North Wales Assembly Member and Shadow Communities Secretary Mark Isherwood has challenged the Welsh Government this week over its support for children with parents in the armed forces.
Responding to the Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, Carl Sargeant AM, on ‘Marking Remembrance Day and Supporting our Armed Forces Community’, Mr Isherwood questioned why there is no separate Pupil Premium for children of service personnel in Wales.
He said:
“You referred to the Supporting Service Children in Education Wales project. However, in a related matter in Wales, there’s no separate Pupil Premium for children of service personnel, and where Welsh Government instead provides the Pupil Deprivation Grant, it’s only available to children eligible for free school meals, to which few service children are entitled.
“In contrast, the service Pupil Premium in England provides extra funding for schools to support children and young people with parents in the armed forces. In evidence to the Defence Committee in 2013, service families felt that they’d been disadvantaged by the lack of a Pupil Premium until then, identified as an important tool in helping schools to identify and support service families. How, therefore, do you respond to this? It was an issue raised by the Royal British Legion in their 2016 Wales manifesto, and their call on the Welsh Government to implement a Welsh Service Pupil Premium.”
Mr Isherwood also challenged the Secretary over the fact there are resettlement centres for service leavers in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Germany, but none in Wales, and over referral to treatment waiting times for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, stating that “the latest figures for last month show that waiting times in Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, Betsi Cadwaladr and Aneurin Bevan Health Boards were up to 38 weeks for referral to treatment.”
He also commended the work of North Wales-based CAIS project, Change Step, and asked the Secretary how the Welsh Government is engaging with CAIS to discuss how the gap in wider support for families can be provided for.
Mr Isherwood added: “In his response the Secretary referred to the fact that I made “several” references to the views of the Royal British Legion on a number of issues and said he was “surprised” by some of the points raised. In fact I only mentioned the Royal British Legion twice, quoting from their 2015 UK and 2016 Wales Manifestos, and it is therefore odd that he hadn’t heard of these concerns.
“Regarding pupils, the Pupil Premium in England includes all children eligible for free school meals, as with the Pupil Deprivation Grantin Wales, but unlike Wales, a Service Pupil Premium of £300 per pupil is being paid in England.”