Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. If I may make a few brief remarks regarding the regulations that are before the Chamber today, Wales remains at the forefront of ensuring greater coherence and recognising the contribution that the whole education workforce makes to learner outcomes in Wales. I am sure that Members will agree that the registration of the wider educational workforce is good news, as it provides the reassurance that the workforce is deemed suitable for registration. Since 2015, the Education Workforce Council register has been expanded to include FE teachers and learning support workers in both schools and FE settings. From April 2017, the youth work sector and work-based learning practitioners will also be included.

The fee regulations set out the fee structures that categories of registrants will be required to pay annually from 1 April 2017, a fee contribution that is unchanged from that set for 1 April 2016. Both the 2014 and 2016 fee consultation set out a preferred fee model that required an amendment to the schoolteachers’ pay and conditions document and the redistribution of the £33 allowance that teachers working in maintained schools in Wales received. Members will also be aware that the STPCD is non-devolved and that, as of August 2016, the Secretary of State for Education approved the removal of the school teacher’s £33 allowance. These regulations will set the fee levels for all registration practitioners at £46, regardless of what category of registration they wish to register under. However, from 1 April 2017 and thereafter, the Welsh Government has set aside and ring-fenced a £1 million subsidy for the registration fee for the whole education workforce. This subsidy is aligned to the fact that the Welsh Minsters set the fee level and, in real terms, ensures that the practitioners’ contributions are kept low. It also recognises that learning support workers and youth support workers in Wales earn less compared to school or FE teachers, and, therefore, the subsidy reduces their actual fee contribution to £15. The remaining categories are provided with a smaller subsidy, which reduces the actual fee contribution of £45.

I, therefore, Deputy Presiding Officer, ask the Chamber to support the motion today.