The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Lesley Griffiths, and amendments 2 and 3 in the name of Siân Gwenllian. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected.

Item 7 this afternoon is the Welsh Conservatives debate on additional learning needs, and I call on Laura Anne Jones to move the motion. 

Motion NDM8294 Darren Millar

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that:

a) the number of children and young people receiving additional learning (ALN) needs support has decreased since the introduction of additional learning needs reforms last year;

b) delays and challenges in the rollout of ALN reforms are causing a postcode lottery in access to ALN support for learners across Wales; and

c) research by the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru found that 94 per cent of school leaders reported that funding to cover all aspects of the new ALN legislation is not sufficient.

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

a) undertake an urgent review of the implementation of ALN reforms;

b) take urgent action to ensure that children with ALN are identified and provided with access to support sooner; and

c) provide additional financial support directly to Welsh schools to ensure that learners with ALN are able to access the support they need.

Motion moved.

Diolch yn fawr, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m honoured to open this both vital and timely debate this afternoon and move our motion tabled in the name of my colleague, Darren Millar.

I’m glad that the Welsh Conservatives have been able to use their time to host this debate today. I’ve stated my concerns to the Minister both in committee and on the floor of this Senedd several times in relation to what is happening on the ground in our schools with the implementation of the new—and, we agree, much needed—ALN reforms, and the lack of ALN provision. This isn’t a debate on whether reform was necessary—I think we can all agree that it was—but this is a debate to highlight the ever increasingly urgent situation we have in our schools, and that those children in urgent need of specialist, one-to-one ALN support within our classrooms in Wales just aren’t receiving it.

Llywydd, it’s not just the odd school affected by this. It’s not just the odd child. It’s every school and hundreds of children. As a Senedd, we can’t be okay that parental choice to have their children in mainstream education is being taken away due to the lack of provision and lack of ALN support for those who need it. Home schooling is a parental choice that many children flourish in, but being forced to home school due to resources not being there in mainstream education to help our children and young people where it's needed is not okay.

Members from your own benches, Minister, share these concerns of seeing a rise in coming out of mainstream education because of these reasons. Every school that I've visited the length and breadth of Wales, without exception, have stated to me their concerns of not having sufficient moneys available to deliver the ALN support needed in their schools, both primary and secondary.

Teachers and school leaders were noticeably upset that they weren't able to supply their children with the support they need due to the massively overstretched budgets. This is, in part, due to directive after directive from this Welsh Government without the money to follow them to ensure delivery for things, in the most part, that are much needed in our schools and in education in Wales. The lack of money in schools to fulfil AL needs impacts not only those needing the specialised support, but everyone—all teachers, all pupils in that classroom.

Whilst waiting extraordinarily long waits for statements for children to come back, teachers are having to stretch themselves to teach a full class of pupils as well as having to attend to the very specific needs of one, two, three children in that classroom. That is an almost impossible situation, which means all pupils will miss out somehow through no fault of that teacher. Deputy Presiding Officer, children and young people in Wales have already missed enough schooling due to the pandemic and suffered enough from inadequate mental health support in our schools. This situation with ALN is causing unnecessary stress on our teachers, affecting their mental health, increasing their workload pressures, which must be considered by the Minister.

The Minister states that equity is important in the Government amendment—it is to all of us, but equality of opportunity to have the best education possible surely underpins all aspirations when making decisions in education in Wales. We need to absolutely ensure all schools have the tools they need to deliver the best education possible. It is not sustainable to have a situation where continuous directives are put on schools where the money doesn't follow. School budgets should not be at crisis point, where the fundamentals to ensuring the best education cannot be delivered because vital ALN staff cannot be afforded. I also think that the Welsh Government should seriously look at incorporating ALN training into all teacher training as a fundamental going forward, so we are able to utilise our workforce better.

I would now like to move to the Plaid Cymru amendments, which we will, of course, be supporting, and I thank you for raising such an important point as the need for bilingual support with ALN. We too recognise the urgent need to have this addressed, and, Deputy Presiding Officer, I hope that the Labour benches will join us both in supporting these amendments, supporting the Welsh language provision in this regard.

Moving to Labour's amendment, we unfortunately won't be supporting the Labour amendment today, not because we don't welcome the new reforms—as I said, this is not what this debate is about—but due to the Welsh Government's failure to recognise that extraordinary and rising delays and the challenges in the roll-out of ALN reforms, coupled with increased demands for ALN, are causing a postcode lottery in access to ALN support for learners across Wales. I must note our disappointment that your amendment to point 1 of our motion fails to recognise this concerning reality in schools across Wales. In fact, I would challenge the Minister to visit any school across Wales and for ALN provision to not be one of their top priorities and their top concerns.

By not amending point 2 of our motion, I'm assuming that the education Minister and the Welsh Government do recognise the urgency and will, therefore, be supporting our calls to increase direct funding to Welsh schools to plug this gap in provision that is clearly there right now. The extension of the implementation of the Act and the extra funding to education partners for ALN implementation until 2025 is welcome, but could the Minister in his response make it clear who these education partners are and where exactly this money is going? Thank you.

Deputy Presiding Officer, the major problem and reasons for this debate are that money, resources and expertise need to go to the front line now to ensure children are identified and statemented quickly enough and get the support that they need. That means to schools, who can identify these kids quicker than anyone else; they know their children, they know their needs, they know how to help, before any official diagnosis is made. We all recognise new ALN reforms are making steady progress, and, of course, there is naturally going to be a difficult period of transition, but, Minister, what about those learners slipping through the net right now? What about all the children and young people not getting the education they deserve right now? What about all the disruption caused to all pupils' education and the impact on teachers' well-being and their ability to teach? The current situation in our schools is worrying, and therefore it's disappointing that it's taken our opposition debate to get some real action and movement on this. But at least, if the Government are saying that they recognise the need, we will hopefully now see real action on this going forward.

As set out in our motion, without significant increase in funding on top of what's already been promised, directly to schools, more and more of our children's education will be negatively impacted. Surely this is the last thing we want to happen in Wales. Alongside the all-important funding and training, we need an urgent review of the current implementation of the ALN reforms, and I'm glad that the Minister, in a letter dated yesterday, has said that this review will happen. I look forward to the Estyn thematic review in September 2023, which will also indicate whether the needs of ALN are being met, but the Government also need to recognise that urgent action needs to be taken now. We cannot wait to hear the findings of that review, so that we can truly get to the bottom of these issues that schools are facing with the implementation, and plug the gaps to ensure that we are giving our children in Wales the very best opportunities to succeed. So, I look forward to hearing speeches from across the Chamber today and to the Minister's response, and I would ask you all to support our motion today. Diolch.

I have selected the three amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected. I call on the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language to move formally amendment 1, tabled in the name of Lesley Griffiths.

Amendment 1—Lesley Griffiths

Delete point 1 and replace with:

Notes that:

Estyn finds that ALN implementation is making steady progress and changes are generally welcomed.

research finds that the Curriculum for Wales and ALN code are promoting a focus on equity and inclusivity for all learners.

the ALN implementation period has been extended to ensure that families receive the best support possible, and implementation funding increased to help plan for meeting individual learner need.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

And I call on Heledd Fychan to move amendments 2 and 3, tabled in the name of Siân Gwenllian.

Amendment 2—Siân Gwenllian

Insert at end of sub-point 1(b): 

with a particular shortage of Welsh-language provision.

Amendment 3—Siân Gwenllian

Insert as new sub-point at end of point 2:

take immediate action to alleviate concerns from Welsh-medium providers regarding the availability of Welsh language resources to support ALN work, and ensure all resources are published bilingually.

Amendments 2 and 3 moved.

Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'm very pleased to hear that the Conservatives will be supporting those amendments. I'm also very grateful that you have put forward this debate. It is an exceptionally important issue for a number of our constituents. Indeed, I had two families yesterday contacting me, and they didn't know that this debate was happening today in the Senedd. It is a very live issue. And speaking to many of my fellow Members, I know that we all have casework related to these issues and the deficiencies that there are within the current system. And as Laura Anne Jones outlined, we, too, support the reforms by the Welsh Government. They're very much needed and we do understand that there are major challenges in terms of achieving the ambition; we know that the workforce is a huge challenge, but we also believe that there is room for improvement in the provision, to be honest, about some of the failings that there are at present.

Without a doubt, despite these reforms, there are major concerns by a number of families, unions, teachers and the wider sector about the provision in terms of additional learning needs in Wales. I hear very often about deficiencies in the support available, problems that schools have with receiving sufficient funding to provide the support needed, as already outlined, and, in some cases, that parents have made the decision to educate at home because the education system can't meet the needs of a child or young person. It's something that we have been discussing in seeing absences from school increasing. When we discussed education at home, just last week in the Siambr, this is an issue, and it does have an impact mostly on women, who have to give up their jobs to educate at home. It is a matter of equality too, and I think that we do need to look at that aspect of it too.

As already mentioned, the provision at present is one that happens at random, almost—it depends on your postcode—and that's particularly true when it comes to Welsh-medium provision, with access to suitable additional learning needs provision and support varying widely even within the region that I represent in South Wales Central.

As outlined in the paper published jointly by the Welsh Language Commissioner and the Children's Commissioner for Wales on 1 June—I hope that the Minister perhaps will be able to respond to that paper; I'm sure that you have seen it since it was published at the Urdd Eisteddfod—under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to receive education in their own language, and they go on to say in the report that evidence shows that there is a long way to go to ensure an education system through the medium of Welsh with regard to ALN, and they say that there are major challenges. But I think that what was frightening, but wasn't a shock perhaps to any of us, because it is something we have already heard in the report, is, if I may quote:

'Either Welsh-medium learners must receive support through the medium of English, do not receive the support required, or, as in the case of some learners with more complex needs, choose English medium education from the outset, as they are already aware of the lack of Welsh-medium ALN support.'

Well, in the past six months, three different families have come to me as a regional Member to raise these exact issues. One family has moved school and has received English-medium education against their wishes because they believe that the English-medium service is more appropriate for their child; others have had to change the language spoken at home or have had to move to another local authority area. This is not acceptable. We also know that there is evidence that children with communication needs in other languages, including BSL, are also suffering from a lack of adequate provision.

As I said at the beginning, we know that there are challenges in terms of the workforce and so on, but one of the issues that we also hear about—and I still hear about it when I get responses from some local authorities—is that there is no demand for this provision through the medium of Welsh. I refuse to accept that that is the case, because the casework that reaches my office doesn't reflect that. I think that there are geographical challenges and so on, but the truth is if we don't provide equal opportunities for everyone—and the Minister frequently says that the Welsh language belongs to everyone, and it does, but if we do want to ensure that every child and young person can access the Welsh language, then meeting these needs in terms of language choice is particularly important. And I think when we're talking about people having to move to another local authority area or to change the household language, in a modern Wales, where we have a target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050, that is something that we do have to find solutions for.

So, I thank you for bringing this issue forward. There is work to be done, but, more than anything, I want to know exactly what the solutions are and how we will ensure that every child and young person can receive the support that they need.

I was motivated to join this debate because I absolutely think that the Welsh Conservatives are framing it in the wrong way. Of course the number of children and young people receiving ALN support has decreased, because the system by which we evaluate it has changed. There isn't any longer a perverse incentive to spend huge amounts of time and resources pursuing financial support, filling in forms and getting assessment after assessment, because that is no longer the way in which we're doing this. So, schools have to own the pupils that they have with them and there's absolutely no justification for continuing to chase the money, rather than getting on with making reasonable adjustments to pupils' individual needs.

You argue in your motion that there's a postcode lottery for support for learners. I haven't heard the evidence yet, and I'd like to see it, because, obviously, were that to be the case, we'd need to be very worried. You quote a report that's nearly two years old that 94 per cent of school leaders report that there's not enough money for this, but I would remind you that the Welsh Government's budget is £1 billion short this year, and therefore there isn't a huge amount of new money going around.

I have yet to understand the need for an urgent review so soon after the ALN system has been established. It is, after all, only 18 months and five terms that this new system has been in place, and, certainly, school governors are still getting their heads around their new responsibilities. Yes, some staff, particularly in secondary schools, we learn from Estyn, are unclear about their individual responsibilities, and that's obviously a concern if teaching and learning is not appropriately shaped to meet the needs of the pupils in front of them.

So, I absolutely—. It isn't the way I'm experiencing it as a school governor of many years standing—25 years, I think. It seems to me that where—. Some staff do not realise that provision for ALN—this is Estyn—is everyone's responsibility. If teachers are not differentiating their classes and their teaching to ensure that different pupils' needs and different learning styles are taken into account, then clearly there are some learning and training issues there that need to be resolved.

But I can assure you that in the school where I'm a governor, out of 1,500 pupils we have 120 young people following a bespoke pathway. Nine pupils are receiving individual tuition only, because their mental health or other trauma does not enable them to be taking part in a classroom situation. We already have identified 10 pupils in the next year 7 who are going to have IDPs in place. We have five pupils who have never been back to school as a result of the trauma they've suffered during COVID, and that is despite the best efforts of the school to try and encourage them to come into school in whatever way they can, and we have at least one pupil who has opted for home-school learning because they're actually going out to work to supplement the family income in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis.

These things are really important, really serious, but I think the evidence that the additional learning needs reforms are not working at this stage is not presented here this afternoon, or not so far, and I wait to hear from other people were that to be the case.

I'm delighted to take part in this debate and highlight the need to ensure that children with additional learning needs are sufficiently supported through the education system. According to the Welsh Government, the additional learning needs reforms affect around one in five pupils, and we know that educational outcomes are poorer for those learners compared to the rest of the pupil population, and so reforms were very much needed, and to be fair the Welsh Government's ALN reforms made some very positive changes that have been welcomed by stakeholders and the education profession. However, there are also some very serious concerns too—concerns about resources and concerns about implementation, particularly given that these reforms have coincided with the COVID pandemic, a new curriculum, and post-16 reforms too.

Every teacher in Wales, at some point in their career, will work with a child who will need additional support, and it's vital that they have the skills and training to ensure they can provide the best possible support in the classroom. Members may be aware of the petition started by Clare-Anna Mitchell that calls for all teachers and teaching assistants to have compulsory training in additional learning needs, and I believe that Ms Mitchell is absolutely right. We know that the first step in improving the educational experiences and outcomes for children with additional learning needs is to improve the training that teachers receive, so I do hope the Welsh Government is genuinely listening to the concerns raised by parents like Ms Mitchell, and I hope action is forthcoming to better support their children.

I appreciate that the Welsh Government has provided £12 million in funding to increase the resources for schools to implement the new ALN system and lead whole-school strategies to embed inclusive education. That funding is key to ensuring schools have the tools that they need to better support individual learners, and so it is absolutely essential that that funding reaches as many schools as possible. For example, Welsh language support for children with additional learning needs is desperately lacking, as we've heard from Heledd Fychan, and for some parents there just aren't the resources in place for their child to receive support through a Welsh-medium mainstream school.

So, I do hope that the Welsh Government will redouble its efforts to ensure resources are available in both English and Welsh, so that parents are able to send their child to a school of their choice in their local area. Indeed, perhaps the Minister will take the opportunity to tell us what steps the Welsh Government is taking to ensure that children are able to access the support they need in both Welsh-medium and English-medium schools.

Our motion recognises that the number of children and young people receiving additional learning needs support has decreased since the introduction of the reforms made last year, and we on this side of the Chamber have some concerns. We believe that there needs to be an urgent review of the implementation of ALN reforms to ensure that they are effective and that learners are getting the help that they need. There is a genuine fear that there are children in Wales who need additional support but they are just not receiving it. There is still inconsistency across Wales in the amount of support available to neurodiverse children in schools, as well as variations in the quality of provisions provided, and that is simply not good enough.

And so, I want to voice my support for the calls to review the ALN reforms, and I hope the Welsh Government will seriously consider the points in our motion this afternoon. We must strive for better, and ensure that learners who have additional needs are able to be properly supported in schools, and indeed, in college settings. And we must ensure that children are able to access that support in English and in Welsh.

And finally, Llywydd, I'd like to remind Members that it was six years ago today that I introduced the Autism (Wales) Bill, with a clear purpose to improve services for people with autism in Wales. We know that some children with autism have additional learning needs, and an autism Bill could have gone some way to supporting them through the education system. But that legislation was blocked, and yet the problems that these children and their families are facing are still there six years on. So, I urge Members to support this motion, and send a statement today that this Senedd is willing to prioritise this issue and ensure that learners with additional needs are able to get the support that they need. Thank you. 

The Llywydd took the Chair.

I declare an interest as a parent of a child who's severely autistic and is benefiting from this legislation. We actually had, as parents, a meeting with the teachers a few weeks ago, and the preparation for the IDP is incredible. It's inclusive, it involves more than one teacher, it involves the additional learning needs co-ordinator, and, I have to say, it made a huge difference to me as a parent being able to plan for my daughter's future—planning some three, four, five years ahead. I think the nature of my daughter's condition is so clear that it does make it slightly easier to see her future direction. She's in a specialist resource space at the moment and has come on incredibly well, and her future is starting to take shape, and I'm starting to understand it. And just from a speech I made a few years ago, I asked, 'Will she ever be able to tell me that she loves me?' Well, she tells me that she loves me, and I tell her that I love her back now, so I'm really pleased that she's able to do that.

One thing I wanted to say is: in order to know where we're going, it's helpful to know where we've been. And I often reflect upon what kind of support would I have had if I had my daughter's condition when I was born. And I've got a sample of Hansard from 13 July 1970, which was the Second Reading of the Education (Handicapped Children) Act 1970,  and the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science, Mr William van Straubenzee, a Tory MP, was introducing the Second Reading, and he said,

'The Government's reintroduction of the provisions of Clause 1 at the earliest possible moment will, I know, reassure many people who have the interests of mentally handicapped children at heart, and not least their parents and those who have the important duty of teaching them in junior training centres and in hospitals for the mentally handicapped.' 

'After the transfer enacted by the Bill, the junior training centres will be run by local education authorities as part of the special education provision. The L.E.A.s will also be responsible for the provision of education for children in hospitals for the mentally handicapped, in the same way as they now provide education for children who are in hospitals for reasons other than mental handicap. In assuming this responsibility, local education authorities will be able to build upon the splendid foundation of teaching work among mentally handicapped children which has already been laid by the hospital authorities.'

So, you can see very clearly that the direction that the Government has gone with this is to move the responsibility very much to schools, away from the health service. Imagine what it would have been like then to have had your child educated in a hospital setting because there was nowhere else for them to go.

There was a tv documentary that looked at the Mental Health Act 1959 and the impact it was having in 1973, three years after the introduction of this Bill, and many children we would today identify as autistic were being held in hospital and being classified, following the Mental Health Act 1959, as 'severely sub-normal'. Now, my concern is, if my daughter was born then, she would be in hospital, with not much chance of getting out, being educated in that setting. 

So, to understand where we are now, it is helpful to understand the progress we've made. And it was a paediatrician called Dr Derek Ricks, who sadly died very young in 1988, who started to make the changes that were necessary. And I think the Government is standing on the shoulders of giants here in moving towards this provision. I was on the committee that introduced the ALN Act, and I'm very pleased to see it in operation. The challenge for it is where there is a grey area. So, I've said my daughter is clearly autistic and has very clear needs. Some parents feel that their children have needs in that grey area: do they need to be in a resource space, should they be in a mainstream class, should they be in a special school? And this is where things get particularly difficult and where the system becomes stretched.

Martin and Sarah Humphreys are parents in my constituency, and they've mentioned their son, Luke, and what they've said to me was that, 'Every time we ask for Luke to experience a more varied curriculum, we've been met with resistance and obstacles, time delays and refusal. Luke spent his primary education in mainstream school with a one-to-one assistant and met his targets like the rest of the class.' He's now in discussion, through the IDP system, as to where his next destination will be. Unlike my daughter, it isn't as clear, and that is where the challenge is. But I'd say the Government are addressing that, and I agree with everything Jenny Rathbone said.

As a parent of a child with additional learning needs, and supporting those in my constituency, this system is working, and there will always be challenges that it will face, but I think we need to give it time to work and to follow that through. I think the Government is doing the right thing, and I will be supporting the Government's amendment to the motion today.

I'll also have to declare an interest, as I've got a nephew who is waiting for an autism diagnosis.

I agree with some of the points that Laura Anne Jones made, and Hefin David, that reforms were necessary, because the old system was not fit for purpose, it was too complicated and it wasn't user friendly, and I'm pleased that reforms are taking place. However, recent findings show concerning developments in the Welsh Government's approach to delivering the new transition to a new framework, which puts some of the most vulnerable people at risk in Wales. I won't go into it all; Paul Davies mentioned a lot of the points I want to make.

But I go round a lot of schools in my constituency, and from the personal experience that my family have seen, there are a number of young people with additional learning needs in classrooms in Wales who simply cannot get support, because they do not have a diagnosis to access the levels of support they need. I've got a headteacher in one of my schools in Brecon and Radnor who spends 90 per cent of her time caring for a child with ALN. They know that child has got ALN, but they cannot access the support because that child has not yet got a diagnosis. And, if they have got a diagnosis, a lot of the schools are saying that the funding isn't coming through the system. They're having to make radical changes to their school by either not filling places or not doing developments and refurbishment on the school, to actually fund the additional learning needs that is required.

I know the Deputy Minister for Social Services is here, and I know the ALN part of getting diagnosis is in her portfolio, and I think it's very, very important now that we actually focus on getting those young people who are in our schools, who need diagnosis, to get the support they need through the system. There are thousands of young people stuck, waiting for a diagnosis for autism or a neurodiverse condition. They are young people who are in our schools, who need the support and they're not getting it. I'm being told of other—. Yes, I'll take an intervention, Jenny. I see you getting on your feet.

Diagnosis is important, but, at the end of the day, the school has to devise some provision that meets the needs of the child, and the diagnosis will only be an indication. Schools have got to own the pupils that they've got, and ensure that they're making necessary adjustments to meet the needs of individual children. Clearly, there's a debate to be had between parents and the child, as to whether a mainstream school is appropriate or a specialist unit, but, at the end of the day, it's the provision, not the diagnosis that's the most important.

I agree with everything you're saying, Jenny: it's very important that schools do own the pupils that they have, and those schools want those pupils to be owned by their school. But, unfortunately, to get the support they need, they need a diagnosis, because the funding follows a diagnosis. And schools who are cash strapped, because they've had years of underfunding from the Government—this is the only Government that has cut the education budget across the UK—they don't have the money in their resources to actually fund that, so they need the diagnosis to get there.

So, what I would like to know from the Government is: what are you doing to make sure that those young people get the support they need, by getting the diagnosis in place, so that they can receive the support that they need in schools? Because that is the way you will solve a lot of these problems. There are too many people being pulled out of school because they cannot get the support they need, and too many teachers sat—I'm going to finish, Hefin; it's okay—and too many teachers sat actually doing caring jobs, when they should be actually helping our young people develop their education.

The purpose of the legislation, of course, was to move away from the situation that James Evans has just described. Every child needs and deserves the same opportunity to reach their full potential, whatever their particular needs are in terms of their education. Every child has the same right to an education that meets those needs and helps and enables them to flourish and enjoy school or college—not simply to be educated, but to enjoy that education. And for too long, parents have had to struggle, to fight, to campaign—year after year after year—without getting the help and the support that their children require. It was a real privilege to guide this legislation through as a Minister, and I remain grateful to Darren Millar, the Conservative spokesperson at the time, who shared, I think, the same vision and the same ambition for children who do have additional learning needs. We disagreed on certain things, but we agreed on far more. I think it's important to recognise that agreement across the Chamber on what we want to see.

But I want to be reassured, Minister, that we are delivering on that ambition. Because the one thing that I've learnt over these past years is that there is inconsistency in the delivery of the policy. My experience is different to that of others. My experience is that parents still do have to struggle too hard to get the support that their child requires. I want reassurance that the implementation of the policy delivers on the vision. I recognise that we are reforming the curriculum, and that is an urgent priority. I recognise also that the pandemic has had an enormously disruptive impact on where we were and what our timescales were prior to that. I recognise all of that. But I want the reassurance from Government that the commitment to a consistency of approach remains as strong as it was when the legislation was being put in place. Kirsty Williams, of course, was the education Minister at the time. I remember her determination, and I remember the way in which she spoke about this legislation, and the determination that every child matters, and that the needs of every child must be met in a holistic way. And that remains, I hope, the driving force—and I know, with the current education Minister, it will remain as the driving force of policy.

But that consistency is important. It's consistency through the journey, through school, into college, and into adulthood. Does the support be delivered over time? Is it delivered over geography? It is far easier to receive the specialisms needed in a city like Cardiff than it is in other parts of the country. Do all our communities have the same level of support that they require to deliver the same holistic education? [Interruption.] I'll take an intervention.

Thank you for taking the intervention. I agree wholeheartedly with the point that you're making, Alun, about the fact that we need a consistent approach across the whole country—that certainly isn't the case. In fact, one of the problems that I've had constituents bring to my door is that, when people relocate from one local authority area to another, they then, very often, have to unpick the support that was previously in place, and start from scratch, having a battle with the new local authority into which they have relocated. Is that something that you've experienced in your constituency?

The IDP, of course, should be a portable document, and should be able to follow the individual through different schools and different opportunities and different places. And so, that was certainly one of the objectives of the legislation. If it isn't being delivered, then we need to understand why that is true.

And the other point about consistency is that about the Welsh language. Again, my experience is that support in the Welsh language is not available in the way that it is in the English language. And that means that there are children in school today who are missing out on the sort of educational support they need because they speak Welsh. That is not good enough, and we need to address that.

We need to ensure that teachers have the training available to them to ensure that they're able to deliver the teaching that they require. And we need to ensure that the funding is available. The opening speaker was—. I should say, Laura, you were on your sabbatical from this place when this legislation went through this place, and we did put a great deal of funding in place. Those people who were members of the Finance Committee will remember the trouble I got into when we didn't put the funding in place originally. And the funding was put in place. I want to see where that funding has gone and how it's being delivered. So, I hope that we will be able to ensure that we do have this person-centred approach and a holistic approach to education, one that's rooted in a determination to achieve equality for all young people and children, wherever and however they're being educated. 

I will conclude on this point, Presiding Officer. I know the Children, Young People and Education Committee is consulting on these matters at the moment, and I think it would be a very good example of how committees in this place can review legislation after it's been passed by this place, after it's become law, to ensure the post-legislative scrutiny examines not just the ambitions of the legislation, but how that legislation is being delivered in practice.  

I wholeheartedly agree with Alun, really. Access to learning opportunities is a fundamental right that no-one should be excluded from. Research from NAHT Cymru has suggested that 94 per cent of school leaders in Wales believe the funding they are in receipt of is insufficient for the requirements of the ALN legislation. On top of that, a third said that they had to fund additional support, as help was not available or accessible from health and social services care. These young people deserve the freedom to learn and seize the same opportunities as their peers.

It is incredibly concerning that even though approximately one in five learners in Wales have ALN, Wales has seen a drastic reduction in ALN support. This includes the reduction of staff as well as investment into schools, delays to repairs or refurbishment, and the cutting of the maintenance budget. These significant reductions saw 18,000 fewer young people being identified as requiring ALN in the last year, creating a postcode lottery for young people seeking ALN support. These figures are even more alarming in Welsh-medium schools. This continued lack of support has meant families feel that they struggle at every stage of the process of getting the required support, leading to them not knowing where to go for help and advice, leading to young people struggling at the first hurdle.

Unfortunately, behind these statistics are the very real stories of people who have been let down by the lack of support. We have all heard from constituents outlining the need for additional support, especially surrounding those with Down's syndrome on their progression through education. Constituents have highlighted the lack of specialised residential support available to students with Down's syndrome who are looking to leave home and live with their friends. This lack of support seriously limits options for students looking to access the same opportunities that many of us take for granted.

Currently, there is a Senedd petition under way on the matter with over 4,500 signatures, calling for a review of additional learning needs in schools and a substantial increase in support for the children struggling with such needs. The demand for the support is out there, and we as elected representatives must listen. It is therefore vital that the Labour Government undertakes an urgent review of this implementation of ALN reforms, take urgent action to identify and provide access to support for children with ALN, and provide additional financial support directly to Welsh schools to ensure that learners with ALN can access the support they need. Diolch yn fawr.    

I'll keep my contribution brief during this debate, knowing that the Children, Young People and Education Committee are currently in the process of evidence gathering for our inquiry into equal access to education and childcare for disabled children and young people.

During my time in education, I worked with children and young people with additional learning needs. I understand how difficult it has been in the past not only for the children and young people, but for their families and for their schools, whether it be trying to obtain a statement or a lengthy process of trying to put together the best possible package of learning and care, which, as we all know, can be extremely difficult.

I really am hoping the new ALN Act will help alleviate some of these frustrations for parents, teachers and our young people. From the ground, I’m told individual development plans are a huge step in the right direction. But we know there’s work still to do and communication still to be had for consistency.

I have close links with the schools in my constituency and I’m going to ensure I am regularly updated on the progress of the new ALN first-hand. I have a survey open for Rhondda residents who wish to share their experience to date, and I’d like to say an enormous thank you to the 60 plus parents and guardians who’ve completed the survey so far. Your voices will be heard, and your experience will help create future positive experiences. I know the Minister is prepared to listen and work with you to get this right. Diolch.

The Minister for Education now to contribute to the debate. Jeremy Miles. 

Thank you, Llywydd. Alongside the Curriculum for Wales, the intention of our ALN system is to ensure that every learner that needs additional learning provision has support that is planned appropriately, and that this is consistent across Wales. I can give that commitment to Alun Davies—I share his passion on the need to ensure that, and also to ensure that every child and young person has access to the best possible education, and is inspired, encouraged and supported to achieve his or her full potential. 

I welcome the opportunity today to inform you about the significant progress that's been made in implementing the additional learning needs legislation despite the pressures—that is the reality of the situation. The Estyn annual report demonstrates that providers welcome the changes. There is a good understanding of additional learning needs among the staff that lead on it. Professional learning and the work of establishing new statutory roles has been welcomed. Practices that focus on the individual are put in place across education.

Recent research on the Curriculum for Wales demonstrates that it allows senior leaders to promote and to focus on inclusion for learners with additional learning needs as well as vulnerable learners to a greater extent than the previous curriculum, at a time when that, of course, is crucially important. In order to respond to the pressures of work facing schools and settings, and particularly additional learning needs co-ordinators, I recently extended the timetable for the implementation of the ALN reforms for a year in order to allow further flexibility—[Interruption.]

Yes. 

Thank you. This whole journey started 20 years ago, when I was a member of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, and I'd just, with my wife, fought a battle to get a statement for one of my children. So I've been there, done it, and know exactly what this is about. But last week, at their request, I met a teaching union. I haven't got the authority to identify them—I'll just say it's a major teaching union. And one of the things they said—I'd ask you how you respond to this statement by them; it's only a very brief quote—was, 'It's imperative that the Welsh Government conduct an urgent review of the impact of increased workload on all educational staff. Additional learning needs co-ordinators, classroom teachers and teaching assistants are all impacted by the failure to invest appropriately in the ALN reforms'. 

I thank Mark Isherwood for that intervention. We are currently looking at that particular issue of teacher workload, particularly among ALN co-ordinators. I don't know which union made these comments, but I'm certain that they will be involved with that work, and that will report back to us at the end of this year so that we can see whether we need to respond in alternative ways to what we hear as a result of that important review. 

The Conservative motion actually quotes the NAHT, the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru, on funding. If the Conservatives have had recent discussions with that union, they will know full well that the Westminster Government, unfortunately, continue to underfund public services significantly, and this, of course, has a detrimental impact on schools in all parts of the UK and on broader services too. The motion calls for more funding specifically to support ALN reforms. This is exactly what we've delivered by increasing the ALN implementation grant this year from £6.6 million to £12 million, and, over the past three years, over £62 million of revenue funding alone has been made available to help schools to create more capacity and time to deliver across whole-school settings. Over £12 million is being used to help schools to deliver well-being interventions, to give training to staff—we've heard of the importance of that today—and to ensure that child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, are available within schools. And £9.1 million of funding has also been maintained to respond to social and emotional issues facing learners with additional learning needs.

I am entirely convinced that the quality of an education system depends entirely on the quality of its workforce. I am very proud of the committed workforce that we have here in Wales and its commitment to continue to learn and improve. We've developed a professional learning pathway on additional learning needs so that teachers and other practitioners can develop their skills to support learners with additional learning needs. Eighty-four teachers are developing ALN skills further through a national Master's degree programme in education. School leaders and ALN co-ordinators share experiences and effective practice through the National Academy for Educational Leadership's reforms programme. Introducing an additional in-service education and training day will be an opportunity for the profession to develop its skills further.

The motion also calls for a review of how the Act has been implemented, and many Members have mentioned this. I agree that there is value to this. That is why Estyn is holding a thematic review of the implementation of the ALN reforms this year, with a report to come in September 2023. This is in addition to the information arising from Estyn's regular cycle of inspection and review.

A formative evaluation of the additional learning needs system is taking place, and it will assess the effectiveness of the implementation process, identify barriers or elements that are effective, and note any expected results of the new system. We expect to publish the early findings by the end of November of this year.

We are listening to the views of parents of learners with additional learning needs or disabilities by funding events for parents and carers through SNAP Cymru across the country. Over 300 people, from all parts of Wales, have attended these events to date, and it provides a means of raising awareness about the reforms and to get feedback.

The motion mentions a reduction in the numbers receiving support. I don't accept that. The annual pupil census data is an important source of monitoring information, and recent analysis shows that the total number of children who are present recognised as having additional learning needs or special educational needs is reducing. But the reduction in numbers does not mean that the learners aren't getting the right support. After all, these are not just numbers on a page; they relate to individual pupils with specific needs.

During the autumn of last year, at our request, Estyn held a brief thematic review of the implementation process, which noted a significant reduction in the number of pupils who were recorded as having additional learning needs. Generally speaking, Estyn noted that the ongoing progress of pupils was monitored appropriately in many schools and that they continue to receive targeted support that was appropriate. We expect this trend to continue, perhaps, as children with special educational needs at the operational, schools level, are supported by differentiated methods of teaching and inclusive approaches. The number of learners with ALN could then start to rise to reflect the increasing number of learners who have complex needs.

Heledd Fychan and others mentioned a bilingual system, and we do need to ensure that this is available in all parts of Wales. I have ensured that the planning provision for Welsh-medium ALN is a key part of the WESPs. By the autumn, we will have our national ALN Welsh language lead in place, and we will continue, through Adnodd, to create Welsh-medium resources to help with teaching and learning the curriculum, and to identify and commission resources that will provide better support for learners with additional learning needs. I am confident, Llywydd, that our reforms to the curriculum and additional learning needs continue to redefine and to deliver our ambition for an inclusive education system.

Tom Giffard to reply to the debate.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, and can I thank all Members of the Senedd that have participated in this debate today and for the interesting range of perspectives that we've heard from across the Chamber? I think the fact that so many individual Members wanted to speak in this debate does show that this is an issue that touches all of us, and something that a lot of us will come across either from personal experience or in terms of acting on behalf of our constituents. As somebody who has worked in this sector before—I was, as many of you will know, a one-to-one learning support assistant for a young child with ALN—I know the difference that that particular provision can make. Laura Anne Jones started by saying that ALN provision benefits everyone in the classroom, not just those that require that specific ALN support, which is all the more reason why we need to get this right. And I thank the Minister for his response, and I think there was praise from across the Chamber for the ALN provision that has been taken so far, the changes that have been made so far. And, as Hefin David reminded us, we've come a long way, I think, in our understanding of learning support needs and so on over the years. I think it was 1970 you gave the reference from, and I'm very thankful we're not there today.

Paul Davies made reference to a petition, which is live at the moment, by Clare-Anna Mitchell. Many, I think, of my Labour colleagues will know Clare-Anna Mitchell, who was a Labour candidate in the last council elections in Swansea, which shows that this is not a party political message we're trying to get across here; this is something that really matters and is very important to people, and that petition, which was gathering signatures as I was sitting here watching this debate, kind of shows, hopefully, that we've made some convincing arguments that have got more people to sign that particular petition. But a lot of what we're calling for in our motion today—reviewing those additional learning needs policies, and making understanding, in terms of our teachers and our teaching assistants, in terms of what to look for, what to spot, and how to help people with ALN—.

Alun Davies said that the purpose of the legislation was to move away from that specific need for a diagnosis, and I think that's a point he made well, but James Evans stated that that wasn't something that's uniformly the case across the country. Jenny Rathbone suggested that the onus needs to be moved onto schools, that they need to be responsible for their pupils. I agree; they are absolutely responsible, and I think that's a responsibility they take very seriously. But, obviously, these schools exist within the framework set for them by the Welsh Government, where, as James Evans said, the funding follows the diagnosis, and with thousands waiting for diagnosis—and Buffy Williams mentioned that that can take a lot of time—schools then need to find that in the interim from existing budgets, which can create tensions for schools as well.

Alun Davies, Altaf Hussain and Darren Millar all mentioned the inconsistency of approach, I think, from local authority to local authority, sometimes even from school to school, in terms of the implementation of some of these things. That will not, again, have been the intention of the legislation, hence the need for our motion today. And action needs to be taken now to ensure that no child misses out, particularly no child misses out regardless of the language that they want to be taught in, as Heledd Fychan, I think, put really well at the beginning of her contribution introducing the Plaid Cymru amendment, which we'll be supporting. Because if Welsh language is something that belongs to all of us, we need to truly mean that, and that goes for everybody, whether you require that ALN support or not. So, I really hope that what our motion today is calling for is not something, as I say, that's hugely party political; it's something that I think encompasses a lot of the concerns we've heard across the Chamber today—that there's a lot of praise for what's happened already, but it is not consistent and it needs another look at to, hopefully, get it right, because if we get this truly right, it'll make a transformational change. So, I hope you'll back our motion today.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes, there is an objection, therefore, we'll defer the vote until voting time. Unless three Members wish for the bell to be rung, we will proceed directly to voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.