Mark Isherwood: Would you recognise that the minority who receive the least—and there's a funding gap in delegated budgets to schools of over £1,000 per pupil between the best and worst funded—and who suffer the most financially have only a minority voice? Those who benefit clearly aren't going to support because there's a disincentive for them to do so. So, we need to be objective about this and see...
Mark Isherwood: ...too many suffering depression, and Age Cymru identifying wide variations in care. She said that we need to do more to support unpaid carers and enable young carers to combine caring with access to education and training. Angela Burns gave a heartfelt 'thank you' to carers in Wales without whose contribution our society would grind to a halt. She talked about the kindness of strangers and...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. I previously raised concerns with you that, in Flintshire, in the past, old and inaccurate data was used in breach of the school organisation code in terms of school closures in Llanfynydd, Flint Mountain and John Summers High School. There are now proposals to close and forcibly amalgamate Lixwm County Primary School, which I hope will be on your list, because it's very much a...
Mark Isherwood: 2. What is the Welsh Government's policy on school closures in North Wales? OAQ52214
Mark Isherwood: ...Stage 4 of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, your colleague Peter Black, Jocelyn Davies and I took the Government to the wire on healthy relationships education, and the assurances that we received then ensured that, hopefully—well, they contributed to the position that we're now in with your announcement today. Part of the evidence we all...
Mark Isherwood: ...has responsibility for promoting prosperity and tackling poverty programmes, including Communities First, in Wales since 1999. '4. Notes the importance of access to high-quality early childhood education and care for children in Wales and the need for targeted support for children living in poverty. '5. Further calls on the Welsh Government to take all steps within its powers to tackle...
Mark Isherwood: ...gender identity in the last 12 months, that one in eight trans employees had been physically attacked by colleagues or customers, and that more than a third of trans university students in higher education had experienced negative comments or behaviour from staff in the previous year. When I was speaking here in February 2017 on LGBT History Month, I noted that Stonewall Cymru had...
Mark Isherwood: ...appropriate treatment, provide clear and concise information about treatment and health management, and engage with and involve local deaf communities on a regular basis—also to improve access to education and social care, ensure people have the access to information they need, advocate and inform government and the public at large about deafness and hearing loss, improve services, but,...
Mark Isherwood: ...in England than in Wales, on top of the separate performance list issue; extra bureaucracy when dealing with pension contributions; the curtailment of training links with north Wales medical schools; the 'stress and danger' of working in the Welsh system; and different and inferior IT systems, et cetera, et cetera?
Mark Isherwood: ...from the European Union.' And in accepting our recommendation 3, it states that it has been working closely with 'a range of stakeholders, including businesses, farmers, trade unions, educational institutions, public services, the third sector, communities and the public…to build a detailed understanding of their priorities, concerns and vulnerabilities, while communicating the...
Mark Isherwood: ...and use of language. Such strategies may mask any difficulties that they have and make them appear to be more able than they actually are. I have a growing number of cases, where health boards and schools are seeing the masking rather than the person, and more and more of these girls and their families—some of whose parents are on the spectrum as well—suffering serious anxiety...
Mark Isherwood: ...by the Metropolitan police resulting from work on fire alarms undertaken in Hackney and linked to Grenfell Tower, and have agreed an £8.75 million payment in respect of a fire that destroyed a school where they were the principal contractor. These are serious matters, and an important procurement contract on behalf of Welsh Government in a key area, fuel poverty—something very close to...
Mark Isherwood: ...A headteacher in Bangor said uniform is a way of avoiding social stigma because pupils all look the same. He blasted what he called the bonfire of the grants affecting some of the most vulnerable school children. A Conservative Bridgend councillor described the move as heartless and said it would hit the poorest families the hardest. You were just asked clearly whether you would protect...
Mark Isherwood: ...to deliver minibus services and community bus services, many organisations will only be able to engage in competitive tendering for public service contracts, such as social care contracts and school contracts, if they obtain a public service vehicle operators licence, unless there's been no competition for any of these services from holders of PSV operator licences. This is costly and...
Mark Isherwood: ...projects working in rural areas, but, of course, not exclusively in rural areas. Using everything from minibuses to mopeds, typical services include voluntary car schemes, community bus services, school transport, hospital transport, dial-a-ride, wheels to work, and group-hire services. Most services are demand responsive, taking people from door to door, but a growing number are offering...
Mark Isherwood: ...and improving lives. When I wrote to the Minister for Children and Social Care about this, he replied 'I can assure you that Local Health Boards are committed to working in partnership with Local Education Authorities to make sure schools continue to be able to provide support for these families.' Well, yes, health boards and local authorities are often happy to work with the third sector,...
Mark Isherwood: ..., the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee visited the Anglesey enterprise zone board and we met representatives of the board—Anglesey council, Menter Môn, third sector, businesses and education—and they told us how important the significant electricity transmission infrastructure is not only to the development of Wylfa Newydd, the new nuclear power station, but to the...
Mark Isherwood: ...concerns that the Welsh Government is cutting its contribution. There are also concerns that the Welsh Government is planning to phase out its £1.98 million annual contribution to the all-Wales schools liaison core programme from 2019, as the funding disappears into the new schools curriculum. And the danger inherent in calls for police devolution is evidenced by proposals to grab power...
Mark Isherwood: ...stripping out these services at huge additional cost to our health services and social services, which are at crisis level. Last week, we heard disappointment from both the First Minister and the education Secretary about the closure of Afasic Cymru, despite the decision to close Afasic Cymru being forced on its trustees by the Welsh Government's decision to end the children and families...
Mark Isherwood: ...support from Peter Black from your party then and Jocelyn Davies from Plaid Cymru and myself, to involve stakeholders from the violence against women sector in developing the healthy relationship education in the curriculum to be followed by all schools. During that time, I think both you and I referred to Hafan Cymru's Spectrum project to educate pupils in schools and train teachers in...
