14/11/2007 - Answers issued to Members on 14 November 2007

Answers issued to Members on 14 November 2007

[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

Contents

Questions to the First Minister

Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport

Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills

Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Questions to the Minister for Heritage

Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs

Questions to the First Minister

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In light of the recent draft budget, will the First Minister put forward the areas of his portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50641)

The First Minister (Rhodri Morgan): As First Minister my major task is to allocate responsibilities to different portfolio Ministers. The responsibilities which remain with me are of a widely divergent nature and do not lend themselves to division into a priority order.

Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister make a statement on how he plans to improve public transport links between East and West Wales? (WAQ50635)

The Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport (Ieuan Wyn Jones): We are putting in place a new Management Advisory Board to improve the TrawsCambria long-distance coach service, which includes east west routes. We plan to develop new routes and raise standards ensuring that a reliable, frequent, fast, comfortable and safe service is provided. We are also providing funding of £8 million towards a £13.4 million project to improve the Cambrian Railway Line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth.

The regional transport consortia are currently developing their Regional Transport Plans, which will set out their prioritises for improving local transport within their regions.

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In the light of the recent draft budget, will the Minister put forward the areas of his portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50642)

The Deputy First Minister: 'One Wales’ sets the priorities I see for my Department. These will be taken forward on a common basis delivering the outcomes described.

Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): Will the Minister make a statement on the restructuring of the Education department of WAG, how many staff were employed in the Education and Life Long learning department in April 2007, and how many staff were employed on 1 November 2007? (WAQ50622)

The Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (Jane Hutt): The current department was formed in April 2006 by the merger of the former WAG Department for Training and Education with ACCAC, ELWa, Wales Youth Agency and Dysg. The emphasis at that time was on bringing these bodies together under one Welsh Minister whilst maintaining continuity of its functions and services; this it did successfully.

Since then work has been ongoing through an organisational development project to deliver new ways of working and an underpinning departmental structure which will be outcomes focused and drive performance improvement in children’s education, lifelong learning and skills service delivery.

In April 2007 there were 760 staff in the department and in November the corresponding figure was 791. This increase is accounted for primarily by the transfer to DCELLS of the Basic Skills Agency staff and some fixed term secondments.

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): What are the current teacher:pupil ratios in Key stage 1 and in key stage 2? (WAQ50625)

Jane Hutt: Pupil teacher ratios are not available split between Key stage 1 and key stage 2 as information on teachers is collected at school level and can identified by sector (i.e nursery, primary, secondary, special) but not by key stage.

Provisional results from the January 2007 schools census show that the pupil teacher ratio in primary schools was 19.9.

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): How does the teacher agency "Quality Mark” protect the interests of the teachers employed? (WAQ50627)

Jane Hutt: The Quality Mark will set rigorous standards that teacher supply agencies and LEAs will need to meet on a wide range of issues such as the arrangements for pay and conditions of employment; facilitating professional development and other training opportunities and the induction arrangements for teachers. The Quality Mark will also give assurances that a teacher supply agency has carried out all the necessary pre-appointment checks on the teachers that they are supplying to schools including a CRB check and GTCW registration.

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): What policies are in place to help protect the terms and conditions of teachers who are employed through teaching agencies? (WAQ50628)

Jane Hutt: The Welsh Assembly Government is currently working with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) to introduce a Quality Mark (QM) system in Wales for teacher supply agencies. I refer you to my answer to WAQ50627 for further details.

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): Will the Minister list the number of complaints made against teachers by pupils or parents at each LEA year by year, for the last 5 years that resulted in action taken against the teacher? (WAQ50629)

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): Would the Minister list the number of complaints made against teachers by pupils or parents at each LEA year by year for the last 5 years? (WAQ50630)

Alun Cairns (South Wales East): What guidelines are in place to help teachers who are the subject of vexatious complaints from pupils? (WAQ50631)

Jane Hutt: The table below records those official complaints that have been made against teachers where the Assembly Government has been asked to intervene, on behalf of the Minister, under the powers of sections 496, 497 and 497A of the Education Act 1996. The Welsh Assembly Government does not normally consider complaints about teachers unless the complaint has been pursued with the governing body of the school. The complainant may then call on us to investigate perceived irregularities in the procedures that have been followed by governing body. Because we do not require governing bodies or Local Education Authorities to submit returns to us detailing their complaints procedures, some complaints made against teachers will not come to our attention because they were resolved locally. These are not included in our figures. Respecting those cases that have been referred to us, we do not keep records of any action which may be taken against a teacher as a result of complaints. This is a matter for the governing bodies and the Local Education Authorities.

In December 2005, guidelines for handling potentially vexatious complaints were issued to the Secondary Heads Association Conference. In October 2006, we published Guidance for School Governing Bodies on Procedures for Complaints involving Pupils (circular no 39/2006). Guidance emphasises the importance of having a complaints procedure that protects all parties; using Home-School Agreements to encourage acceptable standards of behaviour; and embedding the seriousness of vexatious complaints in the pupil behaviour policy.

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): What plans does the Minister have to counteract the falling numbers of pupils studying foreign languages at school? (WAQ50639)

Jane Hutt: The Assembly Government is committed to improving opportunities for the study of modern foreign languages (MFL). Our national strategy, Languages Count, sets out our approach to improving the take-up of MFL beyond the age of 14 and increasing the recognition by schools, pupils, parents and employers of the importance of language learning.

CILT Cymru, the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, is charged by the Assembly Government with supporting the delivery of the strategy working with schools, local authorities, learning providers and employers. Underpinned by £700k each year provided by the Welsh Assembly Government, CILT provides a programme of professional development for practitioners and supports pilot work for primary schools in partnership with a local secondary school to offer a foreign language. The Centre is also working with local authorities and a range of providers to develop wider options for language learning for 14-19 year-olds and to promote the benefits of languages to business.

An independent evaluation of work in primary schools received earlier this year, was very positive and confirmed that pupils, teachers and parents had welcomed the opportunity to begin to learn a language in Key Stage 2. On this basis resources have been made available in the Better Schools Fund from 2008-09 onwards to enable all primary schools to offer a foreign language on a non-statutory basis. This will be supported by a non-statutory framework for the teaching of MFL in Key Stage 2 to be introduced in parallel with the introduction of the revised school curriculum from September 2008.In addition, guidance is being prepared by CILT Cymru setting out good practice in the teaching of foreign languages.

As set out in The Learning Country: Vision into Action there is a need to take stock and consider how we can build on strengths, including the language module in the Welsh Bac, and address areas for improvement. Work is, therefore, in hand to refresh Languages Count by September 2008 to coincide with the implementation of the revised school curriculum and assessment arrangements.

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): What education and training opportunities will be extended during this Assembly government to those young adults aged 16-21 who are not in education, employment or training? (WAQ50640)

Jane Hutt: We are developing a comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training. The strategy will be published for consultation in early 2008.

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In the light of the recent draft budget, will the Minister put forward the areas of her portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50647)

Jane Hutt: The areas of my portfolio which will have the greatest priority and reflect One Wales commitments are:

• Ensuring the best start for young children through their early years—including progressing the provision of universal and affordable child care and the roll-out of the Foundation Phase.

• Underpinning provision of effective and appropriate services for 0-25 year olds, in particular, continuing with the transformation of provision for 14-19 year olds, the roll-out of the Welsh Baccalaureate and increasing the investment in Youth Services.

• Improving attainment and the educational effectiveness agenda to drive consistent improvement.

• Developing Adult Learning, improving skills and adding value to the Welsh economy by investing in an expansion of Modern Apprenticeships, increasing support for the Welsh Union Learning Fund and continuing support programmes to help people back into work.

• Working towards widening participation for all ages in Further Education and Higher Education.

• Providing a more sustainable pattern of provision to support access and learner delivery by, for example, increasing investment in the Minority Ethnic Achievement Grant and in student support.

• Providing additional investment to establish a Welsh-medium Education Network and developing the existing 6 Welsh for Adults units.

• Continuing to support the maintenance, improvement and development of the building infrastructure in all sectors.

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): Will the Minister make a statement on how much money has been spent on school buildings in Wales in each of the last 30 years? (WAQ50650)

Jane Hutt: The information requested is given in the following table.

Repairs and maintenance to local authority school buildings

Source: local authority revenue and capital outturn returns.

(a) Revenue figures are only available on a consistent basis from 1990-91.

(b) Includes acquisition of land and existing buildings, new construction, conversion and renovation.

(c) From 2000-01onwards responsibility for revenue repair and maintenance costs were delegated to individual schools.

Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister reveal how much of the budget of £500,000 to first time buyers is to be spent on administration and publicity? (WAQ50633)

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister make a statement on how the budget of £500,000 to first time buyers is to be allocated? (WAQ50634)

The Deputy Minister for Housing (Jocelyn Davies): We are preparing detailed proposals for the funding available to assist first time buyers from 2008-9 to 2010-11, including how it can be linked to equity sharing proposals involving registered social landlords. It is anticipated that none of the £500,000 budget would be spent on administration and publicity, however, it is too early to say how the available budget will be allocated. A statement will be made in due course.

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In light of the recent draft budget, will the Minister put forward the areas of her portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50643)

The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing (Jane Davidson): My key priority is to deliver the 'One Wales’ commitments that fall to my portfolio, in partnership with other Departments as appropriate. These priorities include action on climate change, affordable housing, local environmental quality, as well as waste management and increasing, walking, cycling and water based activities across Wales.

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Joyce Watson (Mid and West Wales): What is the Assembly Government doing to promote good health among children and young people? (WAQ50651)

The Minister for Health and Social Services (Edwina Hart): The main way in which the Assembly Government promotes good health among children and young people is via the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes. Local co-ordinators support schools to implement actions to meet their own priorities. 1426 schools are currently actively involved. This represents 76% of maintained schools; and exceeds our target of 75% of maintained schools involved by March 2008.

The Food and Fitness Implementation Plan, launched in July 2006, sets out our 5-year strategy to improve nutrition and levels of physical activity for children and young people in Wales.

The actions include the commissioning of a Cooking Bus which visits primary schools in Communities First areas providing practical cooking lessons for pupils, teachers and parents of young children.

We also have a co-ordinated range of smoking prevention activities which support the ban on smoking in public places and the change in age of sale from 16 to 18. Some 15,000 pupils are members of our Smokebugs! Club for 8 to 11-year-olds. A further 12,000 11 to 13-year-olds are involved annually in our Smokefree Class Competition. A new programme, ASSIST, is being rolled out for us by the National Public Health Service.

All of these actions contribute to the standard 'Promoting Health and Well Being’ in the National Service Framework (NSF) for Children, Young People and Maternity Services in Wales.

Questions to the Minister for Heritage

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In light of the recent draft budget, will the Minister put forward the areas of his portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50649)

The Minister for Heritage (Rhodri Glyn Thomas): 'One Wales’ sets the priorities I see for my Department. These will be taken forward through extensive consultation and co-operation with all stakeholders both within and outside the Assembly delivering the outcomes described.

Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs

Nicholas Bourne (Mid and West Wales): In light of the recent draft budget, will the Minister put forward the areas of his portfolio which will have the greatest priority? (WAQ50648)

The Minister for Rural Affairs (Elin Jones): My main priorities are the successful delivery of the 'One Wales’ commitments and the Rural Development Plan.