This Wednesday (28th) will see a debate in the Assembly Chamber on the report of the Rural Development Sub-committee on the Re-Organisation of Schools in Rural Wales (pdf). The Education Minister has given a written response to the Sub-Committee?s recommendations. Cymdeithas believe that Jane Hutt's response is an attempt to sidestep many of the main recommendations, and are pressing AM's to put the Minister on the spot in Wednesday's debate.

Cymdeithas Education Spokesperson, Ffred Ffransis said:"Jane Hutt has taken this matter far more seriously than her predecessor, but we do not find her responses to the Subcommittee's recommendations convincing. The constant response "Accept in Principle" is in fact synonymous with "Reject Practically" once one considers the conditions cited by the Minister for acceptance. We hope that AM's will seize the opportunity on Wednesday to get some straight answers."Among the responses which Cymdeithas find less than convincing are:* The Minister "(broadly) accepts" in principle Recommendation 7 that she should "develop a code of practice for consultation and meaningful community engagement which should be followed by local authorities". However she proceeds to contradict herself and practically reject the recommendation by saying "It may not be appropriate to be over-prescriptive and issue a Code of Practice". That is certainly a strange take on "accepting in principle".* Recommendations 8 and 9 press the minister to insist that LEAs have systems for consultation over the future of schools which are "open", "transparent" and "meaningful" and that it is the Authority's responsibility to engage the community. This is an obvious implicit criticism of those LEAs which have done as little as possible by going through the motions of consultation with every intention of pushing through their agendas. The Minister's acceptance in principle contains no criticism whatsoever, merely stating that guidance will contain examples of "good practice."* The Minister "accepts in principle" Recommendation 10 that she "commissions research into the academic and social effects on children after they have moved to a larger school." However, by stating further that "this is a difficult area in which to conduct meaningful quantities research" she again makes in clear that "accepting in principle" in fact means "rejecting in practice".* Recommendation 12 states clearly that "LEAs should carry out robust Community Impact Assessments prior to the closure of any small school." The Minister "accepts" this recommendation, but as she cannot provide any methodology for carrying out such assessments, she says that Authorities "will continue to use their own judgment"!!!! Another practical rejection.* Although the Minister "accepts" Recommendation 13 that LEAs should consider the impact of closure on the Welsh Language as a "major determinant" in deciding on closures, she makes it clear that her interpretation of this is that their should be the possibility of an alternative Welsh-medium school somewhere nearby. This changes the whole status of Welsh-medium education from being a norm to the necessity to "opt-in" and divorces the language from its community environment in the experience of the pupil. This interpretation totally undermines the recommendation of the Sub-Committee.Cymdeithas is pleased that the Minister has stated that Government guidance "is not designed and should not be taken to be pressure on individual authorities". However, in view of the ambiguous responses, Cymdeithas believe that discussion of this topic should not be confined to an hour's debate by professional politicians.Cymdeithas yr Iaith will be holding an Open Forum to discuss the Sub-committee's Report at 1.30pm Saturday 21st February in Ysgol Llanfarian, 3m south of Aberystwyth. The Chair of the Assembly's Rural development Sub-committee, Alun Davies A.M. has agreed to present the report at the Forum, and there will be formal responses by leading Councillors and Opposition Spokespeople from Authorities such as Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Carmarthen. An open discussion will follow.Cymdeithas Education Spokesperson, Ffred Ffransis says:"An hour's debate by professional politicians is not sufficient for an issue of this magnitude which could drastically affect our Welsh-speaking village communities. In this way we shall be opening up the discussion to everyone and we are pleased to be doing that at an excellent Village Primary School. We are inviting the Minister, her officials and Ams to come to listen to the discussion."