5. What has the Welsh Government done to invest in the physical infrastructure of schools in Islwyn? OQ56463

Caerphilly received over £56 million during first wave of twenty-first century schools and colleges programme funding, and, of this, £28 million was spent in the Islwyn constituency. A further £110 million is planned for the second funding wave, and we are working with Caerphilly to make their plans a reality.

Diolch, Minister. As I said yesterday in this Chamber, education, apart from love, is the greatest gift that we can give our children. As a society, it speaks to who and what we are, what we prioritise and all that we value as a progressive, vibrant and dynamic nation. As such, I wish to thank you, Minister, for our often robust interactions and I wish to put on record my support for your undoubted positive legacy, going forward. Although, I'm sure you will recall an area of music education discourse.

In Islwyn, the delivery of the groundbreaking and unprecedented £3.7 billion twenty-first century schools programme has seen transformational change. Large-scale projects have been delivered, such as Islwyn High School, large-scale investments to secondary schools in Newbridge and Blackwood have occurred, and major twenty-first century school refurbishments have occurred, and such refurbishments must continue to be rolled out in the future, post 6 May. But, importantly, it is right to put on the record the local leadership of our fantastic education leaders in Islwyn, such as Keri Cole, Christina Harrhy and now Councillor Ross Whiting. Equally, without our most amazing headteachers and governors in Islwyn, the excellent Caerphilly County Borough Council local education authority partnership with Welsh Government would be inoperable, so I want to thank also our education family.

Minister, in my prior roles and as an education cabinet member and now, I've been thrilled, inspired and honoured to open and tour our new schools and see those fantastic facilities first hand. But this is also in direct contrast to prior years when, pre devolution, as a teacher and school governor, schools across Wales were forced to get rid of teachers and our schools were rotting. This is contrasted now with the delivery of this brand-new, state-of-the-art—

Will the Member come to her question, please?

I'm coming to it. Minister, thank you. How will, then, Islwyn communities and schools benefit from this innovative £3.7 billion programme, going forward, and what do you feel is your legacy?

Rhianon, you're right—the twenty-first century schools and colleges programme is a partnership approach and we would not have been able to realise the ambition of the programme without the close collaboration and working that we have with local education authorities. As we discussed at length yesterday, there is a multibillion-pound pot of money within Welsh Government to look to work with our partners to develop even more fantastic facilities, whether they be in the county borough of Caerphilly or, indeed, anywhere else in Wales. That's the beauty of the twenty-first century schools programme; its impact has touched every corner of our nation.