Written Assembly Questions tabled on 11 February 2014 for answer on 18 February 2014
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self identifying Question no. shown in brackets)
To ask the Minister for Housing and Regeneration
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): When were the financial arrangements to support the new road link to Barry Island signed by all parties involved, and will the Minister disclose the terms of the agreement to support those financial arrangements? (WAQ66432)
Answer received for publication on 19 February 2014
The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport (Carl Sargeant): The financial arrangements for the new road link to Barry Island will be signed by all parties before the end of the financial year. The exact terms of the financial arrangements are ‘commercial in confidence’ at the present time.
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister outline the process for administering the funding of the free school breakfast policy, in particular how payments are allocated to schools to meet the cost of breakfast clubs, and any changes to this process which have occurred in the last 12 months? (WAQ66430)
Answer received for publication on 14 February 2014
The Minister for Education and Skills (Huw Lewis): Since the start of the 2013-2014 financial year, funding for the Free Breakfast in Primary Schools (FBIPS) initiative was transferred to local authorities’ Revenue Support Grant (RSG), and the duty to provide free breakfasts was underpinned by legislation. Local authorities are free to allocate the funding to schools using whatever methodology is most suitable for them, so long as they operate in accordance with the statutory duties placed on them by section 88 and 89 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.
Prior to the start of the 2013-2014 financial year, the FBIPS initiative was administered as a grant by Welsh Government. Schools would submit their expenditure to a nominated local authority contact, and Welsh Government would reimburse the local authority after checking that the spend satisfied the terms and conditions of the grant.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister provide the annual cost of the Welsh Government’s free school breakfast policy for each of the last four financial years, including the year to date? (WAQ66431)
Answer received for publication on 13 February 2014
Huw Lewis: Please see the below table, which confirms the expenditure for the Free Breakfast in Primary School (FBIPS) initiative for the preceding three financial years.
Financial Year | Spend |
2010-2011 | £11,215,468.29 |
2011-2012 | £11,002,340.90 |
2012-2013 | £12,030,629.17 |
At the start of the 2013-2014 financial year, funding was transferred to local authorities’ Revenue Support Grant (RSG) and the duty to provide free breakfasts was underpinned by legislation. I can confirm that a total of £14.7 million was sent to local authorities for the FBIPS initiative for the 2013-2014 financial year.
To ask the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport
Paul Davies (Preseli Pembrokeshire): Will the Minister make a statement on the £2.9m which has been transferred to reserves from the Sustainable Travel Action with respect of the 2013/14 supplementary budget, and its impact on programmes such as the implementation of the Active Travel (Wales) Act? (WAQ66458)
Answer received on 18 February 2014
The Minister for Economy,Science and Transport (Edwina Hart): The £2.9m was released to central reserves following a review of the concessionary fares revenue requirement and will not impact implementation of the Active Travel (Wales) Act.