3. Further to reports of spending on celebrity speakers by GwE, will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on accountability arrangements for regional education consortia in Wales? 66

Thank you, Darren. Regional consortia receive funding from their constituent local authorities, their trading income and from a Welsh Government grant. They are rightly accountable to their joint governance committees made up of locally elected members to make sure that they deliver on their statutory duties. I also challenge them through regular challenge-and-review meetings. 

I'm sure that you, like everybody else in this Chamber, were shocked at the revelations that appeared in the media last week regarding the payment of a sum of at least £10,000 to Sir Clive Woodward for an hour-long talk at an event, and found those rather remarkable, especially given the current financial climate that many schools find themselves in, having to in some cases, unfortunately, lay off staff. I also think it's a bit of an insult to many of the unsung heroes in our schools—the many inspirational teachers and headteachers who could easily have given an inspirational talk, probably for free, had they been approached by the educational consortia.

Back in 2015, the Wales Audit Office raised concerns about regional consortia, and they said that there was an insufficient focus within the consortia on value for money. Now, I appreciate what you say about the governance arrangements between the partners that invest into those regional education consortia, but you are one of those partners as Welsh Government. There is no legislative structure or basis for the regional consortia. These are not organisations that are subject in quite the same way to proper scrutiny, audit and inspection by either Estyn or the Wales Audit Office, although, of course, the audit office can follow the money. Estyn do, of course, inspect, but there are loopholes within the inspection regime that mean that the regional consortia could resist inspection should they so wish. So, what action are you going to take to look at the legislative framework on which the regional consortia are established to see whether we can get some better governance arrangements that are more consistent across Wales, so that we can stop this sort of waste of taxpayers' money in the future and make sure that more money that is designed for improving education actually makes a difference on the front line?  

Thank you, Darren. Can I make it absolutely clear that there is no evidence at all to suggest that the regional consortia have resisted any inspection? Indeed—[Interruption.] Well, you just said that they have resisted. 

No, I haven't. 

I want to make it absolutely clear—I want to make it absolutely clear—that there is no evidence to suggest that the regional consortia have tried to resist inspection. In fact, GwE has just received another inspection from the Estyn inspectorate. So, let's be absolutely clear about that. 

But having said that, Darren, I do share your concerns that such a large amount of money was used in the way that has been reported and, frankly, I'm not going to stand here and make excuses for GwE. Officials have been directly in touch with the consortia to express my concern about their expenditure, and I will be raising this directly with the managing director at my challenge-and-review session, which, actually, is tomorrow in Llandudno. 

Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary. The next question, Adam Price.