Questions now from the party spokespeople. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Siân Gwenllian.

Thank you, Llywydd. Headteachers the length and breadth of Wales are warning that there is a funding crisis facing our schools and that this will have far-reaching impacts—larger class sizes, fewer teachers, the condition of buildings deteriorating, reduction in the support for additional learning needs, cuts to pastoral services and well-being services. We are losing hundreds of our most experienced teachers and mid-level leaders from our schools as a result of early retirement.

The Children, Young People and Education Committee inquiry has placed a focus on the need to increase the quantum being spent on education, and it's also started to discuss what measures could be put in place even within the existing budget in order to ensure that more funding reaches our schools. There is one teaching union, with the support of the Conservatives, that recommends moving towards a system of direct school funding, creating a system similar to the academies in England. What's your view on direct funding?

Firstly, can I say, with the committee looking at expanding the quantum of money available to me, I'm willing to work with anybody in this Chamber who is in favour of expanding the quantum of money that is available to our schools? As I said in answer to Mohammad Asghar, I'm under no illusions about the real challenges facing our teaching profession, and this is what austerity looks like. It's not an abstract concept. This is what austerity, prolonged years of public expenditure being squeezed—this is the reality of what it means out on the ground.

As I said earlier, in some ways, direct funding of a single formula does not, in my view, address the issue of the diversity of educational provision that we have in Wales. It undermines the law that we currently have, which says that this is the democratic decision-making responsibility of our local authorities, and would be incredibly difficult to do at a continuing time of austerity. It might be easy to do it if budgets were rising and we could have a floor below which nobody dropped, but, given the challenging financial circumstances we find ourselves in, it would be incredibly challenging to do so, and to think it is simply as easy as that—one only has to look at the discord across the border in England with how direct funding of schools has worked out for them.

Presiding Officer, perhaps in answer to the question about what more we can do, I would like to take this opportunity to announce to the Chamber that, following the statement that was made by the finance Minister last week, in 2019-20, I am allocating £47.7 million to meet in full the identified additional estimated pressure for maintained schools and further education colleges in Wales arising out of changes to teachers' pensions, and I hope that this will be welcomed across the Chamber and by individual schools.

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?

I think the Member makes a very good point: a point that was made, actually, very eloquently by Andrew R.T. Davies, who's not in his seat today, when he recently addressed the school funding budget debate that we had here. He recognised that there are some services that are best delivered and organised and planned at either a local authority level or a regional level, because that's where we can get the best type of service for individual children.

What is absolutely clear to me, in the absence of a commitment from the Westminster Government to end the damaging era of austerity, is that we have to work collectively to find more ways in which we can avoid duplication and get more money to the front line, and I'm more than happy to meet with the Member, or, indeed, other Members who have ideas on how that can be achieved, and I continue, as I said in an earlier answer, to challenge our local authorities, regional consortia, and other middle tier to ensure that they're not hanging on to budgets that could be delegated to individual schools.

To help with that discussion, therefore, may I suggest that there are a number of questions that you and the education department within Government could be asking? Are there too many layers in our education system? Do these create unnecessary bureaucracy? Is there too much duplication of work? And is that a good use of the scarce funding in the education pot? For example, are there too many bodies supporting schools? Do we need to tighten up the system substantially? Another question that should be asked is whether there is a better way of funding sixth forms in schools. Another for your consideration, if you would: could we hasten the process of distributing funding from the Welsh Government, avoiding financial announcements being made very late in the day? I do look forward to having a constructive discussion in light of this important committee inquiry.

The Member is absolutely right to look at whether there is duplication. I am frustrated to read from ASCL and to discuss with ASCL some of their concerns, for instance, of a duplication of roles, functions and spending from the regional consortia and individual local education authorities. Of course, regional consortia are run by local councils—they are the stakeholders, they hold the managing directors to account—and therefore it seems to me very concerning that in that governance arrangement they would allow for a duplication of spend across their own local authority and their regional consortia. So, I want to reassure the Member that we are constantly challenging LEAs and regional consortia around issues around delegation.

Sixth forms, again, potentially, is a really challenging area about how we continue to provide access to post-compulsory education in a way that meets our Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure 2009 and meets the aspirations of our young people, who want a large selection of courses from which to choose, and how we can keep people in Wales. As a border Assembly Member, I'm very concerned that people choose to study post-16 over the border. We need to address that situation. I'm always very concerned that we ourselves as a department do all we can to get our money that we provide to schools out the door as quickly and as effectively and as efficiently as we possibly can.

Conservatives spokesperson, Suzy Davies. 

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Minister, can I thank you very much for confirming that you've now heard from the finance Minister with a figure to be passported to you from the UK Government budget to meet—and I think; I'm just quoting you—that £47.7 million in full? It meets the costs of the pension hike in full. So, that's pleasing to hear. Can you tell me what steps you'll be taking to make sure that every penny that actually gets to schools will be spent in meeting the cost of the pensions uplift?

Okay. Let me make it absolutely clear: this money relates to teachers' pensions. The allocation is £47.7 million, and it is, indeed, to meet in full the identified additional estimated pressures for maintained schools and FE colleges in Wales. But let's be absolutely clear: it is the Welsh Government that are meeting these commitments in full. The money that has come down from Westminster has not met the bill for these changes, and it is the Welsh Government that is ensuring that the pressures are met in full. This breaks down as £42.1 million for maintained schools, including sixth forms, and £5.6 million for further education colleges. The changes to teachers' pensions will be implemented from the start of the new academic year in September. Therefore, this funding relates to the period September 2019 to March 2020, and the Welsh Government's officials will agree with local authorities the specific logistics of grant distribution to each authority over the next few weeks, and it will be done in a special grant via local education authorities that they have to spend for this purpose.

Thank you. That's a very helpful answer, Minister. You've just confirmed that this is going to be ring-fenced money and it will be going to the schools, and, if that doesn't happen, then, obviously, we will be holding you, as well as local authorities, to account on that. Perhaps you can let us have a note at some point about what the difference is between the money that you've had from the UK Government and that that you're prepared to give to meet the total cost to see if we can get some sort of sense of the scale of your commitment.

Like Siân Gwenllian, I don't think I've ever heard from so many teachers about core funding as I am the moment, and, yes, we can discuss London's role in this, but teachers are wise to the fact that the education budget increased this year, and they have questions for you and council leaders about whether central Government grant funding, which is targeted at those diverse needs you mentioned a bit earlier on—whether that is starting to give local authorities a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to providing core budgets to school. And in particular—this is what's coming to me—the very welcome increase in the pupil development grant—and this is not an attack on PDG in any way at all—means that schools in more affluent areas are losing staff while schools in more deprived areas are able to retain them, because of the PDG targeting the needs of poorer children, obviously, but maintaining the resilience of the school structure and its staffing, and, of course, providing some incidental benefit to pupils who are not eligible for free school meals, which is fine by me, I must admit.

That flexibility is not open to schools with low PDG eligibility, and there's a risk now, I think, of creating a cohort of educationally disadvantaged children and young people, which is not what you want—I'm absolutely certain of that. So, I heard your comments in response to Hefin David a bit earlier on, in which you spoke of the funding formula, so I'm not talking about that. But are you open to reconsidering the balance of how schools are funded as between Welsh Government and local authorities and in the round, and, again, in a way that isn't seen as an attack on the PDG, because that's certainly not my intention?

Well, the Member—. I accept that the Member is not attacking the principle of the PDG. Only yesterday, the First Minister answered a series of questions that talked about the impact of poverty on the life chances of those individuals who find themselves in those circumstances. And the £400 million plus that has been spent on the PDG since it was introduced in the last Assembly is just one attempt by the Government to try and level the playing field. But let's be absolutely clear: that is not the only source of funding that comes from Welsh Government to individual schools. We also have the school improvement grant, the education improvement grant. We have a specific grant that looks to address some of the logistical challenges and the teaching challenges of teaching in our small and rural schools. We have the business manager pilots, we have the class sizes grant, we have the additional learning needs money, we have the professional learning resources that have been sent to schools. So, there is a plethora of central funding that makes its way to schools, but, as I said, Suzy, I'm not immune to the challenges, the very real challenges, that are facing our school communities and our leaders who are working incredibly hard. But I don't think that the redistribution of the PDG is necessarily the way to solve those problems.

Again, thank you for that answer. Well, obviously, I'm hoping, like me, you're interested in the life chances of pupils from all backgrounds, and, at the moment, it's those in more affluent areas who seem to be taking the brunt of the way that local authorities are making decisions about how they distribute moneys—core funding. It's all well and good to speak about some of the other grants you mentioned, but of course, there have been cuts to the education improvement grant, as we've heard, in Gwynedd, which has resulted in children who don't speak Welsh as a first language not having access to the instruction that they need to help them access education through the medium of Welsh in that county.

Now, again, on the subject of unintended consequences of a good idea, teachers and local authorities are now very worried about how they're going to be able to meet the cost of compliance with the additional learning needs Act and the code, with some very serious questions being raised about the support currently offered to pupils on school action, in particular. I've been told by a teacher that it can take up to 20 hours of admin time to support a child, let alone the actual in-classroom time, and that staffing implications at a time when some schools are having to let staff go, in some cases, when the number of special education needs pupils is already rising and SEN funding from councils is falling. Now, there've always been concerns about the way this legislation is costed—I'm sure you remember that bruising period. I'm just wondering whether you will commit to reviewing not just what it costs to implement the Act and through the code, but ensuring that any additional money that you do manage to identify in due course cannot be diverted to meet other pressures that councils claim they have.

Thanks, Suzy Davies, for that question. Can I just say that my understanding of the situation in Gwynedd regarding the immersion unit is not as portrayed by the Member? There are ongoing discussions within Gwynedd county council, between the executive of the council and, indeed, my officials about the future of those services, recognising the important role that immersion units play for children who have potentially moved to the area or want to be able to acquire those skills, and the council is considering the future of those services actively. So, it's not as the Member has portrayed in the Chamber.

With regard to remembering the bruising, well, he's not in his seat, but Alun Davies was the Minister responsible for the passage of most of that legislation, and I think he does remember that very well. You are right, the Government has committed £20 million to support the implementation of our transformational ALN agenda, working really hard to ensure its successful implementation, and clearly, the stated intent of that legislation is that all children, regardless of their additional learning needs, will have their needs met in full.

UKIP spokesperson, Michelle Brown.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Relating to your earlier announcement about covering the funding for the pension changes, I think schools across Wales are going to be breathing a sigh of relief on that one, so I welcome your announcement.

Last year, a review showed that fining parents for taking children out of school in term time in Wales has had no effect on overall absence rates. Is it right that parents should be fined for taking their children out of the school for a week to take them on holiday?

First of all, it's not just schools that are breathing a sigh of relief; I'm breathing a sigh of relief that the finance Minister has made these resources available. And it's remiss of me, I'm sure that the finance Minister will be more than happy to supply a note to Suzy Davies outlining the resources that the Welsh Government has had to find to make sure that this announcement has been able to be made today.

With regard to fining parents, fining parents—. With regard to attendance at school, let's be absolutely clear that regular attendance at school is the most important thing a parent can do for their children's educational outcomes, and parents should make every effort when at all possible, unless a child is ill or there are circumstances beyond their control, that children should be in school. We leave it to the discretion of individual headteachers to be able to apply authorised absences, but local authorities will have and will continue to have the power to fine parents where they believe that that is an effective way to deal with non-attendance at school, and I would expect local authorities, in using such powers, to have worked for a long period of time with that family to ensure that school attendance is a priority.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. You'd like to add an extra in-service training day to the Welsh school calendar. It doesn't seem fair that the state can deny a child five or six days of schooling, but if a parent does it to take them on a holiday they might otherwise not be able to afford, they face being fined. If schools are to have INSET days, would it not make sense to have each school take the INSET days in a five or six-day block? In consultation with parents, each school could decide which week to have the INSET training. That way, families could use that time to go on holiday outside of the peak school holiday times, and parents may feel less frustrated by the current unfairness of the system.

Well, the Member will be aware that we're currently out to consultation with regard to an additional INSET day. We are doing that because what I think parents want most of all is absolute certainty that our teaching profession is ready for the implementation of our new curriculum. But the consultation also gives us an opportunity to explore whether there is a possibility that we can have greater coherence about how individual schools use their INSET days. I do not believe changing INSET days is an answer to the very real problem that some families face in terms of the practices of holiday companies that up their prices significantly during the school holidays—in some cases almost doubling the price of a break, depending on when the school holidays fall.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. There's no denying that teachers are very, very busy during term time, and are possibly feeling under more pressure because of the pressure on education spending, but having INSET days spread throughout the year, forcing many parents to use up a week or more of their annual leave in a way that is basically useless to the family, does make some working families feel that the education system is indifferent to the impact that these days have on them. Some working parents may only have as little as four weeks' holiday a year if they're working full-time. They wonder, as I do, why teacher training takes place during term time, when teachers have three months' worth of holiday each year.

Can I say—? Teacher training, in good schools, happens every single day of the week, because a good teacher knows that the lessons they teach tomorrow will be better than the lessons they teach today. We are consulting on an extra INSET day, because what I know, from speaking to the parents that I meet, what they want to do is to ensure that their children are in receipt of a first-class education system, and we need our profession to be ready for our new curriculum reforms.