Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 11 January 2023.
Minister, although the new schools in Brackla and Porthcawl, which Sarah just mentioned, are worth welcoming, it’s important to remind ourselves where Bridgend County Borough Council is in terms of the provision of Welsh-medium school places. We know that Bridgend is one of the areas with the lowest numbers of Welsh speakers anywhere in Wales, and one of the reasons for that is that there are only five Welsh-medium primary schools in the county, as compared to 52 English-medium schools. This means that Bridgend county has fewer Welsh-medium primary schools than every one of its neighbours and the council has no real plans to close that gap swiftly. So, what steps is the Minister taking to ensure that councils take the language sufficiently seriously and what steps is he taking to ensure that every pupil can get a place in a Welsh-medium school in their community?