Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 6 February 2019.
Well, I can assure the Member that I wrote to Councillor Debbie Wilcox, the leader of Newport City Council, back in November, seeking reassurances. A response was received from the said council in December, and the council stated that they were confident that they will leave a significant and well-funded service that should be more than able to maintain the current levels of delivery to the remaining four local authorities. However, as you will have heard from Lynne Neagle, the situation is fluid, continues to change. Newport council are belatedly now engaging with parents of children who use this service, but, again, as we've heard from Lynne Neagle, the quality of that consultation exercise is at best questionable, and my officials continue to liaise with Newport City Council over their actions on this particular service.