4. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s support for bilingual primary schools in mid Wales? OAQ(5)0054(EDU)

Presiding Officer, prior to answering this question I would like to put on record an interest in this matter, in that I have a child attending a Welsh-medium primary school in mid Wales.

The national strategy for small and rural schools will provide support for schools to work together as well as a £2.5 million grant. This will support Welsh-medium and bilingual primary schools to work together and to share good practice. This will strengthen local authority Welsh in education strategic plans.

Thank you, Minister, for your answer. In spite of efforts from the headteacher and governors of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant Primary School in my constituency, in order for them to achieve a balanced budget, they have to make reductions in staffing from five to four teachers. In doing that, this will lead to the combination of English and Welsh infant streams in the afternoons, compromising, of course, their bilingual status as a school. Do you recognise the higher cost that small rural dual-stream schools face, and what do you think is a solution in ensuring that bilingual schools are not compromised?

Many of the matters the Member has referred to in his question are, of course, matters for the local authority rather than matters for us here. But let me make a more general point in response—I think the general point does deserve a fuller response than that.

You’ll be aware that the Cabinet Secretary made a very comprehensive statement to the Chamber on the issue of rural schools. She emphasised, at that point, the importance of equity, which she has again referred to this afternoon, in terms of ensuring that people are able to access education in the Welsh and English languages equally. We continue to wish to ensure that rural schools and schools across the whole of Wales have the right framework available to them, plus the resources, to ensure that they are able to offer those educational opportunities. I will also repeat what I’ve said on previous occasions in this place—that we are anticipating the Welsh-medium strategic plans to be provided to us next month, and I will be taking a great interest in what all local authorities are proposing over the next strategic planning period.

It’s clear that within these WESPs you would, hopefully, be seeking to ensure that language streams aren’t being mixed. That’s what’s happening now in Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochnant, as I understand it, given the current cuts—that the foundation phase is being mixed together in terms of language streams. That’s not appropriate or good practice. There are also similar problems developing in Llanfyllin, and possibly in Llandrindod Wells. Yes, there’s been a failing by the county council, and that’s been ongoing for a number of years, to prepare appropriately for the growth of Welsh-medium education in Powys, if truth be told. But, in looking at the WESPs, will you ensure that you don’t allow the situation to continue and that there should be no mixing of language streams, and that you therefore put the appropriate pressure on the county council to make appropriate provision to retain the language appropriately within these schools?

Llywydd, we’re all aware that proposals are being discussed in Powys at present. It’s a possibility that those proposals will come before Welsh Ministers for a decision. So, the Member will not be able to tempt me to offer any comments on the specific examples that he’s described in Powys this afternoon. But may I say this about the principle behind the question? I don’t want to create one model and solely one model for the provision of Welsh-medium education and bilingual education. I want to hear from local authorities about their plans, and after I’ve had the opportunity to consider those proposals, I’ll return here and make a statement on that at that point. But at present I don’t want to create any kind of linguistic straitjacket and say that there’s only one single model for Welsh-medium education throughout the whole of Wales.