Darren Millar: ...ambition that we should have an additional learning needs system that meets the needs of children and young people across Wales, and that deals with some of the deficiencies in the current special educational needs system, which are all too apparent from much of the casework that we receive as Assembly Members. I think it goes without saying that I think there were still some other...
Darren Millar: ...notice of that statement, and, indeed, all of the individuals who responded to the public consultation on the White Paper? As the Cabinet Secretary knows, the proposal to establish a tertiary education and research commission for Wales is one that we Welsh Conservatives fully support. And whilst I appreciate the notice that the Government is now going to move forward to a technical...
Darren Millar: ...we do need to learn lessons and we need to be confident now, particularly given that we don't know who this second person is, that young children are safe visiting that island in the future. School trips are still going on, Cabinet Secretary, and we need to be sure that those children are protected from abuse.
Darren Millar: Cabinet Secretary, we all want high-quality leaders in public service. However, I'm afraid a school for bureaucrats is something that I think is completely unnecessary. We've got some excellent leadership schools already in our high-quality universities here in Wales, and I think we ought to take advantage of the opportunities that they present. Can I ask what sort of budget you have...
Darren Millar: ...Taf who was radicalised online and then went on to plan a terror attack at a concert in Cardiff here in June. We had a debate in the Senedd back in May of this year, and the Cabinet Secretary for Education, at that time, announced that there was going to be a national online safety action plan developed and implemented. I'd be grateful if we could have a statement to give us an update on...
Darren Millar: ...the payment of a sum of at least £10,000 to Sir Clive Woodward for an hour-long talk at an event, and found those rather remarkable, especially given the current financial climate that many schools find themselves in, having to in some cases, unfortunately, lay off staff. I also think it's a bit of an insult to many of the unsung heroes in our schools—the many inspirational teachers and...
Darren Millar: 3. Further to reports of spending on celebrity speakers by GwE, will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on accountability arrangements for regional education consortia in Wales? 66
Darren Millar: ...has the capacity to meet the demands of learners. Like Llyr, I've experienced déjà vu on many occasions in this Chamber when we've looked at the insufficiency of workforce planning, not just in education services, not just in health services, but in all sorts of other public service areas. We need to crack this nut once and for all, and I think that these amendments—certainly amendment...
Darren Millar: ...amendments coming forward at Stage 3, because there was nobody calling for an exclusion—there was nobody calling, at all, in any of the evidence that we received, for learners undertaking higher education courses in further education colleges to be excluded from the new additional learning needs support system. Now, as far as I'm concerned—and the Cabinet Secretary's just stated this...
Darren Millar: ...system to providers of work-based learning being funded by the Welsh taxpayer in the future. The Bill as it is currently drafted only requires those bodies with duties on the face of the Bill, i.e. schools, colleges and local authorities, to make additional learning needs provision in work-based learning environments. But Members will be aware that there are many other providers, both in...
Darren Millar: ...over the potential implications of section 42 of the Bill, which relates to children and young people in detention. Section 42 allows for the cessation of the duties that the Bill places upon schools, colleges and local authorities to prepare individual development plans and to maintain them when young people are subject to detention orders. The section is designed to apply to those...
Darren Millar: ...NHS redress system that have been going on for two years. Is that acceptable for children and young people who might be requiring an opportunity to get the support that they need in their place of education? I think not, and I know that you don't think that that's acceptable either. As I say, it would be helpful to know what an earth has happened to the improvements that were suggested by...
Darren Millar: The purpose of my amendment 11 is to remove the ability of the national health service to ignore a ruling of the Education Tribunal for Wales when that ruling relates to something that the NHS must provide to support a learner with additional learning needs. At present, the Bill as it's written does not require the NHS to be subject to the rulings of the education tribunal, and NHS bodies...
Darren Millar: ...cause confusion if somebody has gone off to college to do their post-16 studies. I think what we have to remember, though, is there's still a potential for confusion if that individual stays on at school to do post-16 education under the arrangements under the Bill, because, of course, the duty will transfer from local education authorities, potentially, to the governing body of a school,...
Darren Millar: ...child on the face of the Bill. Section 13 of the Bill currently defines a looked-after child for the purposes of additional learning provision as a child who is, and I quote, 'not over compulsory school age’. But the Children's Commissioner for Wales has raised concerns that the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act has defined a looked-after child whom the local authorities have...
Darren Millar: ...course with the support that they might need, suddenly to find it all come crashing down afterwards and them not being able to sustain their place in that college and to complete their course of education. So, I would appreciate if you could reflect on that, and not simply dismiss this well-meaning, well-intended amendment, which is non partisan. It's simply responding to some of the...
Darren Millar: ...she's provided about the transport provision, and knowing how passionately she feels that we must make sure that we sort out some of the issues that we've had in the past in relation to home-to-school transport for children and young people with additional learning needs, I am hoping to be able to withdraw amendment 54, on the basis of the assurance that this will be a issue that is...
Darren Millar: ...for each learner with additional learning needs to contain information about transport arrangements that may be required as a result of those needs. During Stage 1, the Children, Young People and Education Committee heard evidence that the current support system often overlooks the transport needs of learners requiring support. Stakeholders told the committee that they believe that the...
Darren Millar: I just wanted to ask why you feel—if that is the argument you're presenting—why you feel it's appropriate that people in local education authorities should have that burden, as you describe it, and people in the NHS should have that burden to demonstrate compliance with the UN conventions, but you don't feel that it's appropriate for those people who are working directly at the front...
Darren Millar: ...and 3F in particular I'm afraid I cannot recommend to this Assembly to support, because they seek to remove the duty to have due regard to the UN conventions from the governing bodies of maintained schools and the governing bodies of further education institutions—two bodies with massively significant roles to play in the delivery of the new additional learning needs system that this...
