I want to write to Natasha Asghar
Natasha Asghar: ...with sight loss in the Aneurin Bevan health board, all of whom would greatly benefit from habilitation training. Now, as I mentioned, habilitation training, which is a vital part of children’s educational development, equips young people with listening skills, social skills, toilet training, dressing skills, money recognition, and even shopping skills. It can also teach people how to...
Natasha Asghar: Minister, you've read a lot of reports; I've read a fair number of reports now on education, having had many questions with you over the past few years. Now, statistically, we all know that children growing up in poverty and disadvantaged areas are less likely to do well at school. Research from the Education Policy Institute into the impact of educational inequalities reveals that, sadly,...
Natasha Asghar: Minister, it's a fact that fewer than half of children walk or cycle to school. Research shows that the encouragement of active travel to school is hampered by issues related to the amount of traffic outside school gates. I've always supported 20 mph speed limits outside schools to help keep our children safe, but some councils in Wales have gone further, introducing 'school streets', where...
Natasha Asghar: Thank you, Minister. I've recently been contacted by a constituent who is the head of science and technology at a school in Wales and who is opposed to proposals to integrate physics, chemistry and biology into one award. My constituent strongly believes that these proposals remove choices from pupils and will seriously dilute the quality of science teaching in Wales by reducing the breadth...
Natasha Asghar: 1. What action will the Minister take to improve the educational outcomes of school pupils in 2023? OQ58911
Natasha Asghar: ...times have continued to grow. Wales has three quarters of a million people on waiting lists for treatment, the worst A&E waits in Britain, the slowest ambulance response times on record, and our schools are at the bottom of UK Programme for International Student Assessment rankings. So, First Minister, I'd like to know when is the Welsh Government going to address the people's...
Natasha Asghar: ...gaps are remaining to realise children’s right to be safer online. Areas for consideration by this committee could and should include, firstly, how we ensure the new relationship and sexuality education curriculum supports and realises children and young people’s right to be safe and protected online. Secondly, it should examine what additional training should be rolled out for...
Natasha Asghar: ...suffered as a result. I appreciate my colleague's question to you earlier, but one of the ways to counter this misinformation would be to, obviously, as you mentioned and he mentioned, encourage school pupils to visit farms. I would like to focus a bit more on children from special needs schools, as well as those people from more of a vulnerable background, to be able to go and see where...
Natasha Asghar: ...that you're not spending the money that you already have been given. So, do you agree, Minister, that this is scandalous that you returned £155 million to the Treasury, when our hospitals, schools and local councils in Wales are under severe financial pressure? Thank you.
Natasha Asghar: ...those who continue to help those who experience a stroke. But with amber calls in Wales taking on average an hour and 35 minutes to arrive to patients, let's be honest, it's not that fast at all. Education is key to improving outcomes for people who are suffering from a stroke. There needs to be a huge push to make sure that people know how important it is to seek medical attention if they...
Natasha Asghar: Thank you, Minister. We all know the importance of young people leaving school with a good education. However, having a good education should be more than just receiving good grades. It should be about giving young people the skills that they need to deal with life. Life skills help people focus on many facets of their lives and are essential in helping them manage stress and to solve the...
Natasha Asghar: 3. How is the Minister ensuring that the education system provides young people with essential life skills? OQ58514
Natasha Asghar: ...in Northern Ireland and 6 per cent in Scotland. Spending on agency staff for NHS Wales has increased from £50 million in 2011 to £143 million in 2019. This equates to more than half of Health Education and Improvement Wales’s annual spend on healthcare education training. This significant resource is spent on outsourcing rather than investment in the long-term growth of the NHS...
Natasha Asghar: Today is World Alzheimer's Day. World Alzheimer's Day is a global opportunity to raise awareness, educate, encourage, support and demystify all types of dementia. Dementia is a complex condition and often people need specialist support to help them live their lives, keep them safe and protect their well-being. Research for Alzheimer's Society Cymru found that 45 per cent of people with a...
Natasha Asghar: Minister, a report for the UK Department for Education in 2015 found that the most successful schools are supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, treating each pupil as an individual with specific challenges and needs. The less successful schools tended to view their disadvantaged pupils as a group whose home environment and lack of access to opportunities limited their chances of...
Natasha Asghar: Minister, could I ask for a statement, please, from the Minister for education on the development of coding skills here in Wales? The week before last, I visited the Office for National Statistics in Newport where concerns were raised and expressed that not enough emphasis is being placed on the teaching of coding skills in schools and that it's a heavily male-oriented vocation at the moment....
Natasha Asghar: ...safety here in Wales. The Welsh Conservative group really have no problem in seeing reduced speed limits on roads where there is large pedestrian activity, such as outside busy places of worship, schools, playgrounds and high streets where cars are permitted. As Edmund King, the president of the AA, said, '20 mph limits work best where they’re needed—outside schools or hospitals, or...
Natasha Asghar: I'd like to thank my colleague Jayne Bryant for bringing this question to the forefront. Some schools in my region and elsewhere in Wales have surplus land available as part of their school grounds. Some such as, and pardon my pronunciation, Olchfa Comprehensive School in your constituency—[Interruption.] That's it, yes—are selling off their land for housing. However, some schools have...
Natasha Asghar: Will the Minister provide an update on the provision of free school meals in Wales?
Natasha Asghar: ...their concern and opposition to the increase in Members here in the Welsh Parliament going forward, when the public would much rather have money spent on healthcare, roads, infrastructure and education. So, today I say to the Welsh Government: if you are so certain that these proposals will better serve the people of Wales, give them a stronger voice. If you are certain that you won't...
