5. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: High Achievement — Supporting our More Able and Talented Learners

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:53 pm on 27 February 2018.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 4:53, 27 February 2018

If I could deal with the points that Darren has made—Darren, as you well know, I am not satisfied with current Welsh performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment. What a close examination of the PISA results tells us is that one of the reasons we are not doing as well as I would like is because the attainment of our more able and talented pupils in Wales does not compare with the OECD average. That's why we need to push more on this particular agenda. I don't hide away from that. That's one of the reasons why we're bringing forward this additional support.

You ask why am I not able to commit funding for more than two years. Well, if your Government in London could commit to a comprehensive spending review—and there was uncertainty over the overall Welsh Government's budget—I would love to be in a position to be more certain. But I have to say, Darren, with the Westminster Government actually taking money out of the overall education budget, which reflects on our budget here in education terms, it's very difficult to be able to plan more than two years ahead. But I can't let perfect be the enemy of the good. I could sit here and wring my hands and say, 'I can't go beyond two years, therefore I will do nothing', or 'I need more resources, therefore I will do nothing', or we could take charge of this agenda and start to make some progress.