Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 13 March 2019.
Thank you very much, and I'm very pleased to hear that last announcement. I know that my colleague in Westminster, Ben Lake, has been pursuing this issue, so I'm very grateful to hear that—that'll be good news for our schools.
But, to return to direct funding, just to put it on the record, Plaid Cymru is willing to consider any proposals that would deliver better outcomes for our children. We are not of the view, however, that direct school funding is an option that should be considered here in Wales, and that's for a number of reasons. You've mentioned one issue regarding having one sum of money, but there's more to it than that. We need to keep democratic accountability at a local level in terms of funding, and central services provided in support are crucially important—for example, for children in care and children with additional needs. There is a risk that the most vulnerable children could be forgotten in a system where funding would be provided directly. It’s one thing to provide direct funding for a large urban school, but very many of our schools are small, they are rural and they are in disadvantaged areas, and they need support from a central source. So, I’m very pleased that we’re agreed on that, and that you too are rejecting the calls for direct school funding. Do you therefore feel that it’s time for the discussion to move towards finding less damaging solutions for school funding and ensuring fairer school funding? Should that work be where the focus sits now?