5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the 21st Century Schools programme? OAQ(5)0107(FM)

Yes, with pleasure. Our twenty-first century schools programme will see investment of £1.4 billion over the five-year period to 2019. All 22 authorities will benefit from this investment, which sees the rebuild and refurbishment of over 150 schools and colleges across Wales. To date, 105 projects have been approved within the programme.

Thank you, First Minister. You’ll be aware that, for some, when mention of a new school is taken forward, there can be concerns, especially when children and parents are very happy with the school that they’re actually attending. Now, under section 5.4 of the Welsh Government’s statutory school organisation code, local authorities are obliged to consider all objections submitted conscientiously, and not to make decisions on amalgamation proposals with a closed mind to the stakeholders concerned. However, in Conwy recently, two recent amalgamation proposals affecting five of our primary schools are being taken forward by the council despite many objections. Many parents, teachers, governors and even the teachers unions are angry, frustrated and disappointed and consider the statutory consultation to be meaningless, particularly when relevant cabinet decision minutes recently were published before the meeting had even taken place—a fait accompli. In order to address the concerns raised, will you work with the new Cabinet Secretary for Education, obviously in the new school term, to look again at how the concerns and views of those most affected are considered within the twenty-first century schools decisions, so that these voices are heard and acted on appropriately?

The Member criticises Conwy council and the way they have conducted themselves. I know there have been concerns in Conwy, particularly with regard to a number of schools—I think in the Caerhun area and also I believe in Llandudno Junction. In terms of Llandudno Junction, my understanding is that there has been a re-consultation, which is open at the moment and will be until 27 July. With Caerhun, I understand that has already been approved. But it is correct to say that, where we set in place standards that we expect to be observed when school closures and mergers are proposed, we expect the process to be observed. There are legal pitfalls for local authorities unless they can demonstrate, of course, that they have followed the correct procedure, and we would expect all local authorities in Wales to do that.

First Minister, as well as building new schools, it’s also important that we continue to build new colleges for further education. Coleg Gwent have ambitious and important plans to relocate their Newport campus to the riverfront alongside the University of South Wales campus and, indeed, further buildings around and about. Would you agree with me that we must continue to improve our further education colleges in that way and support energy and ideas to bring about improvements to further education, and particularly, perhaps, strong links with higher education?

Yes, I do. I know that there may be proposals coming forward with regard to the Newport campus, but it’s entirely right to say that we should make sure that there is no hard and fast boundary between FE and HE for the student. I know that there are very many students who go on to complete degree courses who begin in an FE setting because that’s appropriate for them. They don’t perhaps have the confidence to go straight into HE and need to be encouraged to do so, and then of course they become successful over time. So, greater working between HE and FE is hugely important in order to create that seamless pathway for the student.

In light of the duties now on the public sector, given the introduction of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015, shouldn’t there be a requirement on all buildings erected using public funding, and, in this case, twenty-first century schools, to be using all possible opportunities in terms of renewable energies?

Yes, I believe that’s right. We’ve seen a number of examples of that, where buildings are ‘excellent’ in the BREEAM category. We’ve seen water being collected from the roofs being used in the school itself. So, we would expect local authorities to consider the good examples that I’ve seen across Wales in order to do the same themselves.