, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Okay, thank you. Regarding the mapping of subject demand and provision across HE, to what extent would any interventions on individual subjects, such as incentivising and supporting institutions, be the responsibility of Medr, and/or the Welsh Government, and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Good. I think that would be very welcome by everyone here, as well as beyond. I will keep my next question, or my sub-question, quite short. I know we've talked a lot about financial sustainability, and I know you've mentioned the issues with regard to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
And just for my understanding again now, the fact that you're meeting twice a month, or your teams are, with those financial heads, you're getting your reports on a regular basis—is that something that was set up by yourselves, or was that agreed by the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
I appreciate that. I really do. As a team, I'd like to get a bit more of an understanding. If you're meeting with various universities—if you could just explain to us here on the committee—how often do you meet with the universities? Is it a regular thing?…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Thank you very much, Chair. I'm going to ask a bit about higher education institutions, if that's okay. We're seeing higher education institutions managing their financial challenges in different ways across Wales. Some are seeing a decline in international…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Great. Thank you so much.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Okay. Have you got any contingency plans in place if, indeed, a new Government comes into place and the money that's been ring-fenced for Medr at the moment doesn't actually fit in or doesn't manage to cover all of the priorities that you have in future? How…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
You mentioned the election to my colleague, Russell George, in one of your answers to him. So, obviously, an election is indeed upon us in May 2026. So, what plans are you, as Medr, going to be putting into place to ensure that there's a smooth transition to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Okay. Great. What's Medr's experience of operating under a phased approach of transferring powers within the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022? Do you feel that this approach has helped operations so far?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
That's good to hear. Have there been any challenges that you've faced whilst having to work between different portfolios and different Government Ministers, I should say?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Annual Scrutiny of Medr
Good morning, both. For the benefit of the committee, how would you describe your working relationship with Welsh Government?
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Business Minister, can I please request a statement from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs about the ongoing issues at Ty Llwyd quarry in Ynysddu? Serious concerns remain about an apparent illegal discharge…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Understood. Thank you so much, Chair.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Got you. Okay. Deb, did you want to add anything? After that, I'm done then, Chair.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
So, just for my clarity, the plans that you've made with your, I want to call them career advisers from Careers Wales, those plans are targeted for the schools? Are they targeted for the local council? Where are they going exactly?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Have you both, when it's come to your children, when it's come to their learning, when it's come to their careers, when it's come to aspiration, have you had any interaction with Careers Wales at all, and how's your relationship been with them? Because we…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Can I just ask one final question?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Okay. Thank you. Deb, did you want to add anything to that one?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
And who do you feel should be responsible for giving that information: teachers, various support groups, Welsh Government? Who do you think should fly the flag and say, 'We're going to make sure all parents are fully aware of what's available to them'?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Is that for all children or just those children who specifically have additional learning needs?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Okay. So, that feeds nicely into my last question, which is: do you have any comments, as parents, and you both are, indeed—? Do you feel that you get all the information that you need to support your children in order to get into higher education, and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Karen, do you have anything you want to add?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Thanks so much, Chair. We've had some concerns from schools with sixth forms that they tend to actually want to keep young people continuing to carry on doing their A-levels in order to keep their numbers up. It sounds horrible, but that's, unfortunately…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
No, it's fine—it happens all the time; don't even worry about it. It's fine.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Routes into post-16 education and training - evidence session 2
Understood. Thank you so much for your answers. Thank you, Chair.
