Written Assembly Questions tabled on 3 July 2017 for answer on 10 July 2017
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self-identifying question no. shown in brackets)
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
To ask the First Minister
Adam Price (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr): When did members of the cabinet last meet with representatives of the Ford Motor Company? (WAQ73791)
Answer received on 11 July 2017
The First Minister (Carwyn Jones): The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure and I met the Vice President, Manufacturing of Ford of Europe to discuss engine manufacturing in Bridgend on 21 September 2016. A process of regular and continued dialogue between Ford of Europe and Ford of Britain and senior Welsh Government officials was established.
Adam Price (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr): Will the First Minister list all meetings between the Welsh Government and Tesco senior management over the last two years? (WAQ73790)
Answer received on 11 July 2017
Carwyn Jones: The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure and I had a telephone conversation with the Chief Executive of Tesco on 21 June 2017 and I had a meeting with the Chief Executive on 10 July. Ken Skates and I also met the company’s Director of Customer Engagement Centres and the Head of UK Stakeholder Communications on 26 June 2017.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure
Adam Price (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr): Will the Cabinet Secretary provide figures for the total sum he expects to be expended by the Welsh Government on the Circuit of Wales project, including that spent on all externally commissioned due diligence? (WAQ73789)
Answer received on 13 July 2017
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure (Ken Skates): We will publish relevant information in due course.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Janet Finch-Saunders (Aberconwy): Will the Cabinet Secretary explain what considerations have been given to increasing the number of medical courses taught through the medium of Welsh in further education, and state what the Welsh Government is doing to improve the current access to Welsh language medical courses? (WAQ73783)
Answer received on 10 July 2017
The Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language (Alun Davies): Welsh Government is aware of the need to continue to support and encourage access to Welsh-medium medical courses and the importance of Welsh-medium progression from further to higher education so that the future workforce has the appropriate Welsh language skills.
My priorities letter to Further Education Institutions (FEIs) 2017/18 sets out the requirement for FEIs to broaden the range of courses available to young people and provide opportunities for learners to continue their linguistic development. FEIs are required to plan and deliver Welsh-medium courses in key demand areas such as Health and Social Care.
- Across FE a range of medical courses are available including Access to HE courses. Colleges are required to respond to priorities identified by Regional Skills Partnerships (RSP) and, if it is evidenced that additional provision is required, this should be fed into RSP plans including requirements for bilingual and Welsh-medium delivery.
- Planning Welsh-medium and bilingual provision should continue to be an inherent part of FEIs curriculum planning process. Linguistic continuity for learners wishing to continue their education through the medium of Welsh and/or bilingually remains a priority for FEIs. In order to demonstrate how the sector is responding, FEIs are required to identify where provision is offered through the medium of Welsh, bilingually, or in part i.e. where a learner is undertaking a single unit or module through the medium of Welsh.
- This informs the Welsh Language Division's monitoring of the sector's growth in provision, utilising the Welsh-medium Allowance. The new Welsh Language Strategy to be launched in 2017 has one main overarching aim which is to achieve a million Welsh language speakers by 2050 and it is expected that every sector will play a key role in contributing towards achieving this goal.
- In 2017/18 we expect FEIs to plan to address this goal based on 2016/17 benchmarks of GCSE Welsh first and second language enrolments in key vocational areas, taking into account priorities identified by RSPs for 2017/18 and local intelligence. As a minimum FEIs are asked to plan and deliver Health and Social Care Level 2 and 3 courses through the medium of Welsh addressing the needs in this sector area.
- All FEIs have been supported by Welsh Government with the Bilingual Champions grant from 2005/06 to 2015/16. The aim was to support the colleges in the creation of an infrastructure to increase their Welsh-medium and bilingual provision ensuring that young people continue to use and develop their language skills.
- FEIs should also plan so that Welsh speakers continue to develop their skills regardless of medium of instruction. From 2017/18 we will require colleges to demonstrate how they have spent their previous academic year's Welsh-medium Allowance on the development of full-time qualifications. Feedback and challenge on FEIs offer and delivery will continue to be undertaken with officials from the Welsh in Education Unit to ensure progress in this area.
- Within higher education the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol provides support to develop Welsh-medium health care provision, including medical courses. Support is also provided by the Coleg to develop higher education provision within FEIs.
- The new Welsh Language Strategy will soon to be published and a review of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol which is considering its future role in developing Welsh-medium provision within both higher and further education has been completed and will be published during the summer. These developments will provide renewed focus to the development of post-16 Welsh-medium and bilingual learning across key sectors including medical courses.
Lynne Neagle (Torfaen): Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement detailing the process Welsh Government followed to review the School Organisation Code prior to publication of the consultation on the code on 30 June 2017? (WAQ73784)
Answer received on 10 July 2017
Alun Davies: The current School Organisation Code came into force on 1 October 2013. During the three years my officials have met, with local authority officers and diocesan directors of education to discuss the operation of the Code, the requirements imposed by it and the guidance provided therein. My officials reviewed the Code following three years of operation reflecting on feedback and learning over that period. Prior to the consultation an early draft version of the Code was shared with representatives above.
The public consultation provides an opportunity for consultees to comment on the revisions and to offer any other comments on the Code.
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the rights of supply teachers in Wales with regard to access to the teachers' pension service, sick pay, holiday pay and job stability? (WAQ73785)
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): What is the average per day rate of pay for supply teachers in Wales? (WAQ73786)
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): What guidance does the Welsh Government provide on whether local authorities should directly employ supply teachers rather than using agency staff? (WAQ73787)
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): What actions is the Welsh Government taking to implement recommendations of the taskforce into supply teaching? (WAQ73788)
Answer recived on 7 July 2017
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government is committed to establishing and maintaining an effective workforce in schools and to improve learner outcomes. Work to support the supply workforce is an important part of that commitment.
Under the Staffing in Maintained Schools (Wales) Regulations 2006 school governing bodies and local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that they employ sufficient numbers of individuals with the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience to meet the needs of the school. This includes the arrangements for deploying temporary fixed-term and short-term supply staff to cover absence as required.
In determining how to spend their delegated budgets schools can use the services of commercial supply agencies to meet their needs; others employ supply staff direct or use local authority supply lists where they exist. Arrangements differ markedly across Wales depending on local needs, geographical constraints, language and subject requirements. Under the flexibilities within the current legislative framework the Welsh Government is unable to force schools or local authorities to employ supply staff directly or to maintain local authority controlled supply lists. However, guidance is available on the effective management of school workforce attendance to assist the governing body or local authority in managing the staffing of the school taking account of local factors as it sees fit.
The Welsh Government does not collect information on the average daily rate of pay for supply teachers across Wales. The Supply Model Taskforce at the time of reporting said that approximately half of all temporary teachers were employed under the terms of the statutory School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document via employment contracts directly with the school and are, in the main, paid according to their last teaching role pay point via the local authority payroll. Where schools contract the services of a commercial supply agency, teachers are employed by the Agency via a contract of employment detailing the levels of pay and the terms and conditions that apply. Commercial supply agencies are bound by all UK and EU employment law requirements and we expect the Welsh public sector to have regard to the Welsh Government's recently published guidance on the Code of Practice for Ethical Employment in Supply Chains. The plans for devolved teachers' pay and conditions to Wales will afford the opportunity to consider the pay for supply teachers in more detail.
In implementing the Taskforce recommendations we are supporting the professional development of supply teachers and reviewing policy on how we support NQTs during induction. We have implemented roll-out of arrangements for all supply teachers; however they are sourced, to have personal access to resources and opportunities available on Hwb.
We are also looking into options for introducing quality assurance standards and regulatory requirements for supply. Work is also underway to develop ways of building capacity in the system to support our schools to meet their supply needs in a more coordinated, collaborative and sustainable way, while exploring how NQTs may be employed on a regional cluster basis to better manage absence, particularly in primary schools.
A Working Group, which includes representatives of the wider education sector, has been established to support the implementation of the Taskforce's recommendations and to address related issues.