Rural School Closures

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 19 September 2018.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 1:44, 19 September 2018

Cabinet Secretary, I've read the code that was laid on Monday. In it, it has a designation of rural schools for the purpose of presumption against closure, and it uses the Office for National Statistics' rural and urban classification, which I accept, and that's why the list on the back is there. But when you then go and look at the extra, detailed requirements, I ask the question: why aren't they applicable to all schools, because actually, those extra requirements should be applicable to every single school that's being considered for closure? The local authority in my area has designated the closure of Cymer Afan Comprehensive School, but the detailed, conscientious study that is required, particularly around community impact, has to be applied to every single school. Will you look at this and say that it's not just for rural schools and that this should be for every school?