May I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement this afternoon? I think it’s about time that we tackled some of the problems that have cast a dark shadow over some small and rural schools over a number of years. As someone who lives in a rural community, as someone who’s a parent of children who attend a small rural school, and someone who’s a governor of that very same school, I particularly welcome the statement, and also, of course, I do declare that I have an interest in that regard.

You mentioned, of course, the creation of a national strategy for small and rural schools, but you don’t give us many details as to how, perhaps, you’re going to go about doing that. So, perhaps you could tell us something about the process that you have in mind in that regard, and when you expect that strategy to be in place.

I warmly welcome the change in the presumption against the closure of schools in the school organisation code, and that’s certainly something that already exists in England. Of course, the main factor within the current code, if my memory serves me correctly, in considering closure is to protect educational outcomes, and I don’t think anyone would suggest that that should be changed. I know that placing a focus on the quality of education is what’s needed, rather than, perhaps, the more physical aspects, such as surplus school places and so on. You’ve mentioned the need to take into account a broader range of options rather than closure. Perhaps you could tell us a little about how we can broaden the menu of options available, because, as far as I can see, there are federation and clustering, and perhaps some element of more meaningful collaboration. But, more than that, what ideas do you have for schools to consider?

As I referred to surplus places, and as you make no reference to surplus places in your statement, which has, of course, been a strong focus for your predecessors at least in terms of the emphasis on the reorganisation of schools in rural areas, may I ask you, perhaps, to tell us whether you feel there’s been too much emphasis on that in the past? Are you going to reduce the emphasis on that? Certainly, it’s been a focus, of course, for the twenty-first century schools programme—one of the main objectives of band A, if memory serves me correctly. Therefore, will there be less emphasis on surplus school places in future, when it comes to looking at twenty-first century schools, as well as the wider issues in terms of school reorganisation?

For me, of course, a school doesn’t exist within a vacuum, and we also need to look and take account of the relationship between rural education and protecting, supporting and developing rural communities more broadly. Could I ask you, therefore, what discussions you’ve had with other Cabinet Secretaries on the need to tackle the wider problems, because closing a small school is very often a symptom of the fact that the local economy isn’t maintaining young families and people have to leave and there is depopulation as a result of that. So, trying to resolve one problem without a more meaningful effort to tackle the other can only be part of the solution.

I know that, in Scotland for example, following the commission they established a few years ago to look at rural schools there, they have set a clear focus on introducing family centres in rural schools as well as early years services in those rural schools. Of course, there is a clear link to that with some of the things that we’re hearing from the Cabinet Secretary on communities and childcare and these children’s zones that have been mentioned as a possible opportunity. I would like to hear what opportunities you believe there may be in terms of rural provision in that regard.

Also, there is a need to encourage other sectors to play their part and to collaborate in order to support rural education. And I’m not just talking about the voluntary sector, but certainly further and higher education, especially perhaps in terms of secondary education in rural areas. I would like to know how you think there could be a possible contribution from that direction in supporting some of the things that we want to see developing.

Again in Scotland, there is additional funding provided to the highlands and islands university in order to encourage them to work more closely with rural schools. You refer to the creation of a £2.5 million fund, and, whilst I welcome that and do recognise the financial pressures on the Government, in the context of some of the other proposals and plans, it isn’t such a huge amount. Certainly, looking at the scale of the challenge and the need for additional support in the rural context, one would always want to see more funding. But, I will ask you perhaps whether that is the starting point, because one would assume that we would need a broader effort. One thinks about ICT, and you refer to it as one of the issues—of harnessing the power of IT with that funding. I attended a meeting last week where a teacher at a school told me that, if there are more than two pupils online at the same time, then the whole thing comes to a grinding halt. So, there are infrastructure problems. I know that the Government is aware of that, but one could perhaps feel that we are not making the progress that we should be making in that regard.

Attracting teachers to work in rural areas is also a challenge. If you’re a deputy head in a large school, then what’s the incentive for you to become a headteacher in a smaller school? You have to ask that question, because the financial incentive in terms of salary isn’t such a great one when compared with the additional burden and responsibilities that would come with that headship. So, how will the strategy that you mention assist in tackling the pressures in terms of staffing resources in that regard?

Finally, we can’t look at the situation of rural schools without also considering the issue of school transport in a rural context, because the provision as it has existed has been reducing. What we’re seeing, of course, is a number of parents taking their children with them to the towns or the centres where they work for their education because the transport provision that may have been there in the past is no longer there because of various cuts imposed. So, has any consideration been given to that? If not, what consideration will be given to strengthening the school transport provision because, without that, it makes it extremely difficult to ensure that people can take advantage of that service?