2. What consideration does the Welsh Government give to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis when funding schools in South Wales West? OQ58402

The cost-of-living crisis is having, and will continue to have, a significant impact on all public services, including our schools. As the First Minister has made clear, only the UK Government has the financial firepower to tackle the crippling effects of rising energy and other costs.

Thank you, Minister. On a visit to schools in my region the head told me about her concern about heating and lighting in the classrooms; she was trying to switch off all of the switches in sight. And the Welsh Local Government Association has warned that budgets for schools across Wales face huge challenges as a result of inflation and the increase in energy prices. According to a National Association of Head Teachers review, 37 per cent of heads foresee that these costs will create a deficit in their budgets, and there won’t be an option other than to consider redundancies. That could be disastrous at a time when our children and young people need the best possible support as a result of the pandemic. NAHT Wales has also warned of the damaging impact if local authorities don’t provide the full funding for wage rises for teachers. The Welsh Government has announced that there won’t be additional funding to pay for this. So, will any additional financial support be available for schools to cope with all of these funding crises?

In terms of workforce salaries, that funding has already been allocated according to the revenue support grant last year. That was the basis for their agreement. I agree with the comments made by Sioned Williams on the pressures on our schools because of the increase in the costs of heating and other costs related to inflation and so on. As the Member will know from what we were discussing in the Senedd yesterday, the Welsh Government’s budget buys £600 million less in services than it did in November of last year. So, we are calling on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to make up that deficit, because that’s what everyone agreed was the need for public services in Wales at the end of last year. It's only the Westminster Government that has the financial firepower to make up that deficit.

Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions in this area. In terms of school budgets specifically—the Member mentioned the work of the WLGA in this regard—we do know, in light of the fact that we have continued to fund schools throughout the COVID period, although there’s been less provision in many different ways, that the reserves for schools in Wales have increased substantially over that period. So, we are supporting local authorities to work with schools to ensure that that source of funding is also taken into account as they look at the challenging situations faced by schools.

Minister, we're only too aware of the pressures facing our schools, thanks to the crisis in the cost of living at the moment, and a recent survey by NASUWT found that teachers are providing money, food and clothing to help children and families with cost-of-living pressures. It also said that nearly seven in 10 teachers saw that more of their pupils were lacking in energy and in concentration as well. Given that this cost-of-living crisis is known to be impacting both teachers and pupils' welfare, Minister, what further support could be made available to teachers, pupils and families to help them through this difficult and challenging time?

Well, I would welcome any support that the UK Government is prepared to provide in terms of additional funding to the Welsh Government to support public services and support families across Wales. I think the failure to be clear about that is a significant concern for public services right across Wales. We have, as the Member will know, a number of initiatives to support the very real cost-of-living crisis that families right across Wales are facing, such as the pupil development grant, PDG-Access, the free school meals programme that we were discussing yesterday in the Senedd, the school holiday enrichment programme and, indeed, many others.

This Government will always do everything we can to support families under pressure in Wales in very, very difficult circumstances, despite the pressures that the Member is aware that the Welsh Government's budget itself faces. What we need is a partner in Westminster prepared to step up to the plate as well.