I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate, and I'm very glad to follow Andrew R.T. Davies in raising yet again our joint opposition across this Chamber to the Vale of Glamorgan Council's latest proposal—of course, it is now a Conservative-controlled council—to close a successful school in my constituency and Andrew's region, Llancarfan Primary School. I think it is relevant to raise some of the points that we have been raising over the last few months. The fact that Llancarfan has been designated as the only rural school in the Vale of Glamorgan was welcomed, and we'd hoped that this would afford it some level of protection in consideration of the outcome of the second public consultation on the future of the school. But the Vale of Glamorgan Council appeared to ignore the consultation responses and, as I said this afternoon in questions to the Cabinet Secretary, hasn’t considered other options such as federation, and is pressing ahead with its plans.

We have grave concerns about the proposal to close Llancarfan school, a successful rural school in the Vale of Glamorgan. The closure plans are widely opposed and contested with rigorous expert independent evidence, and I've said that the concept of this being a transfer, as Andrew has said, of the school rather than a closure is both flawed and concerning, and does discredit the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013. It's also a unique interpretation of the school organisation code, and it could indeed set a precedent for local authorities to use school transfers as a means of avoiding additional safeguards for rural schools in the revised code. So, may we ask for these issues that I've outlined to be considered by the Welsh Government?

I do find it disappointing that there doesn't seem to have been any attempt by the Vale council to consider alternatives to sustain a successful rural school in Llancarfan and enhance provision at Rhws Primary School, which could access the twenty-first century schools programme.