Councillor Altaf Hussain to the Leader
In Wales, 60% of the adult population and 1 in 8 children age 4-5 years are overweight or obese and each year this figure is increasing. There is consistent evidence that obesity (excess weight) is associated with an increased COVID-19 risk in addition to the risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases which themselves increase the risk of complications in someone who contracts COVID-19. Knowing that excess weight is one of the few preventable risk factors for COVID-19, could the Leader let us know what measures he is taking to help those residents who are living with overweight or obesity to lose weight in a sustainable manner, together with interventions to prevent weight gain and reduce risk of COVID-19 in our Borough?
Councillor Tim Thomas to the Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help
Compared with other local authorities, how well do children in care do at school, both academically and in terms of other achievements?
Councillor Matthew Voisey to the Leader
why is this Labour administration discriminating against some key workers, by not allowing those in the private sector access to childcare provisions during this current lockdown, considering these are the very workers the Labour party claims to look after, part time workers and those on or near minimum wage?
Minutes:
Councillor Altaf Hussain to the Leader
In Wales, 60% of the adult population and 1 in 8 children age 4-5 years are overweight or obese and each year this figure is increasing. There is consistent evidence that obesity (excess weight) is associated with an increased COVID-19 risk in addition to the risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases which themselves increase the risk of complications in someone who contracts COVID-19. Knowing that excess weight is one of the few preventable risk factors for COVID-19, could the Leader let us know what measures he is taking to help those residents who are living with overweight or obesity to lose weight in a sustainable manner, together with interventions to prevent weight gain and reduce risk of COVID-19 in our Borough?
Response
There is no doubt that the pandemic has served to highlight the detrimental impact of such a virus on more vulnerable groups and people with higher levels of risks that can often be associated with poor lifestyle and behaviours. The National Survey for Wales in 2019-2020 identified that amongst adults:
18% of the population were smoking
19% of the population were drinking more than the weekly guidelines
Only 25% had eaten five portions of fruit or veg the day before
53% were active for 150 minutes or more per week
10% followed fewer than 2 healthy behaviours
61% of the adult population were overweight or obese (including 25% obese).
In terms of childhood obesity Bridgend Council is an active partner with Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board and is part of a network that is focused on preventing childhood obesity across the health board footprint. A whole system event involving many stakeholders took place prior to the pandemic and will support work going forward. Bridgend is supportive of a collective effort to tackle childhood obesity to improve the wellbeing of young people and our communities. The National Child Measurement survey is one of the tools that is used to track the physical wellbeing of children. In the most recent publication of data, Bridgend was slightly below the Welsh average of children classed as obese at 11.9% compared to RCT at 14.4% and Merthyr at 15.6%).
Supporting people to be of a healthy weight remains a public health priority and the Council has a role in maintaining or enhancing the wellbeing of local people and our communities. The evidence confirms that obesity increases the risks of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease and it is important that people have opportunities, information and support to sustainably manage their weight. This will be beneficial to combatting the negative impact of Covid 19 but potentially other communicable diseases or chronic conditions also. Welsh Government identify from learning and insight gained during the first phase of the pandemic that existing inequalities and issues around food insecurity may have been exacerbated.
In February 2020, Welsh Government launched its Healthy Weight, Healthy Wales strategy with a related delivery plan to run to 2022 but due to the pandemic original aspirations for delivery have needed to have renewed priorities as the response to the pandemic has seen a shift in services, funding and capacity.
The renewed priorities for Healthy Weight, Healthy Wales to 2022 are as follows:
Priority Area 1-Setting out proposals to make the food environment healthier
Priority Area 2-Increase Active Travel Opportunities
Priority Area 3-Increase physical activity and exercise opportunities
Priority Area 4-Commence delivery of a revised obesity pathway
Priority Area 5-Communications and digital packaging
In relation to the renewed priorities that have been presented, the Council and its partners are playing an active role in supporting the stated objectives. The following items all connect with the afore mentioned Healthy Weight…Healthy Wales priorities and identified actions;
The Council has continued to invest in community routes and safe routes to school to encourage more people to walk, cycle and scoot as opposed to vehicular travel and this will have built a solid foundation using the Active Travel Grant, Safe Routes in Communities grant and Road Safety grant.
The authority directly delivering the National Standards cycling/Active Journeys programme to young people in our schools at levels 1 and 2 and this programme has seen growth and whole county coverage in recent times. Despite the pandemic delivery of the programme has continued with schools.
The ability of young people to navigate their communities without being transported is an important part of our local play sufficiency assessment and action plan also. The Council has continued to invest in outdoor play spaces and more accessible opportunities also in partnership with Welsh Government.
The authority is working with Play Wales to explore how a safer streets approach might encourage more families to allow children to play outdoors as a doorstep opportunity as a simple way of increasing daily activity near to home.
The authority is also supportive of its own workforce engaging in Active Travel using the salary sacrifice scheme to purchase cycles.
The authority been part of the national steering group that has led to a new Active Leisure offer for the over 60’s across Wales that is complementary to other investment into the National Free Swim offer for this population group. This will be launched when facilities are permitted to re-open but engaging older adults will commence sooner. The junior free swim programme has been expanded with a focus on disadvantaged groups who might be considered more “at risk” of poor lifestyles.
Through our partnership with Halo Leisure the National Exercise Referral scheme has continued to support people virtually and this will be an important part of the Covid 19 recovery pathway for people. The programme offers both lower level preventative support for those needing to move more often and also delivers the ‘Foodwise’ programme to promote healthy eating as part of a healthier lifestyle approach.
As part of National Exercise Referral Scheme, a full chronic condition pathway is offered for back pain, pulmonary rehabilitation, cancer, postural stability and with new joint care programmes being commissioned by the health board. These will be helpful for those for whom other medical support might be delayed. The exercise referral programme has piloted a Covid recovery programme in partnership with public health wales in 2020.This is anticipated to be an area of focus over the coming year.
The authority has ensured that cost is not a barrier to accessing public sector leisure via the Access to Leisure scheme and has secured investment to engage more people who are disadvantaged at low cost or no cost to maximise the reach and benefit of services. The impact of disadvantage on being able to live active and healthy lives is recognised in service planning and offers sustainable opportunities.
Our partnership with Halo Leisure has also seen a Halo at Home digital platform develop to support those who are shielding to maintain activity or those who are comfortable to manage activity at home. This digital platform has the potential to develop and stream a broad range of wellbeing programmes into people’s homes. There is targeted work progressing with Wales Co-Operative Centre to develop carer co-operatives and to support people living with dementia including support to build confidence and digital skills.
The authority has been supported by the Healthy and Active Fund to lead the Super Agers programme to encourage increased physical activity amongst older adults, including support at or near home. The programme has recently been identified as a Bevan Exemplar. There has been home mentoring support and resources developed that could be used more broadly in due course.
The authority has also been playing a leadership role in the Valleys Regional Park initiative encouraging increased use of the natural environment and development of social prescribing opportunities. This is an integral part of Healthy Weight…Healthy Wales.
The authority operates its own Love To Walk programme that has increased its interest when regulations have permitted and using volunteer led approaches where appropriate can become sustainable and low cost for participants. The Love to Walk festival was delayed but attracted positive interest and participation.
Through our partnerships with local schools there are action plans that help to develop the wellbeing of young people including physical wellbeing and emotional/mental wellbeing. We use peer mentoring by other young people and network groups to support individuals and have developed e-learning approaches for our young leaders. Our older ambassadors’ group who are also supported by the AYP service have established media accounts to promote healthy eating and healthy lifestyles to other young people.
A new wellbeing programme called Ascent has been developed for boys and girls with lower levels of confidence or aspiration and with low activity levels. This health promotion project is being run over a 39 week period and aims to improve the engagement of participants.
Our Active Young People service is collaborating with Swansea University to research 9-11 year old childrens health and wellbeing in the County Borough. The ‘BridgeLinx’ programme has resulted to compare Bridgend to other areas as part of a more global programme.
Active play is being developed through our schools and also in partnership with Welsh Government and Play Wales. There are now 24 activity pods in place and we have been working with some schools to make their grounds more accessible to the community to support active lifestyles.
There are partnership agreements operating with our primary and secondary schools who have been supported during the pandemic with resources by our Active Young People department to maintain and enhance pupil wellbeing.
We have previously operated a Family Active Zone approach that includes all aspects of lifestyle and nutrition that was run in partnership with schools but will be available at a household level going forward. A range of other resources are being developed to support individual and group wellbeing.
Throughout the pandemic our volunteer run community centres have been available for essential public services and these venues would in a normal year be supporting weight management programmes and related organisations.
Our schools also participate in the Welsh National Healthy Schools scheme and use this framework to improve wellbeing. The aim has been to create a network of health promoting schools and within the seven health topics, food and fitness is one of the components.
In regard to school catering all menus in Bridgend’s primary, secondary and special schools are certified by the WLGA as compliant with the Healthy Eating in Schools (Nutritional Standards and Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013. All menus are devised to reduce salt, fat and sugar content to support the healthy eating agenda.
Beyond the above, the authority is actively involved in regional planning and networking regarding a health board approach to the Healthy Weight Healthy Wales strategy and related delivery plan and how we might be able to play an effective role in this important challenge.
Supplementary question from Councillor Altaf Hussain (presented by Councillor Giffard in his absence)
There are many inactive residential areas in the County Borough, for example, Penyfai. When are you going to help residents in such areas and others like this, in order to get them connected to our towns via Active Travel walking and cycling routes.
Response
We have a multi-million pound investment currently underway to support Active Travel routes across the County Borough and have undertaken a consultation engagement with Sustra and Members regarding this and I’m sure Members would have fed their views into that consultation. The outcome of this would be considered, in order to plan future phases and investment in Active Travel to this end, which has received a significant investment commitment from Welsh Government in terms of future plans for this.
Second supplementary question from Councillor Jon-Paul Blundell
Can the Leader outline how the Council have promoted healthy eating through school lunches during the pandemic.
Response
We are providing food parcels to over 4,000 families each week for those children unable to attend school and whilst they have very tasty and nutritional meals in school, at home the food parcels include fruit, vegetables and pasta as well as other healthy products. Recipe cards were also provided as an accompaniment, in order to encourage families to cook innovatively. There had been positive feedback to this. Consultation on these food parcels was ongoing and, the Council were awaiting feedback from parents and young people alike who were in receipt of these. An extension of funding for food parcels from Welsh Government for school holiday periods as well as term time, was also being proposed.
Third supplementary question from Councillor Paul Davies
Are we providing guidance at schools presently in relation to healthy eating through classes, ie are there any specific educational lessons or guidance being given regarding this as well as nutritional guidance also, in terms of the best things to eat (and drink).
Response
We have seen a much stronger focus on the practical cooking and food preparation skills within schools in recent years. I was very pleased to see that Welsh Government an award winning food project called ‘The Big Box Boyd,’ in order to develop an early understanding of healthy food choices, while at the same time, providing affordable priced food to parents that benefit families in the County Borough.
Councillor Tim Thomas to the Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help
Compared with other local authorities, how well do children in care do at school, both academically and in terms of other achievements?
Response
Comparing the performance of children looked after (CLA) in schools across Wales is very difficult, as Welsh Government ceased national data collections on CLA attainment after 2013-2014. Unfortunately, there has been no comparative all-Wales annual data since that time. Local authorities have tried to maintain some of the previous performance indicators for CLA attainment at a local level, but have had very limited success, as the cohort changes frequently with many children experiencing very short periods in care.
For 2018-2019, officers extracted a list of children recorded as CLA from the school management information system (SIMS) on the day that the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) was taken in January 2019. Officers later undertook a detailed manual matching against the data obtained from Welsh Government on teacher assessment and key stage 4 examination data for summer 2020. I attach this analysis for your information and retention. This provided some data on CLA attainment. However, this analysis has not been progressed again as there has been no 2019-2020 data collection and there have been changes in the measures used which impacts on comparability.
The issues of regional benchmarking have been raised with Central South Consortium (CSC) as a consequence of the cessation of a number of Welsh Government data collections/publications. CSC produces a regional data pack with comparative data but the last available data is 2019. Unfortunately, data specifically for CLA is unavailable and due to the difficulties with this data the CSC Benchmarking Group decided that work on this and other cohorts, would not be progressed
The local authority’s Digital Transformation Board is currently assessing the business case for the procurement of a management information system that can provide enhanced intelligence to the local authority on the CLA cohort in the future. It is hoped that this business case will be successful and will provide for a range of improvements to the accessibility of pupil level data for all cohorts moving forward.
The Education Engagement Team is the single point of contact for schools and other professionals in respect of any vulnerable learner within the local area. This includes CLA. The team works closely with schools and children social care to ensure that education provision meets that learners needs. The team is responsible for the co-ordination and scrutiny of personal education plans (PEPs) which are implemented for all CLA.
In addition, the team provides training to schools to ensure that they are fully aware of the impact of becoming looked after can have on a child on their development which may affect their learning or behaviour within a school environment. This training has included First Aid, mental health and trauma-informed approaches to adverse childhood experiences.
Each school is required to identify a designated person to lead on CLA. Prior to Covid-19, six-monthly events were held with designated safeguarding leads or CLA leads to explore and consider best practice in respect of improving educational attainment and attendance. Schools are encouraged to share approaches in supporting learners and the Education Engagement Team provides updates in respect of Welsh Government guidance and legislation.
The relationship with Children’s Social Care is crucial in respect of support for CLA. The Education Engagement Team will attend CLA reviews (when required to do so) to ensure the PEP and support related to education is appropriate and benefits the learners.
The local authority is provided with some funding via the Pupil Development Grant. This funding is used to provide support to schools through training as described earlier, but also through additional tuition for learners in respect of their literacy and numeracy should this be required.
Within Children’s Social Care, the 16+ Team supports care leavers during a transitional period in their life encouraging them to be aspirational and to plan for their future. This planning is completed through direct work that the social workers and personal advisors undertake with young people. This work includes close liaison with school/college tutors and Careers Wales. Once a plan is agreed with the young person, this is formalised in a Looked-After Children’s (LAC) Review or Pathway Planning Review if the young person is aged over 18 years.
The Cardiff University and First Campus Confident Futures Project is accessed by care-experienced young people and care leavers aged 14 to 19-year-old aiming to raise aspirations and confidence. The sessions run monthly from October through to April on an annual basis. They are administered at Cardiff University and consist of group work and individual support session run by Cardiff University students. The workshops are aimed at supporting care experienced young people with their existing studies as well as any applications to university. It is open to all young people regardless of their academic ability, as the aim is also to increase confidence and self-esteem for care experienced young people. In the last academic year, 3 students from Bridgend have attended these sessions with staff from the 16+ Team providing transport and support.
Confident Futures Summer School is a yearly summer school which aims to raise aspirations, devote one-to-one time with young people who are looked after to mentor them about the next stage of their academic life, to have some taster sessions from University lecturers/professors and to find out what university social life is like. Participants spend time and stay in student accommodation with current undergraduate and postgraduate students and have academic taster sessions with experts in their chosen fields. Sessions include advice on personal statements writing, mock interviews, budgeting and talks from support services. There are also taster sessions for opportunities outside of study, including societies and sports clubs. Finally, they experience a mock graduation. All of our care-experienced young people who are considering applying for university are encouraged to attend.
Supplementary question from Councillor Tim Thomas
LAC do ‘generally’ have less positive educational outcomes than other cohorts, so considering that, could the Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help confirm what Strategies we have in place, to specifically target LAC so their numbers are reduced in terms of NEETS.
Response
Something we have done recently, was to change to an “Outcome Based model” launched just before Christmas and part of our philosophy is instilling into these young people a sense of self-belief in the first instance. Often these children have suffered from adverse childhood experiences and therefore, to make them the focus of their future plans and allowing them to set their own agenda and give them support there in both an holistic and therapeutic way was a very important start of the process. Outcomes from this approach, would hopefully be that by the time they reach 16 years of age, they will be inspired and have sufficient confidence to allow them to be capable in terms of academic achievements. This process was a bit more difficult than the previous approach that was in place, however, the change was believed, would result in the academic prospects of our young people going forward, receiving support in a more effective way than previous. The Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration added that further information in respect of the above, could be obtained from the Education Department outside of the meeting, should the Member wish to receive this. As corporate parents, Members and Officers do their best to replicate supporting children in the same way they would be supported by their natural parents in terms of their education needs and requirements, up to the stage where they enter higher education, for example University.
Second supplementary question from Councillor Jane Gebbie
Could you be more specific, as the majority of our LAC do experience adverse childhood experiences and as we are well aware, this often results in a barrier to both their academic and personal achievements. Therefore, how are we as corporate parents, encouraging them to achieve more positive life outcomes.
Response
The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help, replied that it was all about putting the voice of the LAC first, whilst weaving in a more therapeutic and holistic approach in terms of their education. The Corporate Director – Social Services and Early Help added that the local authority had a fundamental responsibility to ensure that it provides the right family environment for our children and young people, so there is an assurance that they have the right amount of care and support in place for them, in order that they may have a happy and balanced life. Actions that are pursued in order to achieve this, include the recruitment of highly qualified Foster Carers. At yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, a report had been approved regarding the best way going forward on not just how to recruit these professionals, but also putting in place ways to retain them. It was also important that LAC were effectively and well supported both at home and in school. The Council had invested in Foster Families for those children who were unable to stay with their parents or Foster Carer(s), as well as its own residential provision. Funding had also been made available by Welsh Government, in order to assist learning opportunities for LAC during the pandemic as well as for longer term, in order that they can support LAC’s outcomes up to the time they enter higher education. She assured Members that the Council were adopting a person centred approach dually through its Earl Help and Children’s Services sections. The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support added that supporting LAC, included joint working collaboratively as well as ensuring any interventions were evidence based. The Council had an Education Engagement team, that ensured that the local authority discharged its statutory duty in relation to children’s education needs at schools. The Council also advised all schools how best to use Pupil Development Grants as a support mechanism to the learning process. There were presently 32 LAC who received additional teaching tuition, in order to assist in closing the gap between them and certain other learners. He concluded by advising that 4 years ago, Estyn had identified excellent practise in both Brynteg School and Penybont Primary School, for the extent of support that they had in place for LAC.
Third supplementary question from Councillor Stuart Baldwin
What work was the Authority doing, to encourage Foster Carers from more diverse backgrounds, such as for example the LGBQ Plus communities.
Response
The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help, confirmed that there had been a campaign just last week encouraging people from LGBQ Plus communities to consider being a Foster Carers. There were other examples of encouraging individuals far and wide (including from such diverse backgrounds), to consider committing to such a role and she was happy to share these with any Members who may be interested in having this information. A report had also been considered by Cabinet at its meeting yesterday, entitled ‘Fostering Recruitment – Children’s Social Care,’ that gave approval to align fostering recruitment across Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil, and dealing with fostering recruitment enquiries, processing applications, as well as supporting potential Foster Carers through the process of becoming a Foster Carer.
Councillor Matthew Voisey to the Leader
why is this Labour administration discriminating against some key workers, by not allowing those in the private sector access to childcare provisions during this current lockdown, considering these are the very workers the Labour party claims to look after, part time workers and those on or near minimum wage?
Response
Welsh Government guidance in respect of critical workers requires local authorities to have regard for its critical worker list. However, it states that it is for individual local authorities, based on their current situation to determine eligibility. Given the public health emergency in Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC), we took the difficult decision to restrict our eligibility to traditional ‘blue light’ occupations such as National Health Service (NHS), education, prison officers and social care workers (both public and private sector).
This decision was made in the interests of ensuring schools had adequate capacity to protect the health and wellbeing of the pupils and staff without compromising their ability to provide high-quality blended learning. We have worked with key delivery partners (listening to their concerns) to develop effective and COVID-safe learning/working environments. Although it is fully recognised that this has caused some difficulties for some families, the strategy has helped to reduce rates of transmission of the virus in the community while maintaining educational standards in schools.
We have also worked hard to support families whose children didn’t secure on-site, in-school provision. This has included working with the Early Years and Childcare Team, private childcare settings, supporting families/grandparents, and communicating with employers. Early years colleagues have continued to deliver the Flying Start programme and have also supported non-maintained settings to deliver childcare throughout the pandemic (with advice, guidance and, where eligible, funding). Support has also been provided by members of the Inclusion Service, offering online check-ins with pupils identified as being vulnerable and/or requiring additional learning support and for families who have been struggling to manage their children’s behaviour. Priority for support has been given to looked-after children, children on the child protection register and children with complex disabilities and medical needs. Schools have also offered outreach support through multi-agency working. This has included home visits by the teams and regular check-ins to the most vulnerable.
School staff currently provide on-site provision for vulnerable learners and the children of critical workers, direct off-site support for vulnerable learners and remote learning opportunities for all learners. Therefore, any increase in on-site provision will inevitably have an adverse impact on the school’s ability to provide high-quality online learning and limit a school’s capacity to provide off-site support to vulnerable learners. All headteachers report that it is very difficult to have sufficient staff on-site to supervise those pupils attending school while also having sufficient staffing capacity to provide blended learning for those pupils who are off-site.
We are in a very difficult position of needing to keep numbers as low as possible to reduce transmission opportunities in the face of growing pressure from parents/carers to offer places to their children. We acknowledge that the current situation creates difficulties for parents/carers who are also key workers who have to go to work but who are not eligible according to BCBC’s agreed criteria and have no alternative childcare available. We are naturally keen to expand on-site provision when/where it is safe to do so to meet the needs of parents/carers where this support is required.
As the transmission rates have reduced, we have made plans to expand the local offer to meet the needs of more parents and carers by continuing to provide a safe teaching and learning environment for pupils and staff based on the results of a recent online survey. On 5 February, we launched an online survey to ascertain the demand for on-site provision. The results of the survey indicated that 1797 additional on-site places were required. Of these, 1405 referred to on-site provision for primary school-aged learners while 392 referred to on-site provision for secondary school-aged learners.
At the same time of the launch of the online survey, the Minister for Education announced that all foundation phase learners (ie in Bridgend, all three to seven-year-olds eligible for a school place) would return to school during the week commencing 22 February. As expected, much of the demand for on-site places for primary school-aged learners were linked with younger children. Consequently, by applying a range of filters (eg by asking parents/carers whether they would make use of the additional provision, whether they’d be able to care for their child/ren at home, whether their child attends a foundation phase setting, and/or whether they actually consider themselves a critical worker based on Welsh Government’s eligibility criteria), the actual demand for on-site provision is lower. In this scenario, if we were to expand our eligibility criteria to include all occupations on the Welsh Government list, the indicative demand for places would see an additional 163 (key stage 2) on-site places being required in the primary school sector and an additional 39 (Year 7 and Year 8) places being required in the secondary school sector.
However, due to the significant increase in pupils attending primary schools following the half-term break, feedback from schools has been that any increase in on-site provision at this time would present significant difficulty. For example, due to recent Welsh Government advice in respect of maintaining class/year group ‘bubbles’, an increase of only four learners in a primary school may require an additional eight staff (ie one teacher and one learning assistant per class) to be on-site. This will inevitably impact negatively on the school’s ability to deliver high-quality online learning. Consequently, this has impacted on our ability to bring more children of critical workers back sooner, in that there will be less capacity to cater for additional childcare requirements. The more pupils there are in school, the more school staff will be required to supervise/teach and this will reduce the capacity for staff to be able to offer high-quality remote and blended learning opportunities for all pupils who are not on-site.
In conclusion, however, I am pleased to advise members that on-site, in-school provision will be available to all children (in nursery to Year 8 (inclusive)) of critical workers (as defined by Welsh Government) from Monday 15 March.
Supplementary question from Councillor Matthew Voisey (presented by Councillor Walters in his absence)
Whilst it’s good to know that children of key workers up to Year 8 will have space in schools from next Monday, this has been a long time coming. These non-blue light key workers have served us all through the pandemic and have often been forgotten about or the recipients of frustrations when there were food shortages earlier on in the pandemic. I appreciate all they have done to keep all of us going. There is another set of key workers whose children were also excluded, namely those employees of the Armed Forces who were excluded from the list to start with and many of these people were on 24 hour Movement Notices. How did this exclusion fit in with the Council’s signing of the Armed Forces Covenants. Without the help of the Armed Forces during the pandemic, many of the food and other supplies would not have got through to those that needed them. They were now assisting in the vaccine roll-out and without their support here, Wales would not have progressed so well, as they have to date in succeeding with its vaccination programme.
Response
We of course value the amazing work being carried out by critical and key workers throughout the pandemic. The difficulty has been capacity of our schools to accommodate the pupils, as all of our schools Head teachers, had been concerned regarding the shortage of space and staff at schools required, in order to accommodate all the children of all key/critical workers that would have been eligible under that wider definition. We are of course, going to see all Primary School pupils back at schools in the next week or so and that will address the immediate issue for younger children. This decision was made following a comprehensive consultation and engagement exercise with families, ie that even if schools had not been re-opened to all primary aged pupils, we had decided to widen that eligibility, upon establishing that there was capacity at the schools, to accommodate children of key workers, including the Armed Forces/Service personnel, etc. These service personnel had been fantastic during the pandemic and outside of this also. I have not however, received any examples of where the above has given rise to an issue. However, if there have been any and they are raised with me, I will address them quickly. The Cabinet Member – Communities as Armed Forces Champion for the Authority, added that the above highlighted a glaring absence when it comes to children of serving members of the Armed Forces. The reason for this, was that there was no mechanism within schools to build a register of pupils there, confirming they were children of parents who were in the Armed Forces. We should be required to keep such a register at schools for this purpose, in order that it could be made easier for them to flag this up to the Education Department/wider Council/Cabinet Members. However, far as I am aware, we have had no representations as the Leader has said, from any members of the Armed Forces or the organisation itself with regard to children of their members in this regard. So it is difficult for us to pinpoint where the need was (at schools).
Second supplementary question from Councillor Bridie Sedgebeer
In Councillor Voisey’s original question, he makes reference to the minimum wage. In terms of this, it was the Labour Party and only that party that stood up for key workers and working families over years past and it was the Labour Party that campaigned for and introduced the minimum wage, which had been opposed to by the Conservative Party. So why are they now defending key workers and their families?
Response
This is correct and the national minimum wage was opposed to by the Conservative but I’m glad to say, that this challenge was unsuccessful and the minimum wage is now protected by law.
Third supplementary question from Councillor Jane Gebbie
Would you consider that our Welsh Labour Government have been considerably more successful and pro-active in managing their Consequential budgets to protect both key workers and the public, than the UK Government. In Wales there was put in place a ‘Test and Trace’ system which had been structured in such a way, that proved to be effective and cost effective, as it was organised by staff in the NHS and primarily local government workers on low to moderate incomes. In contrast the Conservative Government had undertaken the same project though employing highly paid Consultants at a cost of £22m, which had been far less successful.
Response
Critical Care workers have been at the frontline of the Covid crisis, and I cannot thank them enough for their unrelenting hard work, carried out in the face of extreme pressure and trauma through people sadly losing their lives as a result of the virus. I’m proud that the Welsh Government had paid an additional £500 to its Care Workers as a recognition of the invaluable role they have provided at this most difficult of periods in the support of our most vulnerable in society.