6. Will the Minister make a statement on investment in education in Clwyd South through the twenty-first century schools programme? OQ56582

The Clwyd South region benefited from a total investment of over £20 million during the first wave of funding of the twenty-first century schools and colleges programme. A second wave of funding began in 2019, involving significant further investment for the school and colleges estate in the Clwyd South area.

Previous Welsh Labour Governments have invested very heavily in education institutions, including schools, through the twenty-first century schools programme in the past, and I'd like to congratulate the Minister on his very, very well-deserved appointment and also invite him to Clwyd South to view some of the twenty-first century schools investment. And I'd be very grateful for any further updates regarding investment in school estates across Clwyd South in the months and years to come. 

I thank the Member for his kind words and for the supplementary point that he made. He will know that there are proposed projects, including Ysgol yr Hafod, Brymbo and Ysgol I.D. Hooson, which are exciting developments, I think, in his part of the world. I think it amounts to about £12 million-worth of investment, with an intervention rate from the Welsh Government of around 65 per cent, generally speaking. So, I think there are very exciting opportunities in his part of the world, and we both share a sense of opportunity and excitement about the investment in the schools and colleges estate in north Wales and right across Wales. And I think the opportunity in the years ahead is to expand the number of net-zero-carbon schools. There's an exciting pilot under way at the moment, and the more we can do there to contribute to meeting our climate change goals in the school estate, I think, the better.