Llyr Gruffydd: 4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on home-schooled children? OAQ51462
Llyr Gruffydd: ...needs certainly is a positive outcome, and an all-Wales template and clear timescales for preparing independent development plans, provision for preschool children and young people in further education and the provision of independent advice and advocacy as well are all positives. That's not to say that everything in the ALN garden is rosy. We were disappointed that the Government...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...the thanks that have been given to everyone who have participated, from the stakeholders to Government representatives and committee members, and the officials of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, as this Bill has proceeded through the Senedd? There is no doubt that there has been a consensus from the outset on the need to reform additional learning needs. We've already...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...is that not part of your consideration at all? It'd be interesting to know, actually, at what point you think that might become clearer. We've touched on addressing the barriers to post-compulsory education and training, and the cuts that have had a disproportionate effect on a number of groups. I presume that the outcome agreements that you mention in the statement would maybe look to...
Llyr Gruffydd: May I also ask for a further statement? May I ask for statement from the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning on the Welsh in education strategic plans? We did have a statement from the former Minister at the beginning of autumn—there have been almost two months since then. He accepted each of the recommendations made in the speedy review carried out by Aled Roberts. Now,...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...are at risk of exploitation or trafficking. The most effective way of having a robust risk assessment for these children is through multi-agency working. This involves members from police, health, education, children's services and the third sector all sharing information to build a holistic profile of a child at risk of going missing and to use that information to provide a child with...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...all along—my understanding all along was that the focus was on the institution, and not the type of provision that was in place. Certainly, there's been no evidence calling to exclude higher education within further education institutions, and certainly we haven't had the level of debate and discussion that I would have hoped we would have had, had I known that this was coming at this...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...that the Government has moved on the role of the tribunal and has introduced a number of amendments at Stage 2 to try and respond to the strong evidence that we received on the need for the education tribunal to have the power to direct health bodies in relation to additional learning needs. They have moved closer to what I would want to see, and what the majority of witnesses to the...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...’t be some sort of afterthought, but that it is given attention and consideration, which this important issue, which has such an impact on the access of children with additional learning needs to education, deserves.
Llyr Gruffydd: ...1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15 for the reasons already outlined. Ensuring that the code is accessible and that any advice is objective and impartial and is available throughout a young person’s educational career, particularly at key stages, is entirely central to the integrity of this Bill and to the success of the legislation and, indeed, the broader package of reforms. Therefore, I would...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...know that the commissioner notes a traffic light system—red, amber and green. There are a number of items that are red, which shows that there has been no progress made. Now, one of those is home schooling. The recommendation in last year's report was that the Welsh Government should strengthen the requirements for parents to register as home schoolers and that all children taught at...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...solution. There is a series of solutions required, but one that comes up regularly is the requirement to have a B in GCSE maths. Now, I know that we are eager to raise standards in terms of the educators we have in Wales, but when someone like John Furlong himself raises questions on the value of that in the Children, Young People and Education Committee, I think it is important that we...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...we don’t forget, in this debate, why this is happening, and we have to remind ourselves that this is happening because what the teachers want is the best for the pupils and the best for their schools, and there’s a risk that that is lost in this debate. That is why this situation has arisen, to all intents and purposes, but we shouldn’t doubt, and I’m sure we don’t doubt, the...
Llyr Gruffydd: What steps is the Government taking to ensure that the funding available within the twenty-first century schools budget is used to enhance Welsh-medium education? Because we know, for example, that there is a higher rate of support for faith schools—it’s 85 per cent, as I understand it, rather than 50 per cent for schools more generally. Would you be prepared to consider a similar method...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...’m sure that we have done in the past—to Aled Roberts for his work on these WESPs? You start your statement by saying that the WESPs have set a firm foundation for the planning of Welsh-medium education. I don’t want to disagree with you on the very first sentence, but, clearly, some people have questioned whether they have been robust enough, and the fact that we are where we are...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...services for their children, and can’t get hold of the practitioners who can provide those services through the medium of Welsh. As it happens, this very morning, the Children, Young People and Education Committee were dealing with Stage 2 amendments on the additional learning needs Bill, and during the course of developing recommendations at Stage 1 proceedings, we had broad-ranging...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...to ask is who do you now believe should take ownership of those standards? Who do you think should be driving them forward to ensure that they are used better than the previous standards? Will the Education Workforce Council, for example, have a role in that regard, because in every other country the corresponding body does deliver that role?
Llyr Gruffydd: ..., he tells me that he sees New Directions paying its directors a dividend of £100,000 a piece, and a share in a further £430,000 dividend from the firm’s parent company. At the very time our schools are increasingly dependent on supply teachers for their services and support, you’re kicking the prospect of reform two, maybe three, years further down the line. Now, in the meantime,...
Llyr Gruffydd: ..., I’ve been approached by a constituent—and you mentioned pay and conditions—who was earning £115 a day as a supply teacher. She’s now had a letter from her local authority to say that all schools must work through the private supply teaching agency, New Directions, with very few exceptions. And she tells me that will mean her pay will be cut to £85 a day, because New Directions...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...—and the First Minister, in fairness, has said very much the same—that the Government isn’t where it would like to be in terms of supply teaching here in Wales. The Children, Young People and Education committee, of course, published its report, suggesting actions in the last Assembly. The ministerial supply model taskforce was set up last year and it reported back at the beginning...
