COVID-19: Dispruption to Education

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:16 pm on 29 September 2021.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:16, 29 September 2021

On the Member's last question in relation to support for rural schools—indeed, support for all schools—and the need to be able to provide for remote learning as and when that's required, obviously, I think we're in a very different position now than we were at the start of the pandemic, partly because of the very, very significant investment into making sure that schools are able to provide to learners tablets and laptops for them to be able to work remotely, and also the MiFi and other devices that we've been able to fund in order to help with some of those challenges around broadband that the Member identifies in his question.

It's been a really important part of our renew and reform funding, which I announced in the summer—in the last term—and that has been acknowledged by the Education Policy Institute and others as having a particularly beneficial impact in terms of the digital provision. I know that he shares with me the view that that's very, very important.