Questions now from the party spokespeople. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Llyr Gruffydd.  

Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, it's taken four years to embed the Hwb+ virtual learning platform and get more than 80 per cent of schools using the platform. All schools have been trained to use it after a great deal of time, effort and money. So, can you explain to us why you believe it's the best use of public funds to abandon that project now? 

What’s really important, Llyr, is that we learn from the experience of practitioners who use this online resource. There are certain sections of the project that have been very successful. High amounts of usage and feedback from practitioners and students say that it’s very valuable. However, there have been aspects of the platform that have been less well used, and, as we update our offer on Hwb, it’s necessary to reflect on the feedback from practitioners and develop a set of services available to schools online that are helpful to them, especially the interface, making it easy to use those resources.

But it’s no small undertaking, is it, to move from one particular type of provision to another? You stated in June,

‘From the outset— and I quote,

—‘we have been clear that being digitally competent is one of the fundamental pillars of a modern education'.

Nobody would doubt that.

‘That is why digital competence was identified as the third cross-curricular responsibility, alongside literacy and numeracy’.

We have a situation where the consortia have advised schools that the tools in Hwb+ are necessary for the Government’s new curriculum and digital competence framework. Given the scale of this project, your intended change will mean, no doubt, a year or two of disruption. So, can you tell us how you will ensure that changing this platform at this key time will actually enhance learning rather than put an extra burden on teachers who will have to start over again, be retrained and familiarise themselves with a new platform at a time when many people are saying that they’re still becoming familiar with the current set of tools?

I think it’s really important for Members to be clear that we are not ending the Hwb project. We are looking to refresh a particular part of that programme, Hwb+, which is a part of the programme that has not seen particularly high levels of usage, and the feedback from practitioners has been that it has not been particularly useful. Hwb in the round will stay and we will be looking, working with large software companies, to find a more useful interface.

But the Member is absolutely right to draw our attention to the importance of digital skills in the new curriculum. It is absolutely essential that our young people leave education in Wales being literate, being numerate and being digitally competent. That goes beyond simply being able to use a computer, but it’s about being able to interrogate information that they may find online, it’s about being safe online and safe using social media, and crucially, as part of our ‘Cracking the code’ and extension into coding clubs, it’s about understanding how computers and information technology works, because it is those people who can design apps, design websites and design programmes—. That has a massive potential economic benefit to those students and young people.

I find it interesting that you say that feedback from practitioners has been less than positive, because the Government’s own evaluation of the implementation of the Learning in Digital Wales Programme in October last year reported positive feedback from schools on Hwb+ and concluded that,

'Abandoning the project would severely disappoint and alienate teachers, who are enthusiastic about further take-up of digital learning and have invested their considerable time and effort setting up Hwb Plus school sites and promoting it to colleagues at their school.’

You yourself have lauded Hwb+ as being a finalist in the Microsoft global education partner of the year this year, so that’s positive feedback in my book. Where you get the negative feedback from, I’d be interested in understanding. But also we need some clarity, I think, about the level of investment that’s been invested by the Government in this. You recently gave the cost of the Hwb project on the basis of the contract for the Hwb platform as being £2.53 million. That’s inconsistent with a Government answer in 2015, which said that the supplier contract value to provide Hwb+—the all-Wales learning platform—to all schools in Wales is near £4.5 million. There’s a disparity there. So, can you tell us what has been the total cost of the project? Can you also tell us what additional cost will there now be resulting from your decision to make these changes?

As I said, Llyr, it is absolutely crucial, because, I have to say, you’re giving the impression that Hwb itself is coming to an end, and that is not the case. We are changing a very small part of it because the contract is coming to an end and there are no options within that contract to renew. I have decided, on the basis of public value for money, to pursue this project in a different way. Those figures that the Members asked for—I will write to him and put a copy in the library.FootnoteLink

Information further to Plenary.

Conservative spokesperson—Darren Millar.

Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, fewer Welsh students than ever before are going on to top Russell Group universities. We know that the figures from Oxbridge suggest that just 2 per cent were offered places last year that were Welsh domiciled. What action are you taking as a Welsh Government to address this challenge and to make sure that more of our brightest kids get on in the world and get to these top universities?

I'm sure, Presiding Officer, the Member is very well aware of the Government's investment in the Seren network. I would refer the Member to data that I told the Chamber not so long ago about with regard to the closing-off date when students have to take individual entrance exams for Oxford university, for a number of medical schools and veterinary schools—applications are up.

It's not just about applications, though, is it? It's about how many places are actually offered to students from Wales. Can you tell us how many students who are part of the Seren network were actually offered places at Russell Group universities in recent years?

With all due respect, if we have got limited numbers of people applying to go to those universities, we can't hope to raise the number that are offered and hopefully go on to accept a place. What's really important to me is that Welsh students' aspirations are raised so they feel confident enough to make those applications to Oxford, to Cambridge, to medical schools, to veterinary schools. I will write to the Member because I do not have the exact figures to hand. Given his—very rightly so—commitment to making sure that ministerial answers are absolutely correct, I will write to the Member with the absolute figures.

Well, you already have responded to questions on this matter, and of course you're not able to provide the information because the Welsh Government doesn't actually record it, which is pretty astonishing given that you're making significant investment in the Seren network and we want people to be able to succeed. But if you're not tracking the success or otherwise of the Seren network in terms of the numbers of young people being offered the opportunity to take up places at top universities, how can we be confident that this isn't yet another complete waste of taxpayers' money, because you've not been able to show value for money for it?

As I said, we keep very close eye on the number of applications that students are making to universities. I'm well aware of the questions that the Conservative group have tabled; it was 61 individual questions on this particular topic in one day. I'm grateful to the Conservatives for taking such and interest in this programme and I will endeavour to ensure that the data that Darren Millar wants is given to him.

UKIP spokesperson—Michelle Brown.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the Cabinet Secretary tell me the details of any additional educational provision that is made for the looked-after children in Wales, please?

I thank Michelle for the question. I'm sure the Member is aware that looked-after children are subject to the pupil development grant. There are additional resources that are made available to support the education of looked-after children, and looked-after children who wish to attend university will be entitled to the full package of student support under the Diamond proposals.

Okay, thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that answer. The reason that I ask is that the announcement that you made back in May and what you've just said—there's not very much in there about any details of how extra support for this group would actually manifest itself. Although you've announced positive actions in the past, have you actually considered making additional teaching hours available to looked-after children? It's a sector that the charity Children in Wales says are still having poorer educational outcomes than their non-care counterparts. If you have considered it, have you committed to ring-fencing funding for schools, or indeed other establishments, to offer looked-after children some additional extra learning time, either face to face or in a group?

Well, Michelle, let's be absolutely clear: children who are care experienced at present do not achieve the qualifications in the numbers that I would like for them to do so. There has been significant progress in recent years with the number of looked-after children leaving school with five good GCSEs, but we have a significant way to go to ensure that all those children reach their potential.

The Member asks about ring-fenced resources. The pupil development grant is ring-fenced. It is a set amount of money that is passed to the regional consortia to support schools in a variety of techniques—whatever is best for those children in those particular schools.

The Welsh Government is also working across departments, with my colleague Huw Irranca-Davies, to fund the adverse childhood experiences hub and ACEs network. We know that many looked-after children, by the fact that they are in care, have suffered adverse childhood experiences, which can negatively impact on their education. The ACEs hub is there to support schools to look at a variety of interventions that can best support those children who are care experienced.

The reason I'm asking about this is that children who have been put in local authority care are already disadvantaged because of all those ACEs that you spoke about—that will have had an impact on their education. They're going into care, which has an impact on their education. What the state can do is give them additional schooling to actually give them a leg up—schooling that wouldn't actually be particularly expensive per child to offer. I was just wondering whether you're prepared to look at that option of, perhaps, offering a summer school arrangement to looked-after children, whose education is being disadvantaged by the ACEs that they've suffered.

The Member will be aware that, this summer, the Welsh Government funded the school holiday enrichment programme, or the lunch and fun programme, predominantly aimed at disadvantaged children so that they could access educational provision and a hot meal during the school holidays. That programme has been very successful, and we hope to be able to fund even more local authorities next summer to be able to offer those opportunities. We continue to support those families that are foster caring with additional advice on how they can make an impact.

But what's really important to remember—if you listen to children who are looked after, what they tell you time and time again is that they don't want to be stigmatised and they don't want to be seen to be treated any differently from their cohorts, and that's really important to those children. We are supporting them within mainstream education—not singling them out, but giving those schools additional resources to help those children's education. Importantly, we're seeing results, because results are improving for that group of learners.