[Inaudible.]—that short break, and with item 3 on our agenda this afternoon, which is a statement by the Minister for Education on schools reopening. I call on the Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Colleagues, learners in Wales have been going back to nursery, schools and colleges over the last two weeks, and I want to thank them, teachers, tutors and all education staff for the way in which they have dealt with and, indeed, are still dealing with COVID-19. I want to thank them for their hard work, their resilience and their co-operation as we navigate our way through these most difficult of times.

Of course, I recognise that in any situation such as this, it is not without any risk. However, I continue to be guided by the latest medical and scientific advice in making any decision on the safe return of learners. My priorities throughout this pandemic have been the safety and well-being of staff and learners, whilst delivering maximum learning with minimal disruption to our young people.

I believe that going back to school is critical for children’s development and for their health and their well-being, especially those who are most vulnerable in our communities, and I'm grateful for the effort that schools, colleges, local authorities and trade unions have made to ensure that school and college environments are as safe as possible for all learners. These measures include increased cleaning, hygiene stations for staff and learners and reduced movement and contact between groups.

Wales’s technical advisory group were also clear that we must have a robust trace and protect strategy in place as a prerequisite for a wider reopening of schools. And as has been rehearsed earlier in the Chamber, this has been a real success story here in Wales, with not only a high number of contacts being traced within 24 hours, but also a clear approach to outbreak management, which will help support schools in moving forward.

Of course, our education and nursery settings may be fully open, but this is not going back to normal. For staff and learners alike it is a continuing challenge after so many months of distance learning, and the possibility of further spikes in cases and the disruption that that causes. This is a difficult time as education settings are still having to plan for different models of learning as well as managing contact and social distancing within their school environments. Therefore, along with the regions, we have provided guidance to ensure that learning and progression continues and remains safe.

It is very likely that time away from school has had a negative impact on many of our young people. They may need support to be ready to learn once again and to reintegrate into the school environment. We may see significant well-being challenges, over and above what we would normally expect at the start of a new academic year. Key areas of learning may have been lost during the time away from school and schools will need flexibility to address these issues. I want schools and other settings to be able to respond to this and invest time in supporting learners’ well-being. We cannot expect schools to execute all of their duties in respect of our curriculum for all learners in all circumstances, given circumstances we all face, and therefore I have decided to modify the basic curriculum and associated assessment requirements to a 'reasonable endeavours' basis for the first 30 days of September. In doing this I want to provide schools with flexibility to reintegrate students and to develop resilient and relevant learning plans. This is about helping schools as they return to full-time learning in their buildings.

But we know that many learners have not progressed as much as they would ordinarily have done so, and we need to address this. As teachers and heads continue to welcome pupils back, I know that they will be assessing learners’ needs and development, building on the check-in period for everyone before the summer break. My clear message to them is that funding is there in council and school budgets to recruit extra staff and teaching assistants for this academic year. Building on their understanding of where learners are in their learning, our investment of over £29 million is targeted to ensure that extra teachers and support is there for years 11, 12 and 13, as well as disadvantaged and vulnerable learners of all ages.

I know that teachers, as well as parents, share my concern about potential learning loss and the attainment gap. This month will help heads and teachers better understand how they can use the funding provided to support extra coaching, personalised learning programmes and additional time and resources for those pupils facing exams.

We have also been working with directors of education and education trade unions to develop guidance to support ongoing provision in schools, and this includes clear advice on social distancing. We have issued advice to schools and education workforce unions on COVID-19 more generally, and via Dysg, and we will continue to provide information and guidance as the needs arise.

We have also been working collectively across the Government to address issues around school transport, with £10 million additional funding allocated to assist local authorities. This money has helped them provide additional capacity to meet statutory requirements following the updated guidance issued recently by the traffic commissioner.

As we all understand, situations can change rapidly during a pandemic. I can assure you, however, that we will continue to work within and across Government, and with our other partners, to provide guidance and advice to ensure the safety of our staff and our young people. And together, even in these uncertain times, we will continue to focus on raising standards for all, reducing the attainment gap and ensuring that we have a system that is a source of pride and enjoys public confidence.

Thank you, Minister. Can I just associate myself with your opening remarks regarding teachers and staff, and can I include governors in that? It's been a really difficult time for everybody, including yourselves, but most importantly our constituents.

Thank you very much for your statement. I think we have to start off with the top line of my position, which is that schools must stay open unless they absolutely—absolutely—have to close. And while, of course, the situation with exams is difficult, and perhaps for another day, I think we do need to look a little bit at the history of the opening and closing of schools because, obviously, back in March, we all understood the urgency of limiting contact of every kind. We had a dangerous enemy that we didn't really understand, but we did also understand that there would be an inevitable hit to our children's education, and while school leaders did turn themselves inside out trying to provide the best that they could for our learners, I think we know by now that there was a great inconsistency of pupil contact, of the accessibility of online content, the ability of families to really engage with that online content, and the willingness of children to stick with it, the willingness to stick with that learning. We've all had a bit of COVID fatigue, I guess. 

And that's why we were very supportive, actually, of your plans to open schools over four weeks in the summer term to check in and catch up, as you said, so that teachers and learners could evaluate what they needed next. And I think that's perhaps where it started to unravel for Government. Letting the country think one thing, when, actually, you hadn't really nailed it down on the delivery of that fourth week, when you had powers that you could have used to stop councils saying 'no' to schools, is where I'm starting to take issue with what I thought was a good start, if I'm honest. Since then, there's been, certainly more latterly, more of a sense of 'whatever you want, schools' going on. Of course, there are operational decisions that only schools can make, and your guidance has been very helpful with that, but there are occasions when you need mandates; there are occasions when you need rules. Schools don't understand the science, whereas you, as you said today, have continued to be guided by the latest medical and scientific advice in making any decisions on the safe return of learners. You have that information; school leaders don't necessarily. And they are certainly are struggling to make ideas stick on the spot when they don't have that reassurance that behind them is a Minister who can say, 'Here's the law, that's what you can rely on.' 

When you say fully open is not back to normal, obviously that's true of the physical layout in our schools, but I think we do need some reassurance that the level and standard of acquisition of learning does need to be nearer back to normal. I'm not encouraged by your statement that we cannot expect schools to execute all of their duties in respect of the curriculum for all learners in all circumstances during this time. And we know they have had time. We agreed with you that a fortnight was a good time to let schools get the hang of what their learners needed, and I'm curious to know whether this extension for the first 30 days of September is something that you consulted on, because I don't believe it is, and whether we are back in a situation where we are suspending the need to stick to the curriculum. 

Have you been successful in persuading your colleagues of what I said in my opening statement, that schools must be the last to close down, particularly in the event of a lockdown? I see that you've expressed great confidence in the TTP strategy, so I'm hoping that that is the ammunition you've taken to Cabinet colleagues in making the argument that schools should stay open. But if you weren't successful in that, have you already decided what you will mandate in the event of a national lockdown, to make sure that learning wasn't impacted on in the way it was before? Are you thinking of mandating live-streaming of lessons, for example? Have you done an assessment of how much of the IT equipment that was distributed—something we supported—to make sure that students are making the best of them? Or in the more likely situation of localised lockdowns, which will hopefully mean students are out of face-to-face learning for a fortnight at a time at the most, are you going to be insisting that schools should require virtual attendance to lessons, which in the majority of cases should be provided virtually as timetabled?

I'd like a little bit of detail on the money that you found for new teachers and catch-up, how that's going to be used, and how it will be used in further education colleges. I'd be keen to learn how the belated monitoring and evaluation of what happened between March and July has affected decisions you're likely to make. And I'd be keen to hear what you can tell us now on how any further lockdowns would be likely to impact on that already pared down syllabus that you referred to earlier, particularly for those taking general qualifications later in—at the end of this academic year, sorry.

You didn't say very much about testing in schools. I wondered if you could tell us whether you or Public Health Wales have done anything on temperature testing in schools at all. If you have—that's an open question; genuinely curious to hear about that. And then I suppose I repeat my questions in the same context for further education, where the different age profiles make face-to-face teaching more difficult, because there are different regulations on social distancing relating to different age groups. I wonder if you could clarify for me how far you can mandate certain actions in a college as compared to a school, and do you have any particular powers through which you can satisfy yourself on that question of the quality of learning during a period of lockdown in FE institutions as well as schools? Thank you.

It's quite a long list of questions—I'll try and rattle through them as quickly as possible. Can I begin, though, by thanking Suzy Davies for her recognition of the tremendous efforts that have gone on in the education workforce in its entirety during this time? I'm very grateful to her for recognising that.

Can I assure her that keeping education open is a priority across the Government, and we will take all necessary steps necessary as a Government to ensure that children's learning is disrupted as little as possible? Indeed, you will have already heard the First Minister and the health Minister speak about some of the issues around greater mixing of households, which we have not proceeded with, to give us the headroom to allow schools to open. So, difficult decisions have already been taken by this Government, which have allowed us to prioritise the opening of schools. And I should just say to the Member—she referred to children missing out on education because of a local lockdown. Well, obviously, we have our first local lockdown at the moment in Wales, in Caerphilly, and schools and colleges remain open. And we've been very clear that our expectation is that, in Caerphilly, schools and colleges should remain open, and those travelling in and out of Caerphilly because they are teachers and they work in those establishments—that is a reasonable excuse for travel. And even though the problems with Caerphilly, and cases in that community being very high—over 70 per cent of children in Caerphilly attended school yesterday. It's one of the lower figures in Wales at the moment, but given that they're subject to a lockdown, it's good to see that that continues to be the case.

With regard to the curriculum, let's be absolutely clear on what the new normal is like. Suzy Davies is right—schools look and feel somewhat different. But it is important, having liaised with the teaching profession, that we do have some flexibility for this first month of operations, to give them an opportunity to test their procedures, to check out how things are working, and, crucially, to allow them to have the extra time that they may need to attend to children's well-being, and to understand where they are in their learning. And actually, for some aspects of the curriculum, there are public health reasons why we would not want them carrying out some activities. We continue to have concerns about some music activities within schools, especially in a group circumstance; issues around field trips that require an overnight stay—we are not recommending those at the moment, where those would be a normal part of the school day. So, there are some constraints. But if you talk to most schools, most schools are getting on with, as I said, identifying the learning needs, reflecting on the child's experience of lockdown, and making a plan going forward.

With regard to digital exclusion, I would remind the Member that we handed out 10,848 MiFi devices before the summer holiday, and we also handed out almost 10,000 licences to local authorities for them to convert all pieces of kit and those have been distributed to children. We've had record amounts of login to Hwb, which is our digital learning platform. But the Member is absolutely right, Deputy Presiding Officer: there was too much variation in the ability of schools to deliver distance learning. We have learnt the lessons; we are learning the lessons of what worked well, what were the barriers to that.

And as I speak, even though some of the local authorities don't particularly like it, Estyn is visiting every single local authority to assure themselves that the local authority is working with schools to ensure that they do have robust plans that allow them to flex their provision, should individual classes or individual schools be affected by the virus. And as I said, the inspectors are out there at this moment, and they will be reporting back to me. We've asked them to do that. We think it's really important to be able to have that level of assurance. 

With regard to synchronous and asynchronous learning, we've published advice back in April about how schools can do that safely and effectively. With regard to temperature checks, at this point, the CMO is not advising that temperatures are checked in schools, although some schools are doing that. Parents who suspect their child has a temperature should not be sending their child to school. A high temperature is a symptom of coronavirus. If you suspect that your child has a high temperature, that child needs to get a test and should not be attending school. We will continue throughout this period to provide additional information and opportunities to discuss with headteachers and their representatives about how we can make sure that there is clarity about what a school needs to do if a child becomes unwell. But what we have seen so far is that, where that has happened, schools have taken immediate action to protect children and staff. 

With regard to FE, well, obviously our colleges are also subject to the powers of inspection by Estyn, and we would expect Estyn to continue to work alongside our FE colleges to satisfy ourselves that the provision at those colleges is as good as it could be. As you know, FE is a strong part of our education system in Wales that delivers, year on year, excellent results, and colleges have been working very hard with Government to ensure that their learners can return safely.

With regard to catch-up money, £29 million has been made available. Each local authority has been given an allocation for individual schools. There is also an amount of money that has been given to each regional partnership to be able to assist schools in making sure that that money is used in an evidence-way approach, so each school will have been given an allocation. That money is there, and I would expect that headteachers and the LEAs would be planning this term, on the basis of these first few weeks back in school, about how that money can be used to best effect. I myself was in Hay-on-Wye primary school just last week, and Mrs B, the formidable headteacher of that primary school, already had a firm plan in place of how she was going to use her allocation.

Thank you for the statement. I too would like to thank everyone who is seeking to ensure that our children and young people are able to return to education in a safe manner, which is a huge challenge, of course, particularly as we see positive COVID cases on the rise among our children and young people, with dozens of schools now having been affected already by the coronavirus crisis. 

I have to say, I can't believe that you think that the test, trace and protect system is 'successful'. I think that's the word you used. That's the least appropriate description of it in my view, given the situation developing with testing in our schools. There is a grave weakness with that part of the strategy, which is that first step: the testing. And implementing that part of the strategy is very weak at the moment. Now, I do know that the COVID testing is an issue for the health Minister, but there is a responsibility on you as education Minister when the lack of testing and the delays in getting tests does mean that far too many pupils are absent from our schools unnecessarily and are therefore missing out on their education once again. Unfortunately, my inbox is full of e-mails from parents from all parts of Wales—not just Arfon, but all corners of Wales—who tell me that their school had sent their child home because they were symptomatic, which, of course, is the right thing to do, as you've just mentioned, but then that the school expects that child to have a test before returning to school but the parents simply cannot access a test either through the mail or in a drive-through centre.

So, I would like to know what discussions you are having on behalf of our children and young people who don't want to miss out on more of their education on this utterly unacceptable situation with testing and why can't the Welsh Government education department develop a specific mechanism for parents, pupils and staff in schools so that schools can easily access testing. What about creating one point of contact for schools to deal with testing so that they can access them far more swiftly than they can at the moment? We must resolve this and I would like to hear what you've been doing about this particular situation.

Another issue that is a cause of concern for pupils and parents is the situation with face coverings on school buses. Now, I think there's a lack of clarity, and therefore I would like to know who exactly is responsible for enforcement in terms of the wearing of face coverings on school buses. Again, my inbox is full of messages from people who are concerned about seeing problems arising on that journey to school on the bus. You've provided more funding for school transport, but that alone isn't going to improve the situation where there isn't clear guidance in place and clarity for both pupils and parents on the enforcement of this aspect of face coverings.

And to conclude, the major question on examinations remains and what will happen next summer. The increase in cases and the unacceptable situation with testing does mean that the education of some of our pupils is already being affected and we've only just got back, so why don't you announce that examinations won't be held next year and that you will focus rather on creating a robust system of using assessments that doesn't include having to be physically at school to take an exam? There's no mention of that in your statement and an early announcement on that issue would be very much appreciated.

Could I make it absolutely clear that the information that I have to date regarding COVID-positive cases in school at this stage relates to the infection being acquired outside of the school premises? I think that's really important to state. Where we've had children testing positive for COVID, that is usually part of a family grouping and, where we have had adults testing positive for COVID at this stage, the data I have would suggest that, again, the virus has been acquired outside of school. And that's why it is really, really important—if we are to do what we all want to do in this Chamber, to keep our schools open, then all of us have a responsibility to do what we can to keep community transmission rates of the virus really low. Where we're seeing the biggest disruption to education at the moment, it mirrors where we're seeing the virus in the community, in Caerphilly, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, in Newport—not exclusively, of course, because there are schools in other parts of Wales that are affected, but we have to keep transmission rates down and it's really important.

I've had reports, for instance, of parents gathering closely together without socially distancing at the school gate. That's a simple thing we can avoid doing—that we can avoid doing. It is particularly important that staff in our schools remember to socially distance themselves from other members of staff. We have an incident where the senior management of a school is currently self-isolating because of a COVID case and because that staff group had been meeting together in the staff room and had not done that in a socially distanced way—hence the other members of staff having to go home to isolate. So, it's really important that we remember these messages. 

With regard to testing, issues around lighthouse lab capacity again have been well rehearsed here in the Chamber today, and the health Minister will speak next, but I can assure you, Siân, that I have more than daily conversations with the health Minister about the need to ensure that TTP is as good as it needs to be to allow for the smooth running of education, and the Welsh Government is taking steps to do just that, to ensure that capacity above and beyond that at the lighthouse labs is made available, focusing in particular on those communities where we know infection in the community is a challenge at the moment, and there are further plans to increase local walk-in facilities, which will be important as the autumn continues.

Can I say that testing kits have been distributed to all schools and colleges, which can be used in an emergency if there is really, truly, no other way for a child to be able to access a test? So, schools will have 10 kits delivered to them, and, as I said, they are there in absolutely emergency situations. Kits have also been supplied to further education colleges. But I recognise—and that's why the Government is working as hard as it can to make sure that tests are available in a timely fashion, because that does allow us to minimise disruption.

With regard to face coverings, the guidance is absolutely clear with regard to face coverings. Our expectations of schools and our operational guidance are that they will take steps within their school to limit contact between groups of students. And schools are doing this in a variety of ways: zoning, for instance; one-way systems; staggered starts; staggered break times, lunch times and end-of-school-day arrangements. Where, after all those other things have been done—because those things have to be done first—where those things have all been done and then it is impossible to keep bubbles of students apart in communal areas, that's when face coverings should be worn. And it is best that that is done on an individual risk-assessment basis within an individual school, because our schools come in all different shapes and sizes. There are high schools in my own constituency that would look like a small primary school in the context of Cardiff. We have some of our schools in wonderful twenty-first century schools buildings, and then some of our schools are still, if I'm honest, Victorian structures, so your ability to achieve these things within your school will vary from school to school. If you cannot keep groups of students in communal areas 2m apart, then they should wear a face covering, and I'm sure that figuring that out is well within the capability of our headteachers who run our schools. They are dealing with much more complex problems every single day of their lives than figuring out whether they can keep children 2m apart in a corridor.

With regard to buses and home-to-school transport, 17 of our 22 local authorities have already mandated or strongly recommended that face coverings be used on home-to-school transport. And again, the advice, Deputy Presiding Officer, is clear: if capacity on that bus precludes you from keeping children apart—and, let's be honest, that's the case on most buses—then, again, a face covering is appropriate. And, as to who is responsible for that, then parents and carers and children themselves have to have those conversations about what they can do to ensure that they are minimising the chances of disruption of their education by wearing a face covering. And I believe we are the only part of the United Kingdom where the Government has made financial resources available to allow local authorities to purchase, and schools to purchase, masks for their students, so that no child will be in a situation where they don't have the appropriate face covering if that's necessary. And, again, as I said, I think we're the only part of the United Kingdom to make that possible.

Thank you very much for your statement and the comments you've made to other Members.

I agree with you that emotional well-being has to be the top priority, because a child that is distressed is not going to be learning effectively. So, that absolutely has to be the top priority. And it is wonderful to hear the sounds in the playground of children playing, because we know, then, that they are back enjoying life.

I think that, just picking up on some of the comments you made about the use of masks when it's not possible to separate young people, and, obviously, that includes when they're getting on these buses to go back to wherever, it simply isn't possible to have school buses by year groups—that's just not going to happen; we haven't got that sort of level of buses. But I think—when parents express concern about this, I wondered if we could encourage them to think beyond that and think, 'Could my child not be bicycling to school, or walking?', depending on how far away they've got to travel. Because that transition in people's—parents'—heads has not yet been made, in my experience. 

I want to pay tribute to the two schools where there were very limited outbreaks of coronavirus at the very beginning of term. Clearly, it must have been contracted in the community; they hadn't been in school long enough to have contracted it in school. So, I'm absolutely reinforcing the messages you say about how we all need to keep the whole community from spreading the disease so that we can keep our schools open.

However, I want to come back on this digital exclusion point, because you weren't in the Chamber when I had a dialogue with the Deputy Minister on the number of Gypsy and Traveller sites that are digitally connected, and she said half of them had some connection. Well, I know what that means from personal experience—1 Mbps won't get you any learning remotely, unfortunately. And I'm concerned about all the other sites where there clearly is no digital learning. So, it doesn't matter how many iPads and laptops we hand out, those children will not be able to access the curriculum unless we are providing the broadband to enable those things to function. So, I wondered if you could talk to the Minister for local government about how we can get local authorities to make this a top priority. Because the money is available for making these connections, but local authorities have simply not taken it up over the summer when there was this opportunity to do so. So, this seems to me a top priority, and thank you for all the work you're doing.

Thank you very much. You're absolutely correct: well-being is key. Learning cannot stick in a child who is distressed, and what we know is that the period of lockdown will have had an impact on all of our children, but that impact will be as various as our children are. Lockdown will have been a very unhappy period for some of our children, and that will need to be addressed. We know that for some of our learners, actually—and there have been some recent surveys that have said that teenagers actually have been less stressed being outside of school, so that reintegration into school has to be managed appropriately. And, if nothing else, it reinforces the importance of the whole-school approach, doesn't it, about making school a happy place to be for all of our learners. And that's why we do need to take this time at the beginning of term to give schools space to be able to address that, so that the rest of the academic year can go as well as it possibly can. And that's why we've made additional resources available, between myself and the health Minister, to have additional counselling sessions for those children where counselling is appropriate, and children in primary school, where traditional counselling is not an appropriate method for intervening with children, but family work and group work, which is much more appropriate, is made available. 

Deputy Presiding Officer, the Member is right: in our guidance, we say very clearly that active travel should be the first option for parents where it is practical to do so, if for no other reason than that is a perfect start to the day for a child—burning off a little bit of that excess energy, getting some fresh air and getting some exercise before the start of the school day. We will continue to work with colleagues in the transport department to get those messages across and to make sure that schools are well equipped for that. Across the way here, in Ysgol Hamadryad, we have our first active travel school, where cars are simply not allowed to travel to school. So, in certain circumstances, in certain communities, it can be done successfully and we need to keep working on creating the conditions—not just for now, but for the future—to encourage active travel.

With regard to digital exclusion, I will indeed raise the point with the Minister for local government about permanent connections to Gypsy and Traveller sites. But, as I said in answer to Suzy Davies, not only did we give out laptops and devices to children, we also actually distributed 10,848 MiFi devices. Sometimes, it's not just the lack of a device that's the problem; it's the connectivity. You may be in a Gypsy-Traveller site, or you may be in the countryside, where that connection is not available. Hence, we were able to assist, as I said, almost 11,000 children by providing them with connectivity during this time.

How do you respond to concerns raised with me by school staff that social distancing is being ignored or is impossible for pupils whose school requires them to move between classrooms; that the breadth and standard of online teaching has been variable, asking whether Wales has invested in further development of online teaching and resources in preparation for a possible second wave; that a primary sector teacher was hauled over the coals for using up too much paper in her classroom during hand-washing sessions, and told to encourage pupils to air-dry their hands—we all know how dangerous that is; that in some authorities the teaching staff are having to clean their own classrooms, with cleaners only coming in to provide one weekly deep clean, creating additional health risks and increasing their stress levels; and that Kirsty Williams says that the headteacher is best placed to advise, but they are not medical practitioners or scientists, and even they have got it wrong, and that we need robust, enforceable all-Wales advice?

First of all, with regard to digital learning, as I have said in answer to both Jenny Rathbone and Suzy Davies, we've invested heavily in ensuring that digitally excluded learners have devices and MiFi connections. Those devices that have been given out to children will be replaced with new devices in those schools that have given devices to children as part of our EdTech scheme.

With regard to what further investment, Wales is the only part of the United Kingdom that has a deal with Microsoft. So, every child and every teacher has access to a full suite of Microsoft for education tools—Office and all those things that a school and a child would need to engage in online learning. Our digital platform, Hwb, has been an absolute godsend during this period. During the lockdown, we were also able to make Adobe Spark software available to every single child and teacher. Again, these are unique resources that are simply not available on this scale, free of charge, anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

With regard to cleaning, operational guidance is very clear about cleaning. Ahead of the summer term, out of the education budget, we made over £1 million available, up front, for local authorities to buy additional cleaning material. My colleague the Minister for local government has made available, I believe it is £29 million, which local authorities can draw down for the additional costs of cleaning in their schools. That is a substantial sum of money that has been agreed with the Welsh Local Government Association, so there is no reason why cleaning should be being skimped on. The financial resources have been made available prior to September, and are available to local authorities as we move forward.

With regard to enforcement, HSE, the Health and Safety Executive—much to the annoyance, actually, of some unions—has been ringing schools during the first week back and last week back, checking that the schools are abiding by the legislation that we have put in place for safe workplaces. Because not only are they places of education, they are workplaces, and they need to comply with the legislation that has been put in place. The HSE has been actively involved in telephoning schools to double-check that they are taking all the necessary steps.

With regard to moving children around schools, many schools are choosing to limit movements around schools, Mark. So, for instance, children staying in a particular classroom for the majority of their day, including in secondary school, and only moving when they need to move to a lab to do, perhaps, lab work. Or, the preference many schools are using is actually moving staff around the schools. And if that teacher is saying that those provisions haven't been put in place in their school then that conversation needs to be had with the headteacher, doesn't it, about how that school is organising itself? Because in the schools that I have visited, and the discussions I've had with headteachers, they're looking at zones and they're looking at minimising the amount of movement around a school that the pupils are doing, choosing, where at all possible, to move staff instead.

Can I thank you for your statement, Minister, and also place on record my thanks to not just the school staff, but also staff in LEAs who've worked really hard to get the children back to school? It is really wonderful to have them back there.

I welcome your assurance on the issue of testing that you're having very regular discussions with the health Minister. As you'll be aware, there have been some concerns locally about the ability to get tests for children and young people via the UK Government's lighthouse labs, so I would be grateful if you could give me your assurances that you will continue to discuss that with the health Minister and that both of you will continue to impress upon the UK Government how vital it is that the testing system is in place to respond quickly on these issues.

I was pleased to see the emphasis in your statement and in the reopening guidance on well-being, and obviously I heard your answer to Jenny Rathbone. I'd like to ask you, though, how you are ensuring that all schools are actually embracing the need to prioritise well-being, and also how you're ensuring that the money, and this is a significant sum of money that's been allocated, is being spent in an appropriate way to support children and young people, particularly in relation to the concerns you've highlighted, which you know the committee shares, about the need for appropriate interventions for particularly younger children. 

And just finally, I'd like to say that one of the committee's major concerns during the lockdown was the impact on hidden children and children who were maybe suffering abuse and neglect at home but that weren't known to services. I welcome the recent Welsh Government leaflet—

Can you wind up, please?

—that's been produced with Childline, which is very helpful: you have the right to remain safe. Can I ask you what you're doing to ensure that all children and young people in Wales have access to that very useful leaflet? Thank you.

Can I thank Lynne Neagle for her comments and her recognition of the role of local education authorities during this time, who have, as you said, been working tirelessly alongside their headteachers to be able to put provision in place that has led to the opening of all our schools for the start of this academic year? It's been a massive challenge and they have risen to it well. I'm very grateful for the support of those in the WLGA who specialise in education. I meet on a regular basis, weekly—I think almost weekly through the summer as well—with them so that we can understand the challenges that they're facing on the ground turning our operational guidance as a Government into reality.

As I said, undoubtedly, there are challenges with testing capacity at this moment. I discuss it often with my colleague the health Minister. I discussed it yesterday with Gavin Williamson, the Minister in Westminster, who has similar challenges in making sure that testing capacity is meeting the demands that are being placed upon it at the moment. We have a collective endeavour to make sure that action is taken at lighthouse labs, but those are not the only facilities that we're relying on. We are working hard to create additional local testing centres as well as the other facilities that have already been announced by my colleague the health Minister.

With regard to well-being, myself and the Minister for children, Julie Morgan, continue to work together to ensure that local authorities are responding in a holistic approach across education and children's services to meet the needs of children. Again, we have to anticipate a rise in referrals at this time, as children come back into school and begin to have those conversations with trusted adults about what the period of lockdown has been for them. And, like you, I think for most teaching professionals, those children who are on the cusp—you know, so they're not formally known to social services; those children have been contacted throughout this period—but for those children where life, sometimes, at home can be a challenge, those are the children who have been a particular focus and of concern to teachers. And we are working with LEAs to make sure that education has the ability to make referrals as necessary and get the necessary support in for children and families at this time if that becomes evident that it is needed.

And you're right: for younger children, the focus must be on family therapy and group sessions rather than the traditional counselling model. The counselling model allows you to be able to take control of your own life and make decisions and take actions. Well, the ability of a six-year-old to be able to do that in these circumstances is limited if it exists at all, and therefore different types of therapy. We will be monitoring how individual health boards and local authorities are using the resources that have been made available to them. And I will discuss with colleagues about how we can get the information that the Member referred to more widely available to all children so that they are aware of the support that is available to them.

Thank you for your statement, Minister. I also want to take this opportunity to welcome your comments and your opening remarks that you want to keep our schools open during these uncertain times.

It was a little concerning this week when I heard that a number of children were sent home with runny noses this week, and obviously, because of the delay in testing, that meant that they missed out on three days of education, roughly. None of us want to see them missing out on any more education, I'm sure, so I welcome your comments that you said that you're going to work with the health Minister to ensure that testing is speeded up. But also, I'm just wondering what guidance we could maybe further issue to our schools to differentiate between COVID symptoms and the common cold—a sniffly cough—and maybe, as was suggested earlier in the Chamber, it is a good idea to look into all schools temperature testing before sending a child home, so at least they do have one of the COVID symptoms. Because we don't—I'm sure that we all, Minister—don't want to see any of our children missing out unnecessarily on education. Thank you.

Laura Anne makes a very relevant point. At this time of year, at the start of an academic year, as a mum Laura, you well know the absolute inevitability of the cold; it is a truth like death and taxes that you will get that cold. But because of the heightened awareness, quite understandably, people are very, very anxious and it is understandable why, then, perhaps a member of staff may say, 'No, this child has to go home.' 

I would refer you to a video that we have been circulating that has been done by Dr Heather Payne, who is the chief adviser on child health to the Government, explaining just this, about when it's appropriate for a child to be tested and that the symptoms of a common cold are different. We're looking to work across education and health to do extra webinars for teachers and headteachers, where they can hear directly from health professionals to give them the extra confidence that they need in helping them make these decisions, and that is being arranged as we speak. We're trying to get those messages out.

But, clearly, access to testing does need to improve to be able to minimise disruption where a child could have one of the nasties that you have at this time of year, but it is not COVID and therefore, if they were well enough in themselves, they could be in school. But that's one of the wicked problems that we face returning to school at this particular juncture in the year; it's one of the challenges we're going to have to overcome. Thank you.

And finally, Mick Antoniw.

Minister, we all want the best for our schoolchildren. Rhondda Cynon Taf, over the last 10 years, will have invested somewhere in the region of £0.75 billion under the twenty-first century schools programme renewing those schools. And in those schools, of course, we want the best teachers, so I very much welcome the proposal by Welsh Government to employ a further 600 teachers. But one of the issues that has arisen, of course, is that we have quite a number of highly qualified teachers living in Wales who have qualified abroad but face obstacles in overcoming the restrictions on the recognition of their qualifications. I have one particular constituent—I know I've written to you about that, and I'm very grateful for the way in which you've looked at that particular issue—a highly qualified teacher from the United States who has been trying to overcome those hurdles. Bearing in mind the demand we have now for teachers and the challenges that we face from COVID, is there anything that you could do as education Minister to perhaps look at those restrictions, to overcome those restrictions, to ensure that we maximise the use of the wealth of talent that exists amongst the citizens who have made their lives in Wales and who could contribute so much to our education system?

Thank you, Mick. Firstly, on the twenty-first century schools programme, can I assure Members that work onsite continues, and has continued, as soon as regulations allowed that to happen? And despite the considerable strain on Welsh Government budgets, I'm delighted that the capital available to me to continue to support band B of that programme is unchanged. Even during lockdown, we've been able to make announcements on some really significant new buildings. That's really important, of course, for the future of education, but it's also really important to our economic recovery, making sure that this Government is spending Welsh money to provide fantastic facilities, but also work for people here in Wales.

Can I assure the Member that work is under way at the moment to give powers to the Education Workforce Council to be able to make decisions regarding the applicability and the relevance of teaching qualifications from areas of the world that presently do not automatically give you the right to work as a teacher here? We guard entry into our profession in Wales, quite rightly so, very, very highly. We want the very best people standing in front of our classrooms. No education system can exceed the quality of the people who work with our children day in and day out. But we are in the process of giving extra powers to the Education Workforce Council that will allow an individual with a teaching qualification from a country outside, traditionally, the UK or the European Union to have that qualification scrutinised by the Education Workforce Council, with a view to putting them on the list as a qualified teacher able to work within Wales. That work is under way right at this moment. So, it shouldn't be too much longer, Mick. Not too much longer.

Thank you, Minister.