Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:14 pm on 3 July 2019.
Thank you. After the Welsh Government announced in the last Assembly that placements to specialist colleges for students with learning difficulties and learning disabilities would normally now be for two years rather than three, I visited Derwen College in Gobowen just across the border, which takes students from England and Wales. The Welsh Government at the time responded by stating that this was flexible; it would consider individual cases according to individual circumstances and needs, and the college showed me that the third year was critical, because that's when they provide the direct work experience in partnership with employers locally. I've now been contacted by a Flintshire mum, whose son attends the college on a two-year placement, who, in a review meeting, has been told that students from England can still have three-year placements, but students from Wales only two, and the flexibility that was previously available has not been made available to her. What is your current position to enable or ensure that students who need that third year in Wales can access funding for it through the appropriate processes, or is it simply now a blanket 'no'?