Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 25 November 2020.
Absolutely. The Welsh Government and the National Procurement Service worked with agencies at the beginning of this pandemic to ensure that they were all able to furlough their staff under the job retention scheme. All agencies on the framework confirmed that they were able to access the scheme for eligible staff, and we understand that they did so until the end of the summer. We continue to work alongside our agencies to understand difficulties that supply teachers may be experiencing at the moment, and I will write to the Member with additional details of support that may be available in the current situation.FootnoteLink I should say that we are encouraging those who are willing to work supply to take up opportunities. Some of the enforced closures that we've seen in some of our schools have been because of an inability to find agency staff to keep schools going. I understand that people may be reluctant to take up a position in an area where they feel that COVID transmission rates are high, but we really do need supply staff to work with us and to understand the reasons they may not feel able, at this point, to take up assignments if they are available.