Free Schools

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 24 September 2019.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 2:11, 24 September 2019

I think it's a bit rich of the former First Minister, frankly, to criticise the education policies in England when, under his leadership, the Government delivered the worst Programme for International Student Assessment results that this country has ever seen and we're still at the bottom of the UK league tables as far as English, mathematics and science is concerned. Now, one of the reasons for that—. You said you want all young people to have equal opportunity: the reality is they don't have equal opportunity here in Wales, because there's a funding gap of £645 per pupil, per year, according to the unions, that needs to be addressed.

Now, the one good thing, of course, First Minister—the one good thing—is that the UK Government announced a significant spending boost for education very recently, which means that as a result of that spending boost Wales will have £1.2 billion to spend on education in addition to the current sum over the next three years. Can I ask you: what action will you take to close that funding gap, eliminate it completely, to give a level playing field so that young people here can have the opportunity to prosper?