5. How does the Welsh Government protect the right of every child in Wales to access Welsh-medium education? OQ56659

Thank you for the question. All local authorities in Wales provide Welsh-medium education. However, laying the foundations for expanding Welsh-medium education is a long-term campaign. We are breaking new ground with the 10-year Welsh in education strategic plans and I look forward to seeing the fruits of that labour. 

Thank you for that response, First Minister. May I draw your attention to Bridgend county for a second? Several families in my home town of Pencoed face a situation now where they won't, perhaps, be able to send their children to the closest Welsh-medium school. Instead, they'll have to choose between sending their children even further away to have their education, or choose English-medium education. Unfortunately, the record of the council on Welsh-medium education isn't positive. The council has failed over the past few years to ensure that Welsh-medium education is a realistic option in several communities, and a number of families have been forced to make decisions about their children's education that they didn't want to make. What work will the Welsh Government do with the council to change the situation significantly? If the Government is serious about reaching its target of 1 million, then the Government will have to take the issue seriously in those areas.  

Thank you for the question. I am aware of the issues that the Member has raised, because I've had an opportunity to talk to the local Member in Bridgend about the future of Welsh-medium education in that area. In all parts of Wales, I'm sure every Member here will be representing people who can't access a place in the school of their choice. I do it as a Member in Cardiff West virtually every year with children who want to access English-medium education in the city. We all work with such individuals, and we have been working hard and working closely with Bridgend council in order to develop the number of places that they have available in school in the area that are available through the medium of Welsh. They do have plans now that will increase the numbers that can access Welsh-medium education over the next decade—practical steps. For example, they want to do more in Ysgol y Ferch o'r Sgêr, they are going to move a school to the heart of Bridgend in order to give access to more people, and they are going to provide more spaces at Ysgol Bro Ogwr. There is more work to be done in Bridgend, I am aware of that, but I am sure that the council, with the plans that it has in place and the funding that we provide as a Government to assist them, are on the right track in helping us all to reach the point by 2050 where we will have 1 million Welsh speakers here in Wales. 

A number of governors from a vast variety of backgrounds is vital for the management of a school. Many pupils who attend educational facilities through the medium of Welsh come from homes where their parents don't speak Welsh themselves. What support is the Welsh Government providing to ensure that parents from non-Welsh-speaking homes are encouraged to stand for election as parent governors in Welsh-medium schools? 

I'm aware that across the whole of Wales, there are a number of children from non-Welsh-speaking households who do undertake Welsh-medium education, and I welcome that. It's an important part of the plans that we have. Here in Cardiff, eight out of 10 children who access Welsh-medium education come from non-Welsh-speaking households. The schools do work hard, with the resources that we've been able to prepare for them, to assist people who are non-Welsh-speaking but want to be involved with the school—for example, as a school governor—to do that in an effective manner, and they've managed to do it. We already have examples of how that can be done. In collaboration with local authorities and in learning from what has worked across Wales, I am confident that we can find ways for people who want to be involved in school life to do that, and make an effective contribution, too.

Would the First Minister agree with me that we have to invest in Welsh-medium education and Welsh-medium childcare as part of our ambition to create 1 million Welsh speakers? So, would the First Minister join me in welcoming the work that has begun in building a new childcare centre in Blackmill, in Ogmore, as part of the ambition of Bridgend County Borough Council to strengthen Welsh-medium education and childcare in the area?

I'd like to thank Huw Irranca-Davies, Llywydd, and I agree with him; the best way of attracting more children to Welsh-medium education is to start with young children in receipt of care. So, anything that we can do to provide enhanced facilities to welcome the youngest children so that they can access care through the medium of Welsh, then that will help us all in the longer term. The council in Bridgend has received almost £3 million from the Welsh Government in capital grants in order to deliver four Welsh-medium centres for those who are at the very beginning of their educational journey. This will bring more children forward into Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Calon y Cymoedd, and work is ongoing in the town of Bridgend, in Porthcawl, and in Bettws, too, to do exactly what Huw Irranca-Davies just suggested.