6. Will the Minister provide an update on support for community-focused schools? OQ59083

Certainly. Community-focused schools are at the heart of our agenda to tackle the impact of poverty on attainment. In 2022-23—this financial year—we provided £3.84 million for family engagement officers, £660,000 for community-focused school manager posts, and £20 million for capital improvements to schools. We have also in recent weeks published two sets of guidance for schools as well.

My question was specifically about that £20 million of capital funding for community-focused schools. It was referenced in the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee—if I've got that right—which looked into how that money should be spent. The 'Levelling the playing field' report is the one I'm thinking of. I also met recently with Dr Nicola Williams-Burnett of Cardiff Metropolitan University, who has got a great deal of research expertise in this area and is keen to see those community-focused aspirations realised. So, with that in mind, I'd like the Minister to provide more detail at this stage on the delivery of the capital programme and where that funding's being directed, and particularly what practical benefits have emerged and what evaluation will there be of those outcomes.

Well, it's very important, isn't it, as well as being able to allocate significant funding, that we make sure it's being spent in a way that is both effective and also provides good evidence to others of how to best spend that money. Of course, the funding is being made available in this financial year, so the assessment of impact clearly will follow from here. But the kinds of things that we've seen investment in include—this is the capital grant—improving external lighting in sports areas, providing storage for equipment for extra-curricular activities, outside shelters, security measures to segregate school and community-use areas, and then modifications to changing rooms, to toilets, and so on, to facilitate community use.

In relation to how that money has flowed through the system, obviously the responsibility for distribution lies in the hands of local authorities, but we expect them to focus the funding on small to medium-scale projects and to take full note of the guidance that we've issued in how they go about doing that. That, we think, is the best way of making sure that schools can adapt and effectively open their premises outside traditional hours. In terms of how it was funded to local authorities, it was distributed on a formulaic basis, dependent on schools and learners in each individual local authority and, as I mentioned at the start, we'll be evaluating the outcomes of that funding in due course.