Kirsty Welcomes Government U-Turn on Education Funding (Kirsty Williams AM )

Cymraeg
English

Kirsty Williams AM <info@kirstywilliams.org.uk>

Kirsty Welcomes Government U-Turn on Education Funding

March 23, 2010 12:00 AM

Kirsty Williams AM for Brecon and Radnorshire has welcomed the announcement from Education Minister Leighton Andrews that the Welsh Government has revised its funding of post-16 special needs education.

After concerted pressure from Kirsty, pupils, teachers and Powys County Council, the government has had to climb down on its pledge not to fund 100% of the monies needed by Council's this financial year.

However, the government has still not conceded on funding for 2010-2011, only promising to increase the amount of funding from 69% of what is needed to 85%, which will still leave Powys County Council short by £250,000. A funding review will be carried out part way through that year to reassess the situation.

Kirsty Williams said: "I am delighted that the Welsh Government has had to back down in the face of the campaign against funding cuts for special needs education. However, I am still very concerned at the funding level for next year. Despite the commitment to up the funding from 69% to 85%, Powys will still be left with a significant shortfall. I will continue to pressure the Minister to commit to the funding that the most vulnerable children in our education system deserve."

Notes

The Minister issued the statement below

WRITTEN STATEMENT BY THE

WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT

Title:

Funding for Learners with Additional Needs in Sixth Forms and Further Education

Date:

22 March 2010

By:

Leighton Andrews, Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning

I should like to announce the way forward for funding post-16 learners in special schools and further education.

Providers have made clear the difficulties for them of living within the Assembly budget. I have therefore taken steps to increase allocations as follows.

The final allocation for post-16 learners in special schools and out of county placements for 2009-10 is £20.2m. This represents funding in full the final estimates of local authorities for this year. For 2010-11, initial allocations will total £20.49m. This equates to 85% of local authorities' initial estimates, an increase of 16% over the 69% originally announced.

These allocations mean that funding for special schools post-16 and out of county placements will have more than doubled since 2003. Clearly this rate of growth is unsustainable. I therefore intend to set up a Task and Finish Group with the remit of putting forward a new coherent process for funding the transition of young people with additional learning needs from pre-to post-16 education.

I am very keen to see things done differently in the future. The work of the Group will embrace making best use of the expertise that resides in Welsh special schools and colleges, the use of out of county/out of country provision, and options for enhancing provision in Wales with a view to providing a better service more economically. I shall be looking for opportunities for increased collaboration and also for innovation in these areas as I wish to see significant improvement in the way services are provided to this vulnerable group.