5. What discussions has the Welsh Government held with Cardiff Council in relation to increasing the number of Welsh-medium school places? OAQ52971

Thank you very much, Neil. I'm very pleased that you asked that in Welsh, and thank you for your efforts in that regard.

I do think that there is a connection that's made very often between Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government, and there is continuous monitoring of what the council have promised to do in their Welsh in education strategic plan, and, in that, we hope that they will ensure that they deliver on those promises. So, in-house, within the Government, we have people who are regularly monitoring that. 

Thank you. Ysgol Hamadryad is moving to a new site in Butetown in January. There is an opportunity to do something very special and very positive here with local communities. What will the strategy be, and what will you do to engage with this? Would it be possible to arrange a meeting with stakeholders in the community?

Thank you very much. Well, I'm extremely pleased to see this new school being opened. I was one of the people who campaigned for a school in this area of the city, and I was at the ceremony where they cut the first sod for the new building. I'm also very happy that there is a nursery unit that will be attached to the school and I do now hope that there will be an endeavour—and I know that this is already happening—by the school to engage with the community in a broader fashion, and that they go out and ensure that everybody in the area feels that they can access that school too. I give you a commitment to contact the council to ensure that they ask the school to redouble their efforts just before they move in, so that the people of the area feel that this school is theirs.

Minister, obviously, it's welcome news that new schools are opening up to provide Welsh-medium education, not just in Cardiff, but across the whole of Wales. But one thing that is really important is the ability to supply those schools with quality teachers able to teach the curriculum. With the devolution of teachers' pay and conditions, what analysis has the Government taken about many measures it might be able to take to fill shortages in this particular area? Because, as I said, there's little or no point in having new schools if we haven't got the teachers to teach the lessons.

Well, in relation to Welsh language teachers, where I'm slightly more familiar with where the issues are, I think in relation to primary schoolteachers, we're probably on course and we have enough teachers. We do have an issue, as do people across the whole of the planet, in recruiting teachers to secondary education. We are putting very practical measures in place to ensure that we can attract new people to the profession and to make sure that we are having quality standards. You'll be aware that the education Secretary last week really set out some very clear proposals in terms of how we will improve the quality of the teaching within Wales.