Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

· Mae diweithdra Cymru bellach yn uwch na’r rhelyw o ranbarthau’r DU.

· Mae gwariant ar addysg yng Nghymru yn £500 y pen yn llai nac yn Lloegr.

· Mae canlyniadau arholiadau yng Nghymru yn wannach na’r cyfartaledd yn Lloegr.

· Mae’r Cynulliad yn gofyn i bob ysgol sydd a 90 neu lai o ddisgyblion gyfiawnhau eu bodolaeth.

· Mae’r Gweinidog dros Iechyd yn y Cynulliad wedi cyfaddef nad yw’n ymwybodol o lle yr aeth £1bn o’r gyllideb Iechyd.

· Mae cynlluniau allweddol ar gyfer gwella ffyrdd yng Nghymru wedi eu gohirio.

Er gwaethaf yr uchod, ac fe allwn fod wedi parhau i ychwanegu at y rhestr, fe dreuliodd y Cynulliad ddoe yn dadlau am ‘semantics’ dyddiad pleidlais ar bwerau pellach i’r sefydliad.  Bu i Blaid Cymru fygwth gadael y llywodraeth nid oherwydd bod hanner y cynnydd mewn diweithdra Prydeinig wedi digwydd yng Nghymru'r mis diwethaf ond oherwydd bod Llafur Cymru yn hanner awgrymu na ddylid blaenoriaethu pleidlais ar bwerau pellach. 

Nid bywydau pobl Cymru sy’n poeni Plaid Cymru a Llafur yn y Cynulliad ond yn hytrach yr angen i gadw eu pleidiau eu hunain yn hapus yn achos y cwestiwn cyfansoddiadol.  Ni chafwyd gair gan neb am fywydau go iawn y boblogaeth syn dioddef o ddiffygion y llywodraeth ym Mae Caerdydd.  Yn gynyddol y mae Bae Caerdydd yn ymdebygu i ffrae deuluol gyda dim ystyriaeth o gyfrifoldeb tuag at neb y tu allan i’r dethol rhai yn yr elit gwleidyddol Cymreig.   

· Welsh unemployment is now higher than most regions in the UK.

· Education spending in Wales is £500 per head lower than in England.

· Welsh Educational achievements now lag behind the English average.

· The Welsh Assembly expects any school with less than 90 pupils to justify its existence.

· The Welsh Health Minister has acknowledged that around £1bn of spending cannot be accounted within the Health budget.

· Crucial plans to improve key Welsh roads have been cancelled.

Despite the above, and I could have extended my list significantly, the Assembly spent yesterday debating the semantic issue of the date for a referendum on further powers for the institution.  Plaid Cymru threatened to leave the coalition government not because half the increase in unemployment within the UK occurred in Wales last month but because Welsh Labour implied that the date of a referendum on further powers was not a priority. 

It would appear that Plaid and Labour politicians in Cardiff Bay are not concerned with the lives of people who live in Wales but rather the internal squabbles within their respective parties with respect to the constitutional question.  There were no discussions yesterday about the concerns of real people leading real lives in Wales who suffer due to the widespread and continued failures of the Welsh Assembly.  Increasingly the debating chamber in Cardiff Bay resembles a family argument with no consideration of the duty that they have towards those who live beyond the Welsh political elite.  

Guto

Following a great morning in the Conwy Valley I drove down to the coast and over to Dwygyfylchi to meet our local Councillor, Gail Hall.  Gail won her seat last May and has not stopped working since being a fine advocate for her ward on Conwy County and also a hard working and knowledgeable member of the Snowdonia National Park Authority (little wonder considering her strong family connections with the Dolgellau area).

Gail had invited me to the Capelulo School and Village Fete and it was a pleasure to attend.  The weather had attracted a good crowd and everybody were clearly having a good time.  However, there is a cloud on the horizon with Capelulo being one of the schools under 'review' by CCBC in their current in-depth review of primary education within the County.  The concern at Capelulo is the fact that a potential merging of the Pen Cae school in Penmaenmawr and Capelulo is under consideration.  The fact that Capelulo has a strong roll of almost 100 pupils with Pen Cae being close to 200 has contributed to the concern about the plans being considered (I stress that they are only plans for discussion) for a new combined School to be located between the two villages.

I was taken on a tour of the School by the excellent Headmistress and her supportive Deputy and shown some of the problems with the building which had been identified in the CCBC report.  Whilst some issues raised seemed reasonable on the whole I was very impressed with a bright, airy and clearly well functioning school which enjoyed huge community support.  The Headmistress and her team are a committed group and this was apparent in the support they received from the community on Saturday.  The review of Schools in Conwy must in my view take into account the views of the parents and from the conversations I had on Saturday they seemed to be more than pleased with the way their children were being educated at this thriving village school.

Guto Bebb

Last night in Glan Conwy we spent a considerable amount of time discussing Education and the need to improve the quality and outcomes achieved by Schools in Wales.  The discussion was initiated by a question in relation to a number of proposals made by Michael Gove, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education recently.  I am of the view that Education is one policy area where we are certain to see radical changes implemented by the Conservative Part if elected to government in 2010 (or earlier if possible Mr Brown!).

However, despite responding in some detail to the question in relation to some of the proposals made by Michael Gove it was also necessary to point out that these changes, although desperately needed I would argue, would not immediately apply in a Welsh context since Education is a devolved issue.  Now at this point I could state that as a Parliamentary Candidate I can make no further comment on this issue which is an Assembly matter.  But that would be silly!  Instead what I feel should be made clear is not only the fact that changes implemented by the Conservative Party at Westminster would not immediately impact upon the situation in Wales, but more importantly, that change is even more desperately needed in Wales. 

The fact of the matter is that education performance in Wales has declined when compared with England since 1999 (establishment of the Assembly) and this is, in many ways, a reflection of the priorities of the Assembly which has been continued by this discredited Labour / Plaid administration.  My two links highlight this point with the first being a report from Nottingham University indicating a better Welsh performance in terms of outcomes from the education field than was the case in England with the second link being the GCSE results this August which clearly show Wales behind England both in terms of numbers achieving 5 passes at A* - C and also significantly under performing when compared with England in relation to A* and A grades.  This issue is explored very well in this extract from the Times Educational Supplement earlier this year.

What is interesting to note is that in 2004 spending per pupil in Wales was said by Nottingham University to be equal to the situation in England.  At that time Wales was maintaining a small lead in terms of results (but the gap was narrowing and had been since 1999).  By 2009 the spending gap per pupil between Wales and England had grown to a staggering £500 per pupil according to the Welsh Assembly's own figures.  Let's make this clear, a school in Wales with 1,000 pupils would be £500,000 worse off than their English counterparts.  Is it any wonder that Welsh exam performance is now worse than in England and a full 10% worse than in Northern Ireland?   

The final point to note about this issue is a very local one.  Plaid Cymru have recently started distributing a pamphlet extolling the virtues of Gareth Jones AM.  He is, I can confirm, a very nice man.  However, the Plaid leaflet claim that he has been "praised by opponents and allies for his outstanding chairmanship of the influential Enterprise and Learning Committee". 

In truth he should hang his head in shame.  This committeee should be holding the Labour / Plaid government to account for their policy of reducing spending on our Schools but it seems that Gareth prefers to be applauded for being the Chair of this committee rather than doing something about the continued reduction in spending on Schools in Wales.  What is even worse is that the same funding gap between England and Wales is also apparent in Further and Higher Education.

In 1997 Plaid and Gareth Jones promised to kick Labour into touch.  We all know what happened.  Within a few weeks Gareth supported the formation of the Labour / Plaid Government - a Government which has continued to allow the relative decline in Education spending in Wales compared with England.  That's the problem with Plaid - they promise one thing but do another.   

Guto Bebb

Bu i mi dreulio dau ddiwrnod yn yr Eisteddfod eleni ac am bleser.  Torfeydd sylweddol, y teulu'n mwynhau (yr oedd y wraig a'r plant yn aros ar y maes carafannau) a phobl yn wirioneddol garedig.

Yr oedd Lisa Francis (Ymgeisydd Meirionnydd) yn arwres ar stondin y Ceidwadwyr a Trefor Jones (Ynys Món) a hefyd Paul Davies AC yn amlwg yn cyfrannu'n sylweddol a rhadlon at ddelwedd hollol Gymreig y Ceidwadwyr yn yr Eisteddfodl eleni. 

Llongyfarchiadau i'r holl drefnwyr am Eisteddfod dda a hynod boblogaidd.  Hei lwc y bydd Glyn Ebwy 2010 cystal!

I spent two days at the Eisteddfod in Bala this year and it was great fun.  The crowds were substantial and the family had a great time (my wife and children spent the week on the Caravan site).  Everybody I met were kind and the number of well wishers was a huge boost.

Lisa Francis (PPC Meirionnydd / Dwyfor) was a tower of strength on the Conservative stand and she was supported really well by Trefor Jones (PPC Anglesey) and Paul Davies AM.  They did a great job (with the support of many others) in projecting a positive Conservative message to the Eisteddfodwyr.

Congratulations to all who were involved in the event this year - they did a great job.  Onwards to Ebbw Vale next year!

GUTO BEBB

Much fuss in Weekly News about the proposal to spend £17k on a bike shed at Ysgol Craig-y-Don, and the entirely sensible proposal from one governor to spend the money on something useful like books. In the words of a Wimbledon hero -'You cannot be serious.'

It seems a great example of the appalling failure and waste of what the 'public sector' has become under Labour.

Why does it cost £17k to build a bicycle compound? Will it be gold-plated? I expect the answer lies in the 'on costs' the architect, planners, health and safety, everyone in an office at Bodlondeb and Cardiff getting their bit. Nobody currently managing the public sector in Wales seems to have concern for value for money - the culture is fundamentally wrong.

Why build a facility for 40 bikes when current use is 12? Because the funding is there for it, in a WAG programme (Safer Routes to Schools). Here is another problem - so much of local government and schools funding is in ring-fenced 'pots' like this. This is, in all probability,  a good 'pot' and a good idea to encourage children to get to school safely, and not by car when possible. There are probably lots of other good 'pots'. But the overall effect is a lack of a sense of priorities; the tendency to bid for things because they are there; compounded by the imperative that you always, always spend a budget.

Meanwhile the big pot gets smaller, and we find that we cannot afford to keep all the schools; and no-one would bet that those discussions are not already being had behind the well funded doors of Cardiff and Bodlondeb. It is the economics of the madhouse.

The WAG (Welsh Assembly Government - the most useless body known to man) is sneeking out bad news in its admissions that talks are ongoing regarding the future of post-14 education in Wales, described by one North Wales headteacher in today's Post as a 'shambles' and by another as 'politicised'. They are trying to spin it into a good story about future provision; but have made it clear that any decisions about closures have not yet been made. Possibly, for some unknown reason, until after the General Election?

Apart from the obvious questionmarks that now hang over the future of Coleg Llandrillo and others, will it survive, be strengthened, merge with Bangor Uni or close? There is a far bigger question.

What of the rest of education? Will the WAG be forcing councils into cutting smaller schools at secondary and primary levels?