Welsh-medium Education

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 3 July 2019.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 2:04, 3 July 2019

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.