Press Releases - National Assembly Member for the Rhondda
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LEIGHTON ANDREWS AM
Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews is asking constituents with internet access to vote in the first of his online polls.
Mr Andrews set up a web log - a kind of online journal - alongside his website this week and intends to ask for views on a number of subjects. His first poll is on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.
Mr Andrews said 'It's a question that always comes up when school-children come to the National Assembly. So I thought I would ask for people's views. It's a way of getting people to take more of an active interest in political issues.'
All voters have to do is click on Mr Andrews' weblog at www.leightonandrews.blogspot.com
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On Wednesday March 3rd Rhondda Cynon Taff Community Arts displayed the weaving projects undertaken by groups in the Rhondda, the Cynon Valley and Pontypridd in the Milling Area of the National Assembly. The event was sponsored by Rhondda Assembly Member Leighton Andrews.
Photo: Leighton Andrews AM with weaving group members from Maerdy
Participants from six different valleys communities took part in the Celtic Millennium Weaving project producing works which illustrate the history, culture, traditions and hopes of the valleys through the eyes of older people.
Mr Andrews is pictured with members of the weaving group from Maerdy with their distinctive wheel representing colliery winding-gear.
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Why
do so few real people sit on quangoes? - 15/03/04
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Rhondda Assembly Member Leighton Andrews
wants to see more ‘real people’ on the boards of Assembly Sponsored
Public Bodies.
Mr Andrews
says current recruitment practices mean that board appointments go
overwhelmingly to middle class professional people.
His research
shows that only four people from Communities First wards are known to serve
on ASPB boards.
Only two people from his Rhondda constituency are known to serve on ASPB Boards.
Mr Andrews has
been told that only ‘higher profile’ board appointments are advertised.
Those jobs that are advertised appear only in the Western Mail, the Daily
Post, Golwg and Y Cymro.
Mr Andrews
says:
“Only four
people from the poorest communities in Wales sit on Quango boards. It’s no
wonder people feel that these bodies are remote from their lives.
“To get a
quango job you have to be ‘in the know’ – lots of appointments are not
advertised, but only people on the public appointments list are invited to
apply. Those appointments that are advertised are put in papers that very
few people read.
“The
Assembly needs to reach out to a wider pool of applicants. We should
advertise in evening papers, local papers and the tabloids. We should find
ways of circulating appointments via community centres, working people’s
clubs, libraries and trades unions.”
Mr Andrews
has discussed the matter with Finance Minister Sue Essex. “I know Sue
shares my concern that we must find ways to encourage more people to
apply.”
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A blunder by Plaid Cymru-controlled Rhondda
Cynon Taff Council could cost local secondary schools up to £800,000, a
Labour Assembly Member revealed today.
Last month
Education quango ELWA announced its funding for school sixth forms. In its
press release, ELWA stated that “Rhondda Cynon Taf had a 8.4% fall
in its post-16 budget due to a 10% reduction in pupil numbers”. (attached)
It now transpires that RCT had given
inaccurate figures to ELWA which underestimated its sixth form pupil numbers
by up to 300 pupils.
Labour Assembly Member for the Rhondda,
Leighton Andrews, who sits on the Assembly’s Education Committee, said
today “ELWA repeatedly asked RCT to clarify its sixth form numbers and the
Council stubbornly insisted it was giving ELWA accurate numbers. The result
was a budget announcement for RCT 8.4% lower than the previous year.
“I understand this is the second year in a
row that RCT has got its sixth form numbers wrong.
“I am told that RCT’s underestimate
equates to nearly £800,000 of spending: that’s £800,000 less for school
sixth forms in RCT.
“The good news is that the mistake has been
discovered early – and ELWA is trying to find a solution.
“But this shows the incompetence of Plaid
Cymru’s RCT Council. It’s time for them to go.”
Mr Andrews raised the matter in today’s Education Committee meeting where Education Minister Jane Davidson confirmed that RCT had sent in the wrong figures.
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Further information: Leighton Andrews AM 07050 114653
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Attached Notes:
30th January 2004
- ELWa
Boosts Funding for School Sixth Forms
Local education
authorities across Wales will have an additional £4 million to spend next
year on providing post-16 learning in schools, including sixth form
education, the learning body ELWa announced today (Friday 30th
January).
A total of £104.665
million will be available in the next financial year (2004-05), representing
an overall increase of 4.1% in funding compared to the current year.
The money has been
allocated according to the number of pupils in each area and local demand
for the teaching of pupils with special educational needs (SEN).
The biggest rise in
funding was 37%, awarded to Wrexham where pupil numbers increased by 17% and
spending on SEN rose by over £352,000.
At the other end of
the scale, Rhondda Cynon Taf had a 8.4% fall in its post-16 budget due to a
10% reduction in pupil numbers and a £160,000 decrease in SEN costs.
The only other area with a reduction was Monmouthshire, which had a
1% drop in allocation.
ELWa has pledged to
discuss with Rhondda Cynon Taf the implications for securing proper
facilities for post-16 provision in their area.
Areas which
received higher than average increases were Bridgend, Conwy, Gwynedd, Neath
Port Talbot, Newport, Powys, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, and Ynys
Mon.
The allocation of
funds was set following discussions over the past few months between ELWa
and the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), the Secondary Heads
Association (SHA) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).
Writing to local
authority directors of education today, Dr Peter Higson, Interim Chief
Executive of ELWa said: "Our approach was developed with regard to the
principles of fairness, equity and transparency and we would like to thank
our colleagues representing WLGA, SHA and NAHT for their valuable
contribution to discussions."
He added: "It
should be noted that the budget was agreed within the context of competing
demands on ELWa's finite resources and the Assembly Government's expectation
that we deliver demonstrable efficiency savings."
Dr Higson pointed
out that the extra cost of meeting the agreement on reducing teachers'
workloads had already been covered by an extra £33 million allocated in the
overall 2004-05 revenue settlement between the Assembly Government and local
authorities.
He also reminded
all local authorities of the importance of ensuring that funds provided by
ELWa are devoted exclusively to delivering education to pupils aged over 16
in order to comply with the Learning and Skills Act.
Dr Higson told the Directors of Education that ELWa looked forward to opening discussions with them about future sixth form funding which, from next year, will be set under the new National Planning and Funding System, covering all post-16 learning, except Higher Education.
Further information from Eoghan Mortell
02920 488 778 or 07977 555116
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