Extract from Wales Assembly Business Statement and Announcement - Feb 19

Wednesday, 20 February 2019 07:46

Leanne Wood AM: I recently received a letter from headteachers in the Rhondda outlining the impact of this year's budget cuts on schools. Now, I've heard Ministers deny that schools are facing cuts. Well, they are facing cuts, and the situation is justifiably described as a crisis that is already having a detrimental effect on pupils. The letter lays out that schools have no choice in some cases other than to...Request free trial

Leanne Wood AM: I recently received a letter from headteachers in the Rhondda outlining the impact of this year's budget cuts on schools. Now, I've heard Ministers deny that schools are facing cuts. Well, they are facing cuts, and the situation is justifiably described as a crisis that is already having a detrimental effect on pupils. The letter lays out that schools have no choice in some cases other than to set deficit budgets, and that means larger class sizes, fewer support staff and the cutting of extra-curricular activities. They tell me that the most vulnerable pupils are being put at risk. Can we expect continued denial about this crisis in our education system, affecting the life chances of so many? Or can we instead have an action plan from the Government that includes demonstrating how the almost £0.5 billion—almost a fifth of all spending that has been allocated to schools—gets nowhere near the front line because it's retained by local authorities and consortia? Can we have the Government Minister to provide some answers to Members on this at the earliest opportunity, please?

I recently asked you to provide a Government strategy on the future of care and care homes, and you told me to raise it in questions with the health Minister. I will do that, but the care situation in my constituency, and in many other places, has now reached a point of urgency. New regulations to improve care home accommodation are providing a challenge for many care home providers, not least local authorities. As a result, many local authorities are looking to outsource this provision to the private sector. I'm sure the Minister will agree with me about the desirability of a mixed economy of care—it's vital that this is a service that local councils continue to provide, and many of my constituents affected by this are deeply concerned about how many care home beds and day centre places will be available for them to access in the future. The provision of care is as important as the provision of health, yet the two are not given parity. Will the health Minister bring before the Senedd a comprehensive care strategy outlining how we can ensure all need is met in the future and that we don't lose more care beds?

The collapse of three private community rehabilitation companies last week put the tin hat on the disastrous ideological privatisation of the probation service by the Tories. Given that, within two years' time, much of the community rehabilitation company operation is to be brought back into the public sector, why not take action now to reunify the probation service in the public sector now, today? Let's not wait. To put another private provider in charge in the interim would serve no purpose whatsoever. So, can we see urgent Government action on this, please?

And I would like to give some well-earned congratulations and respect to the young people in Wales who went on strike and took to the streets to protest about the climate crisis last Friday. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges, if not the biggest challenge faced by countries across the globe, and not enough is being done to tackle it. And your Government is no exception, with your own 10-year target on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 set to be missed. Unlike many of the Westminster critics, I applaud the energy, determination and proactiveness of every single member of the youth climate change strike last Friday, and I would like to see more of this activity in the future. So, will you agree with me that political activity by young people should be encouraged? And will you also agree with me and them that now is the time to declare a climate emergency, but also that words are not enough; you need to act accordingly, too? So, will you?

Rebecca Evans AM (Minister for Finance and Trefnydd): I'll begin with your first point, which was on the school budgets, and, of course, UK Government's sustained austerity agenda has led to a cut of nearly £1 billion in Wales's overall budgets, but we will continue to call for additional funding to be spent on our public services, including our schools. I will say, with regard to the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru open letter on school funding, that we simply do not recognise the figure of £450 million referred to in the letter. Officials will be meeting with ASCL later this week to discuss the points that they have made with regard to local authorities and consortia.

Insofar as care home provision is concerned, of course we already have a joint health and care strategy in 'A Healthier Wales', which was our response to the parliamentary review. But, as you say, you will be raising your further questions directly with the health Minister in due course. The Minister will have heard your comments on the probation service, and I perhaps will ask for a written response to come forward to you on that.

Certainly, we are very keen to hear the voices of children and young people insofar as the challenge of climate change is concerned, because we know that young people clearly will be very, very much at the forefront of the impacts of climate change, and young people can certainly participate in shaping this dialogue with schools, Welsh Government and others in order to bring about the actions that strengthen our response to climate change. We support many activities that provide opportunities for young people to contribute to tackling climate change, including our eco-schools programme, which operates in 95 per cent of schools in Wales. That's one of the highest participation rates in similar projects in the world, and ultimately of course we want all of our young people to be ethical, informed, valued members of society, and these are the very same principles that are guiding our development of the new school curriculum.