Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee

CELG(4)-28-14 Paper 2a

Welsh in Education Action

2014-15	2015-16	2015-16	2015-16
Supplementary Budget June 2014	Indicative Plans Final Budget December 2013	Changes	New Plans Draft Budget
£000	£000	£000	£000
15,462	14,462	4,137	18,599

1. The Welsh in Education Action increases by £4m from previously published plans for 2015-16, but this is primarily due to two recurrent transfers;

• £9.867m in from Post-16 Education Action for Welsh for Adults funding in order to streamline process for the sector; and
• £5.13m of the remaining Welsh in Education Grant to the Education Standards Action, to create the new Education Improvement Grant for schools.

2. There has been an overall reduction to Welsh in Education budgets of £0.6m, which is primarily made up of the reduction to funding for the Welsh in Education Grant of £0.5m prior to transfer to the Education Standards Action. There are minimal reductions to resource commissioning, planning and research, communications and marketing budgets within the Action, which all contribute towards our Programme for Government commitment to deliver the Welsh-medium Education Strategy and to seek to increase the number of people speaking & using Welsh in our education system.

Welsh-medium education

3. The Welsh in Education Action totalling £18.6m in 2015-16, provides support for the continued implementation of the Welsh-medium Education Strategy, and budgets will be prioritised to areas where the greatest benefits can be achieved.

4. Other budgets within the Education and Skills portfolio that support the implementation of the Strategy include funding for:

· Coleg Cymraeg Cenedalethol within the For Our Future BEL of the Higher Education Action, with an indicative allocation of £8.6m for 2015-16;

· Welsh-medium Work Based Learning provision within the Work Based Learning  BEL of the Post-16 Education Action; and

· Cam Cwrth Gam, a training programme for practitioners in the Foundation Phase, with funding of £1.7m allocated from the Foundation Phase BEL of the Curriculum Action in 2015-16.

5. The implementation of Welsh in Education Strategic Plans will continue to be supported through the transfer of funding totalling £5.13m for the Welsh in Education Grant into the new Education Improvement Grant for schools for 2015-16.