Nick Ramsay: ...health issues, and 20 per cent said they were severely affected. This was particularly relevant to younger people and women and, of course, both of those groups are to be found within our primary school sector where there is a higher number of women involved there as teachers. What discussions have you had with the education system, with the trade unions about ways that these mental health...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Minister, for that frank and honest answer. As you've touched on in that answer, home schooling and associated issues have presented a number of challenges for families during the pandemic. Whilst many schools have seen an increase in the number of pupils attending hub provision, the overwhelming majority of children are still at home, and a large number are struggling,...
Nick Ramsay: 7. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the current lockdown on children who are not in school? OQ56253
Nick Ramsay: Trefnydd, could we have an update on the support available for parents managing homeworking and home schooling during the pandemic? I'm sure that this has been raised with you as a Member of the Senedd, as it's been raised with me. As a parent myself, who often has a toddler with me in the room when I attend some Zoom meetings, I'm aware of the pressures that parents are under. Children,...
Nick Ramsay: ...—this pandemic—will be the way that it has disproportionately affected those across society and those suffering from pre-existing social and health inequalities. Minister, you've mentioned free school meals, you've mentioned social housing; there are health inequalities as well, such as diabetes, lifestyle choices, obesity. So, there's no single silver bullet, is there, to actually...
Nick Ramsay: ...of lockdown. You've mentioned that you're investing £5 million, Minister, in upskilling and retraining low-income workers, but is it the case that there's been a real-terms cut to some employer education schemes? I'm thinking about the employability and skills budget as well, which seems to have taken a cut. So, isn't that counter-productive? And what about cuts to the economic...
Nick Ramsay: ...if you can give us that today, or if your officers can work it out—I think many Members would agree that carbon sinks are the way ahead. So, we need to see some figures for that. You mentioned education and the tendering of projects using MIM contracts by WEPCo. This sounds a good opportunity for contractors. Will you be ensuring that there is an even playing field for contractors to...
Nick Ramsay: Minister, I've been in contact with ColegauCymru, who are very concerned about the support that further education learners and the sector are getting. Higher education has been given another £10 million for mental health services and while some of that is for students who've had to lock down in their student housing, there is some, I believe, for suicide awareness and dealing with mental...
Nick Ramsay: Minister, good afternoon. I'm sure you'll join me in recognising the courage and resilience of our children as they return to school in what is a very worrying time for them and their parents. What thoughts have you given to providing more pastoral support and care to children in Wales, particularly in primary schools and nurseries at this time? In recent years, there's been an increasing...
Nick Ramsay: Sorry, I was using the mouse that doesn't work. [Laughter.] Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, I wonder if you could just give us a little bit more information about the education of the under-fives that you mentioned earlier in answer to Darren Millar. I think you said that it's impossible to really adhere to social distancing with that sort of age group, and I think you mentioned that it...
Nick Ramsay: ...at certain points in time, but, of course, parents, children, when we come out of this problem time that we're in, those people will be relying on it; parents will be relying on that sort of educational and play experience for their children. So, I wonder if you could look again at the categories and those businesses that might not fit strictly into one category. And, finally on the...
Nick Ramsay: ...part of which was relating to transport. I've got some questions for you on the bus industry. You've asked local authorities to continue to pay a minimum of 75 per cent of the contract value for school and other contracted local passenger services. Can you confirm that there's no legal obligation on local authorities to do so? And are you aware of any that aren't intending to follow your...
Nick Ramsay: Minister, aside from the statutory age ranges that are set out with regard to the five to 16 and the different ages that children will receive sex education, relationship education, I think you're on record previously as saying that there will be a certain amount of credence given to the developmental point of children within that cycle. So, perhaps there is a way, a compromise solution too...
Nick Ramsay: ...innovative housing fund has enabled Monmouthshire Housing Association to carry on their excellent work, developing two innovative housing sites in Chepstow, working in partnership with the Welsh School of Architecture, and this comes after a previous project in my constituency in Abergavenny. Monmouthshire Housing Association's latest development will provide flexible, sustainable living...
Nick Ramsay: —but that that data be available if it's requested, rather than being kept away, because some schools might not want that sort of data being in the public domain or being available to parents, for obvious reasons.
Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way, Julie. I quite agree with what you've just said about the importance of schools recording data when it comes to bullying, but would you also agree that, in the interests of transparency, it's important that data isn't just recorded but that it's available to parents should they request it so that we do get an accurate picture of bullying, and, more importantly, the...
Nick Ramsay: ...importance of that, but it doesn't actually seem to happen in practice. Welsh Conservatives welcome the £385 million that has been pledged to the health service, as well as the £195 million to education and £20 million to capital projects, which has been pledged recently during the election campaign. And we know that there's going to be—if there is a Conservative UK Government after...
Nick Ramsay: ...him after allegedly assaulting his partner. So, multiple people were involved in that attack. So, the purpose of this debate is to call on the Welsh Government to work with local authorities, with schools and the police to try and eradicate the prejudice and the violence that our LGBT constituents across Wales face on a day-to-day basis. If you dig down into the statistics, it gets even...
Nick Ramsay: Very much following a similar vein to John Griffiths's question, Minister, one of the challenges, I'm sure you'll agree, in delivering Welsh-medium education, particularly in the larger rural authorities, is the travel time from home to school. I'm pleased that Monmouthshire County Council is progressing with plans for a new second Welsh-medium education school in the north-east or north of...
Nick Ramsay: ...you said yourself. The Welsh Local Government Association have recently reported that core grant funding has reduced by 20 per cent after adjusting for inflation in 2019-20. If you don’t include school funding, as is the case in English local government, core funding is even lower than that, so, clearly, local authority budgets are under stress. How are you planning, in your budget, to...
