Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:27 pm on 4 June 2024.
Thank you very much, Rhianon, for that welcome for the announcement today, which is very much appreciated. I'm very happy to give you the assurance that attendance is absolutely critical. Children aren't going to learn and thrive if they're not in school, and we know that we've got more work to do in that space. We're rolling out ambitious Curriculum for Wales reforms, and I've been very clear that we've got more work to do on our ALN reforms. There are the workload issues that you've just mentioned as well—we are doing lots of work on that. We have a strategic workforce group within the Welsh Government; we're developing a digital tool for headteachers to do workforce impact assessments. You raise an important point as well when you talk about retention, because one of the issues that the workforce were concerned about was that these proposals could impact on the retention of the workforce. So, I think it's why it is really important that as we take this work forward, we do so in partnership with the workforce and with our trade union partners.