister to discuss opportunities for further collaboration across business, culture and education.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, we have actually increased funding very, very significantly to make sure that there is an opportunity for people to access Welsh language education at the earliest opportunity. That includes meithrin. So, they've had £1 million to expand, and I'm pleased to say that in the past year Rhondda Cynon Taf has actually had £2.7 million specifically to help develop Welsh language meithrin...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Of course, this is something that’s very important for the Government. This is a question for the education Minister, in truth, but this is a subject that we have discussed previously. Of course, we are aware that there are two councils where this is something that they’re discussing at present. It is important that people understand that there is a consultation that’s ongoing on...
