Commentary on Sections Local plans Section 30 – Local Welsh in education strategic plans
124.This section makes provision to change the system of Welsh in education strategic plans prepared by local authorities. The Welsh in Education strategic plans (WESP) regime was introduced by the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013. This Act introduces local Welsh in education strategic plans and omits the provisions under the 2013 Act (see also section 36 of this Act). Through the provisions of this Act local authorities’ strategic plans will have to respond to targets they have been set in the National Framework for Welsh Language Education and Learning Welsh, and school delivery plans will have to have regard to the targets of their local authority’s strategic plans. The targets that local authorities have been set in the National Framework must reflect national targets that have been set in the Welsh language strategy (section 1(1)). The purpose of co-ordinating the targets is to ensure that targets facilitate the process of working towards the same goals.
125.In accordance with section 30 each local authority is required to prepare a local Welsh in education strategic plan that includes the matters set out in section 30(1) to (4).
126.Section 30(1)(a) places a duty on a local authority to detail in its plan how it will promote and facilitate, in its area, Welsh language education and the use of Welsh in schools. A plan must also, in accordance with section 30(1)(b), set out how the local authority will take all reasonable steps to meet the targets it has been set in the National Framework (section 26(2)(a)).
127.Section 30(2) requires local authorities to set out in their local Welsh in education strategic plan, to the extent required by regulations made by the Welsh Ministers, how they will exercise their education functions to promote and facilitate teaching Welsh and education and training through the medium of Welsh to children of compulsory school age who are not pupils in schools. This will include children receiving education other than at school.
128.Section 30(3)(a) to (d) details the type of steps that a local authority is required to include in a plan. Section 30(3)(a) states that a local authority’s plan must set out the steps it intends to take to exercise its education functions to improve the provision of Welsh language education and the planning of Welsh language education provision within its area. The term “Welsh language education” is defined for the purpose of Part 4 in section 37.
129.Section 30(3)(b) places a duty on a local authority to detail in its plan how it will promote and provide information about Welsh language education in “Primarily Welsh Language” schools (as defined in Part 3). There is an interconnection here with a similar duty on the Welsh Ministers to promote Welsh language education in “Primarily Welsh language” category schools in accordance with section 24(3)(c). The strategic plan could refer to the type of information needed about Welsh language education in “Primarily Welsh Language” category schools in order to improve public understanding, and about where that information will be made available to the public. In terms of promotion, the strategic plan could explain what the local authority will do to draw the public’s attention to opportunities within the local authority area to access “Primarily Welsh Language” category schools.
130.Section 30(3)(c) requires a local authority to set out in its plan the steps it will take to promote and provide information about late immersion education provision in its area. Section 23 of this Act makes further provision about late immersion education.
131.In accordance with section 30(3)(d)(i) to (iii), a local authority is required to set out in its plan the steps it will take to facilitate progression for learners who are learning Welsh and those who are learning through the medium of Welsh from one stage of their education to the next. Those periods are detailed in sub-paragraph (i) between nursery education and education for pupils of compulsory school age, in sub-paragraph (ii) between maintained primary schools and maintained secondary schools, and in sub-paragraph (iii) between education for pupils of compulsory school age and tertiary education. The term “nursery education” is defined in section 37 and encompasses full-time or part-time education provided to children under compulsory school age in a school or other location outside the school premises. The term “tertiary education” is defined in section 51 and encompasses sixth form provision in schools.
132.In accordance with section 30(4)(a) the local authority is required to include information in its plan about the education practitioners working in its area and, under section 30(4)(b), a report outlining the progress made during the period of the previous plan.
133.Section 30(5) sets out the persons who must be consulted by a local authority when preparing a plan, with a view to ensuring that Welsh language education is planned in a co-ordinated manner across the local authority’s area and neighbouring local authorities, and a view to facilitating that process. In addition, the fact that strategic plans are subject to the approval of Welsh Ministers, in accordance with section 32, should ensure that the vision of the strategic plan is aligned with the National Framework.