Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:35 pm on 14 July 2021.
I'll direct Laura Anne Jones to the recent work by the Education Policy Institute, which compares the investment across the nations of the UK in the response to COVID specifically in order to support our schools and learners in the work that they are doing. And I think I'm right in saying that the most current analysis shows that the level of intervention in Wales is higher than any other part of the UK, and that the way in which the money is being allocated and spent in Wales is more progressive in the sense of supporting those learners that need the greatest level of support.
The principles behind that are the same as those which I set out in the renew and reform plan. Those remain the principles. We think that is the best way of supporting our learners. It has significant amounts of funding attached to it. She will be aware that, at the point when the Government in England was committing its £1.4 billion, the pro-rata equivalent in Wales was significantly higher than the investment that has been committed by the UK Government in England, and I certainly welcome that additional funding in Wales.