Angela Burns: Well, thank you for that, but the reality in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is, over the last decade and a bit, only one out of the five secondary schools in that constituency have not been in some form of special measures or targeted intervention or needing to improve significantly. Now, with education being hit by COVID over the last 12 months, it's inevitable that the schools that...
Angela Burns: ...centres within our universities and within our medical establishments, how would you then tie that back to that principle by ensuring that Ministers that may be involved in that—e.g. health, education—do afford the right sums of money to help support that governmental goal?
Angela Burns: 7. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve school standards in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire? OQ56441
Angela Burns: ..., isolated at home or perhaps in a very busy home where they're finding it very difficult to do their jobs because of all the noise around them. They may have young children at home who aren't at school and the whole situation is getting to them. Because if you have a person in front of you or in the office just next door, you can have a much better feel for how they might be. It's very...
Angela Burns: ...burden of support from the Government, which will have many other calls on funds; preserving the jobs, careers and wages of people; stabilising the tax base; enabling opportunity for purpose, for education and training for self-fulfilment; and, above all, recognising that, in Wales, we have a disproportionately high number of businesses that fall into the micro or the SME...
Angela Burns: ...that you're affording to supply teachers. Could you just give us a little bit more detail about it? Because I've had a couple come to me raising concerns about the fact that if they've been to one school—they may have done a short-term project for a couple of weeks—they've yet to go to the new school, and then they've had to self-isolate, not because they had COVID, but because they've...
Angela Burns: Thank you for your answer to Delyth Jewell, First Minister, but, of course, the media is only part of the solution. Education plays a vital part, and, with the next Welsh general election seeing the franchise being extended to include 16-year-olds, it is essential that young people gain an objective, fair and balanced view on the important role that politics plays in all of our lives. The new...
Angela Burns: ...cross-departmental working, because I believe that there has been good progress made with mental health support for college and university students, provided for by partnerships between the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, educational establishments and student unions. However, I am concerned that there remains no overarching official Welsh Government strategy for student mental...
Angela Burns: ...Day of the Girl, and in many places in the world girls are still a commodity, to be used, to be abused and to be trafficked. In many places, Minister, you will know that girls have little education, become pregnant too young, feel abusive relationships are their only route, are pressured to marry, suffer genital mutilation, and are treated as sex objects, and, in this toxic day of ours,...
Angela Burns: ...denial up close every month for the past decade or more. Other committees make the same points on portfolio-specific inquiries, including many on health, ranging from care homes to GP clusters, education and community spends. Minister, these are not partisan reports written by unfriendly think tanks or opposition politicians, but the findings of Welsh Parliament scrutiny committees with...
Angela Burns: ...the United Kingdom have worked hard to make—the graft it takes and the hope it gives for a decent way of life. We want our taxes to pay for a good health and social care system, a transformative education system and decent housing for those who need shelter. We want our taxes to help build a thriving economy, to deliver the infrastructure projects we need and to support cultural and...
Angela Burns: ...in order to meet the Cymraeg 2050 target? And how can we encourage more people to become Welsh-speaking teachers so that we can not only do immersion learning but actually learning in the non-Welsh schools?
Angela Burns: ...I had to skip back and reread our motion because I thought that perhaps we had put in it things that I had missed. But, no, I don't see anything there that says that we do not think that higher education and further education institutions haven't stepped up to the plate. I mean, we do—they've been outstanding, they have delivered an enormous amount for our students over the last few...
Angela Burns: ...multiple times. I absolutely understand that and the reasons why, but what support will be put in place for those people, because if they've got caring responsibilities, children trying to go to school, if they live in an environment like a big block of flats, they may constantly be being asked to self-isolate, and this is going to damage their mental health even further?
Angela Burns: ...going forward—. I've had a lot of concern from headteachers and teachers in my constituency where the teachers have not really been trained how to handle very disruptive, very aggressive primary schoolchildren. They don't want to ban them from school—that doesn't help anyone—but the teachers themselves need more resilience, more coping skills, more training, and I wondered if you...
Angela Burns: ...shortages. David, you made that point with passion and conviction, and it's very, very key. So, again, Minister, I would urge that, when you go back from this debate, you work with Health, Education and Improvement Wales and that they really plan the shortfalls that we have. I'm very keen to end, because I'm sure the Llywydd is very keen that I should end, but I just wanted to say one...
Angela Burns: ...stops with the Welsh Government when they make these decisions every financial year, but this is not just about a budgetary choice; there are specific needs, including indemnity, public engagement, education and training. These are clear needs that the citizen voice body must continue in order for it to run well. It's of vital importance that the citizen voice body can carry out certain...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I've been an Assembly Member for about 10 years now, and I've sat on a whole variety of committees—finance, health, education, children and young people, as it was—and all the time we talk about 'How do we know?' How do we know that we're performing well? How do we know that we're meeting our targets? How do we know we're delivering the outcomes for the money...
Angela Burns: ...I just wonder if we ought to look at tv or radio, just pushing that 'Catch it, bin it, kill it' and the washing of the hands messages. Could you just tell us what you've done with the Minister for Education in terms of primary and secondary school children—because, of course, we all know that any bug of any sort can go like wildfire around schools—to actually get that message through...
Angela Burns: ..., understanding and comprehension, so they go to the internet to try to read up about it. I've pointed them and signposted them to charities that I know of. I appreciate that there's a lot done in schools and in the school setting to educate the children. We wait for child and adolescent mental health services to come and step in, or we wait for other mental health interventions. But I...
