7. Will the Minister make a statement on the right to receive Welsh-medium education? OAQ54155

Diolch yn fawr, Alun. Welsh-medium education is currently offered in all local authorities across Wales. The Welsh in education strategic plans are a mechanism for planning and expanding Welsh-medium education, and we are currently consulting on a new approach to planning Welsh-medium education by introducing 10-year plans and ambitious measurable targets. 

Thank you very much, Minister, for the answer. I was very pleased to hear the answer also to Huw Irranca-Davies's question earlier this afternoon. I know that you have a personal commitment to ensuring that Welsh-medium education increases across the country, and I know that you have been pushing that throughout your time in post. But I have been dealing with constituents and others, and I have heard stories from around the country, where people have found increasing problems in terms of getting transport to Welsh-medium schools to ensure that people can receive Welsh-medium education and also complete their studies through the medium of Welsh. Is there a way that the Government can make a clear statement that we all have a right to receive our education, right through the school, through Welsh, and that councils have a responsibility to ensure that people can have that right and have Welsh-medium education?

Well, Alun, yes indeed. All children in Wales have that right to receive their education through the medium of Welsh, if that's what they and their parents choose. Certainly, sometimes, parents and children face significant logistical disadvantage in accessing that right, often travelling significant distances to be able to enact that right. I am acutely aware of some of the changes with regard to post-16 travel that local authorities are consulting on. One of the strange things about Government is that I am not responsible for the learner travel policy. I'm sure many people would find it surprising that, as education Minister, I'm not responsible for it, but my colleague Ken Skates is, and I can assure the Member that my staff and the Minister with responsibility for the language overall are in discussions with Ken Skates on how we can address some of these challenges. Because what we know is that, in many areas, access to post-16 Welsh-medium provision is not available in a similar geographical way that it would be for English-medium tuition, and I don't want anybody not to have that opportunity of continuum because of some of these changes. And there are ongoing discussions in Government about how we can solve this.

I completely agree with Alun's question. Is a right really right when it's so easily frustrated by the ability of a local authority to say 'no' to transport? And I'm not just talking about post-16 transport, although, obviously, that's a very current issue in Neath Port Talbot in my own region. You alluded to this—I wanted to ask you: do you think the time has come for the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 to be replaced and for provision for free transport to the nearest Welsh-medium education to be included as a right, and that the issue of student transport is brought under the education portfolio, not the economy portfolio?

Well, Presiding Officer, I should declare an interest. My own family had to appeal a transport decision for my own children's ability to access their Welsh-medium education, along with another group of Powys parents. So, I am very familiar with some of the issues that parents find when trying to make that very positive choice. And I think it's particularly important that we address these issues if we want to encourage more people to make that choice. Because unless they can see easy access but also a broad continuum throughout all stages of learning for Welsh medium, many parents, especially those from non-Welsh-speaking households, might not make the first step on that journey, and I want more parents to be able to do that. As I said, there are ongoing discussions between myself, the Minister, and the Minister for Economy and Transport about the learner travel Measure. Whether there's time at this point to completely review that piece of legislation, which, of course, means that nobody is entitled to post-16 travel regardless of language of tuition—those discussions are ongoing, because I recognise that there are specific issues related to the Welsh medium that potentially are putting parents and pupils at a disadvantage.