Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 18 March 2020.
Presiding Officer, as the Member rightly identified, at 1 o'clock this afternoon, I announced that we are bringing forward the Easter break for schools in Wales, which means that schools will close for statutory provision this Friday, 20 March. From next week, schools indeed will have a new purpose—a purpose that is not dissimilar to the one that Siân Gwenllian described. A purpose to ensure that our most vulnerable children are supported during this difficult time, with a particular emphasis on those children who usually would access free school meals and also our children with additional learning needs, for whom attendance at school is an important part of keeping their well-being as good as it can be.
We also have to address the needs of those parents who are at the front line of tackling this public health emergency and that, it's true, does include doctors and nurses, but that list of people who are at the front line of keeping this country going goes well beyond those dedicated medical professionals who are working in our hospitals. So, for instance, social care and domiciliary care workers, as well as others who are ensuring that there is food in our supermarkets and basic local services continue to be maintained. We are already working—I, the First Minister and Cabinet colleagues met with the leader of the Welsh Local Government Association again this morning to explore with him what provisions we will be taking.
Of course, this is not something that is completely new to us. We will be building on the strong foundations and the very, very positive experiences of some of our Food and Fun schemes, which local authorities are well used to running, and we will be identifying with our colleagues in local government key sites and key personnel that can help us ensure that meeting the needs of the most vulnerable children and the needs of those workers that we want out there on the front line can be addressed in the coming weeks.