Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 29 June 2022.
I absolutely agree that those family engagement officers do excellent work in terms of being that bridge between the school and the family, and, as such, in the 2022-23 budget, we'll be investing £3.84 million in increasing the number of those family engagement officers that are employed by schools. The funding has been provided to local authorities, and that, then, allows them to target those schools that they think require that additional capacity, using their local knowledge. And, in addition, as part of our policy development, we'll also be advising schools on the effective practice of family engagement officers, and, of course, the wider professional learning, which has to be undertaken to best use those individuals. We're also providing £660,000 for a trial of community-focused school manager positions in Wales, and those roles will help develop better engagement between schools and the communities, recognising that children's lives don't just finish when the school bell rings, but there's a lot that needs to be done outside of those hours to support families as well. But we recognise really the importance of those family engagement officers.