, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
If I can go back to Flying Start as well, you mentioned that the uprating to £6 an hour was necessary, and I agree and that is to be welcomed. So, in the overall picture, given the commitment to rolling out childcare to all two-year-olds through the Flying…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
And I'm sitting next to you. [Laughter.]
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Okay. Fine. Thank you.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Okay, that's useful. Thank you. My final question is about the role of the Minister for children. In advance of this session, we asked for an explanation of that role, in terms of monitoring the spending on children outside the health and social care…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
What I'm trying to tease out of you is, by giving them some policy direction, and potentially giving them more money, what exactly are you expecting them to do with that extra funding?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Okay. We'll note that. Thank you very much. Changing focus slightly now to the spending on housing and local authorities, you propose more revenue funding to local authorities, possibly, for increasing social care for children. Could you maybe provide us with…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Thank you very much. Good morning. I'm going to ask the first couple of questions in Welsh, if I may. One fundamental difference of opinion between the view of this committee and the Welsh Government's view is that you've committed to undertake an impact…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Cabinet Secretary, you will know that I’ve raised the issue of rural poverty and the need for a tailored rural development strategy on many occasions in the Siambr. Now, in order to put my money where my mouth is, I published a rural poverty strategy last…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Thank you to Janet for raising this important question.
, Plenary
Statement by the First Minister: Delivering for Wales
Whatever you say about achievement, nothing could be further from the truth in terms of what we're seeing across Wales. There's one area where this is quite clear, and that is education. Let me just give you one example—there are many others, of course. This…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: Anti-bullying Week: The mental health and well-being of learners
I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the statement. Plaid Cymru, of course, supports efforts to reduce bullying whenever it arises and to improve the well-being of children and young people. We will be closely scrutinising the Government's work in this area…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
So, even before this most recent kick in the teeth for Welsh universities—having to deal with rises to national insurance contributions—Welsh universities have been on the financial brink for a while, with cumulative deficits upwards of £100 million. Now, a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
—financial support for you? Thank you very much.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
—that there won't be any—
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
—are you concerned—
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much. I look forward to that statement about whether you intend to raise fees in the same way, and I’d like to hear some kind of timetable about when that’s likely to happen, because there is great uncertainty in the sector at present. Another…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. On Monday, the education Secretary of the UK Government announced that students will pay more for going to university in England next year, with tuition fees rising to £9,535. Setting aside the fact that Keir Starmer has…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you. As four leaders in councils led by Plaid Cymru in rural areas noted recently, in a letter to the Chancellor before the budget, they noted many of our local authorities are finding it difficult to provide services in rural areas, particularly in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
7. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that local authorities are able to effectively deliver services in rural areas? OQ61781
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: Improving educational standards in Wales
What we have today is yet another statement of the obvious. Labour in Wales have failed pupils, parents and teachers for far too long, and now an admission that significant improvements are needed. Did this come as a shock to the Welsh Government when you did…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: Improving educational standards in Wales
I thank the Minister for the statement.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
If I could just come in on that, what concerns me are the scenarios where we're losing pupils who have received Welsh-medium education and then, perhaps, haven't continued in Welsh-medium secondary schools, more in west Wales than in the area that you and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Okay. That's clear enough. The final question: in the current Welsh-medium education strategy, there's a trajectory of reaching 40 per cent receiving education through the medium of Welsh by 2050. We have moved back a little bit in terms of reaching that…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Perhaps I'll come back to that when we talk about categorisation later, because it might be more relevant if we don't change the categories in terms of Welsh-medium education. Moving on, therefore, currently, you've decided on a three-year timespan for…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill - evidence session 16
Thank you very much. There is a requirement in the Bill currently for primarily Welsh language schools to provide Welsh language education delivery plans. We know that Welsh-medium schools do provide Welsh language education anyway, and have done so for over…
