School Closures in Swansea

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 19 February 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:36, 19 February 2019

I thank Mike Hedges for that supplementary question. He will be aware, I know, that our former colleague Huw Lewis, when he was the education Minister, asked Estyn—the inspectorate—to look particularly at this issue of whether there was a minimum size of school that ought to be observed. I think the facts are that the report that Estyn published in December 2013 found that there were other factors that were more relevant to the success of a school than size. And, indeed, I'm very used to hearing the Member make very persuasively the case he makes in relation to local authorities, where he generally takes the view that size is not the key determining factor in whether a local authority can be a success or not. The work of Estyn took the same view in relation to schools, saying the quality of leadership, for example, was more significant than size in whether a school was performing well or not. But the issue that the Member raises is an important one and will certainly be kept under review by the Welsh Government.