Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...Secretary—I’m certainly grateful for the confirmation that full training for undergraduates, from the first year to the fifth year, will be looked at as part of the study for developing medical education in north Wales, and I’m looking forward to seeing that process continuing in accordance with the agreement before the budget. What we’ve had, in all seriousness, is a repeat of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...as a career, or not enough of them, and then we can’t find placements for them to study here in Wales. Sian will expand upon that, including our call for the development of undergraduate medical education in Bangor. Are we training more GPs given that we are desperate for more of them? Although the pressure on primary care has increased significantly over the past decade, the target for...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. I do understand that I have been asking questions of the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport on medical education to date, but it’s good to ask a question to you as the Cabinet Secretary for Education today. Now that the pre-budget agreement has secured development funding for undergraduate medical education in Bangor, will you, as the education Secretary, tell us...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on medical education in north Wales? (OAQ51097)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...charging for facilities. So, perhaps I could ask for a comment about means of reducing those costs where possible. The statement also says Sport Wales has to work with a whole range of partners: schools, employers, active travel, third sector and so on. How do we make sure, though, that that actually leads to more sporting opportunities being provided? It’s not just about having...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. I would like to suggest to the Cabinet Secretary that investing in developing medical education at an undergraduate level on a comprehensive level in north Wales—that is, including first-year students, and all the way through their studies—would be an excellent example of implementing the principles of invest-to-save. We know that Betsi Cadwaladr health board...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...Cardiff and Swansea, and I very much hope that we do make those increases in Cardiff and Swansea. But there are opportunities to innovate here too, and recommendation 5 clearly calls for a medical education centre in Bangor. There are so many reasons for that: linguistically, geographically, economically even, in terms of increasing opportunities for students from north Wales to study in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...in this report—workforce planning, for example. Improved workforce planning is attainable if we see the Government taking the appropriate steps, such as introducing a centre for medical education in Bangor and encouraging more young people from Wales, from various backgrounds, including the more disadvantaged backgrounds, to study medicine. It does mean that those necessary steps have to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...to provide the necessary workforce to create a sustainable service that can meet reasonable targets. Isn’t the statement that you made yesterday that there is no case for establishing a medical school in north Wales entirely contrary to the spirit of that paper and runs contrary to what was said in the recent health committee report? Of course a medical school cannot be established...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the teaching of languages in schools in Wales?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's been a pleasure to welcome pupils from three primary schools from Anglesey to the Assembly today: Ysgol Porthaethwy; Ysgol Corn Hir, Llangefni and Parc y Bont in Llanddaniel. I was discussing learning additional languages with pupils from Parc y Bont and Corn Hir, and the pupils from Corn Hir are already being given French lessons on a weekly basis. As bilingual pupils, they were very...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the state of modern languages teaching in secondary schools in Wales? OAQ(5)0725(FM)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...that appeals to junior doctors. And knowing that our rural areas are facing a very real challenge in recruitment, does the Minister agree with me that there is real scope to use a new medical school in Bangor as a centre to develop expertise, which could become global in its significance in rural medicine specifically, in the primary and secondary sectors, and that that as an aim should be...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...Dai Lloyd ynglŷn â diogelu enwau lleoedd hanesyddol yng Nghymru. In terms of what’s being proposed here, the additional learning needs Bill will improve support and provision for individuals in education, but we need something for individuals outwith education too. On occasion, people don’t receive a diagnosis until they are adults, and support needs to be available for people of all...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...fact that work experience is now being cancelled? But there is a confusion here too. In your letter to me, you state that there are no health and safety regulations that make it a requirement for schools or local authorities to carry out assessments of workplaces for work-experience placements. But the Isle of Anglesey County Council refers me to documentation from the Health and Safety...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...the ages of 18 and 65—something that affects Laura, like many other people? And does the First Minister also agree that, in terms of awareness, we need to do far more to invest in mental health education for young people in order to raise awareness among that group?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...also realistic, but it can only be realistic if we actually increase how many people retrain as doctors in Wales. What’s also disappointing, in listening to the Cabinet Secretary, is that medical schools in Wales are telling me that they’re confident that they could train so many more doctors in Wales over the next 10 years, and it is clear, I think, that there is a growing consensus...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...lively on the backbenches today. I do understand that local Labour politicians are protesting against this. Will you be joining them, I wonder, in their protest, as I seem to recall the former education Minister doing, against the closure of a school in his constituency? Or will you own up to the fact that it’s Labour’s, Welsh Government’s failings in workforce planning that has led...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...for the services that they receive. This, of course, includes young people. They are no different. Indeed, one could argue that they are in more complex positions on occasion, if you add the school or educational institution as another layer of public service that plays a part in decisions on care and support for young persons. I, like many here, I’m sure, have dealt with a number of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: ...not just to improve the health of people in Wales, but also to save money for our public services. I’ll come to our first amendment here: the importance of providing and holding structured education programmes for those who have just received a diagnosis of diabetes. Now, last year Diabetes UK showed that the lack of use of these courses has reached a shocking level. Only 2 per cent of...
