Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 17 March 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:47, 17 March 2020

Well, Llywydd, largely because of those final two considerations, the position of the four UK Governments is that schools should remain open. I'm not going to anticipate when that advice might change because I don't think that is helpful to anybody. That advice remains under review at every meeting. The current position is clear: schools are remaining open in Wales, partly to make sure that key workers who otherwise would have to be diverted into caring for their own children are available to be in clinical settings; partly because a sudden decision to close schools would leave those many pupils who depend upon a free school breakfast and a free school meal vulnerable if schools were to remain closed over an extended period of time.

What I can provide the Member and other Members with an assurance of is this: we are using the time that we have now, while schools remain open in the way they are, to plan for the future. So, if we reach a point in the progress of this disease where closing schools becomes the right thing to do, we will have arrangements in place that will meet the needs of those children who rely on a meal in school for their general welfare, and that we will have attended to the needs of key workers. There are a number of other very important considerations in relation to schools and those are actively under consideration here in Wales and elsewhere. For now, schools remain open. That is the clear advice to parents. Unless your child has an underlying, medical condition that means they should be at home, schools are open and available to them.