1. Will the Minister make a statement on the shortage of school places in Wales? OAQ(5)0011(EDU)

Can I thank the Member for the question? There is not a shortage of school places in Wales. Although some schools are very popular and do not have sufficient places for all those who might wish to attend, I have received no reports of a shortage overall in any local authority.

It falls to me to congratulate first the Cabinet Secretary on her first outing in her new job, which I very warmly and genuinely extend to her. I’m sure she will be a great success in her job. But I’m afraid I can’t share the complacency that the answer I’ve just listened to exudes because there is a significant difference between different parts of Wales where there are significant shortages in some places and surpluses in others. For example, in Cardiff High School this year there were 635 applications for 240 places but in our own region in Powys 25 per cent of secondary places are empty. Across the border in Shropshire, there are one third of schools that are over-subscribed. I wonder if the Cabinet Secretary can share with us her thoughts on how we might rebalance education within Wales but without depriving rural schools of their current funding.

Could I thank the Member for his kind words? It certainly is a very different experience for me to be answering questions rather than asking them. Can I say to the Member that there are some pressures in some schools in some parts of Wales but there is not an overall shortage of places in Welsh schools? The Member will be aware of my agreement with the First Minister to review the policy on surplus places, especially as it affects rural Wales, and I will be coming back to the Chamber shortly with proposals on how we can ensure that schools in rural Wales are not adversely affected by an over emphasis on surplus places.

Returning to urban Wales, whilst it is true that there were 635 applications for 240 places at Cardiff High School, that is not really the substantive issue: there are always going to be particular schools where everybody wants to attend. The issue there is whether or not there is fraud going on in terms of people pretending they live at a particular address when they don’t. But I really just wanted to seek your advice on how we manage overall school places in Cardiff, which is the fastest growing city in the UK, and particularly to ensure that primary school children are able to walk to school, that they are not being offered places so far away that it’s unrealistic for a four-year old or a five-year old to be walking there. I appreciate that that is complicated, but I just wondered how many surplus places therefore we have to accommodate to ensure that people are able to go to local schools.

Could I thank the Member for the question? She is quite right to point out that the issue of surplus places is not one alone for rural areas; it does have an effect on how we plan provision in urban areas too, and that will form part of the review. Cardiff has well-known plans to expand school provision in key locations, especially at primary level, and has already received capital funding from the Welsh Government in order to establish new schools, such as the new primary school in Pontprennau, which I had an invitation just yesterday to open later on this year. It is the responsibility of local authorities to adequately plan school places for their population in the right communities, and they are judged on their effectiveness in doing that by Estyn.

The Member raises the issue of active travel. We should be looking to, wherever possible, encourage active travel measures so that people can access school either on foot or on bicycles, and that should form part of the consideration when planning and developing new schools. The Active Travel (Wales) Bill 2012 sets out the legal requirements of local authorities in this regard. It is not a matter for me but my Cabinet colleague Ken Skates, but I’m sure both of us would want to be assured that, in developing new schools, proper consideration is given to the safe passage of those children to those new schools.

Unmet demand suggests that we need more primary Welsh-medium places in Penllergaer or Gorseinon in my region due to pressures at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin. Young children are being transported from the Cwmbwrla and Gendros areas of Swansea to access primary Welsh-medium education in other parts of the city because the council has earmarked the perfect site for a school for housing, and there are problems with continued overflow with some of the primary Welsh-medium provision in the east of my region as a result of a botched council consultation and the consequent loss of twenty-first century schools money for a new school. Are councils treating Welsh in education plans seriously and, if not, will you strengthen the relevant legislation to ensure that they do?

Can I thank the Member? I’m well aware of the concerns from those parents in the Swansea area who are seeking Welsh-medium education for their children. You will be aware that the previous Welsh in education plan for the Swansea area was approved by the previous Minister in March of this year, and that plan indeed identified some of the pressures that exist for parents seeking Welsh-medium education. The next round of Welsh-medium plans for the Swansea area for the 2017-20 period will be coming forward to my department before the end of this year, and I will want to be absolutely confident that there is a comprehensive, sustainable and achievable plan so that those parents making the very positive choice to send their children to Welsh-medium education have the opportunity to do so within their communities, and are not having to travel long distances to achieve that aim.