7. What assessment has the Minister made of potential cost-saving measures for schools? OQ59092

Well, the cost-of-living crisis is having, and will continue to have, significant financial impacts on all public services, including our schools. School budgets are, of course, for local authorities to determine. They are best placed to work with their schools, as many are, in proposing reasonable cost-saving measures where they are appropriate.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Powys County Council are looking at making education cost savings of over £1.7 million. Proposals for schools from the council include turning off laptops and ceasing photocopying. I'm not exactly sure how much of £1.7 million will be saved from stopping photocopying in schools, but this seems an inadequate way of treating our teachers and our children, and the cabinet just tinkering around the edges. Minister, to make efficiencies in schools we need to make sure that the buildings are as energy efficient as possible, so what support is the Welsh Government giving to schools to make them more energy efficient, so that can help school budgets?

Well, as he knows, we make available funding to local authorities in relation to the decarbonisation of the school estate—I'll have some more to say about that in the coming weeks, as it happens—as well as making sure that all new schools built using Welsh Government funding are net-zero schools, both in terms of embedded carbon, but also in terms of operation. I think it's really important that we can make sure our school estate is futureproofed in terms of its energy needs in the way the Member suggests.

Finally, question 8, Mark Isherwood.