Latest news with #SouthWestWales
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Pembrokeshire deputy council leader survives no confidence vote
A deputy leader in a council has survived a vote of no confidence after a row about Welsh medium education in the Miller, deputy leader of Pembrokeshire council, previously said that parents "couldn't give a toss" if their children went to a Welsh-language school in a town in south-west councillors supported the motion by Independent group leader, Huw Murphy, with 28 voting against and 11 leader Jon Harvey accused Cllr Murphy of "political opportunism at its worse." Former council leader Jamie Adams said Miller gave the impression that he "knew better than everybody else" and called on him to apologise for the language used during the cabinet response, Miller said it was "sensible to collect data" about the school choices made by parents, adding that Murphy was creating also said Pembrokeshire had delivered the largest percentage growth in Welsh medium education of all the group leader Di Clements criticised the decision to hold the meeting in the first said the councillors would have been better off "finding ways of dealing with the huge financial black hole" rather than seeing who "has the biggest ego in the chamber." It comes after the Welsh government passed a major new bill to boost the number of pupils studying in Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill aims to close the gap in Welsh speaking ability among pupils from different Language Secretary Mark Drakeford described the bill as "historic" adding that schools do not currently get enough from the investment made to teach Welsh in English-medium bill aims to make progress towards the 2050 target of a million Welsh speakers by strengthening the role of the language in education.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Pembrokeshire council cabinet not 'anti-Welsh' says deputy leader
A deputy leader in a council has denied the cabinet is "anti-Welsh" after saying some parents "couldn't give a toss" if their children go to a Welsh-language school in a town in south-west Miller, deputy leader of Pembrokeshire council, and the cabinet voted on 28 April to ask the Director of Education to find out the demand for Welsh-language schools - a move which seven councillors voted to send back for reconsideration. It comes as the Welsh government passed a major new bill to boost the number of pupils studying in Murphy, leader of the Independent group, said Mr Miller's comments had left him "frustrated and upset." Every year council cabinets discusses how it is going to expand Welsh-medium one of these meetings on 28 April, Pembrokeshire council's cabinet backed an amendment by Mr Miller to ask the Department of Education to find out whether parents are sending their children to schools because they teach in Welsh or if they like other aspects of the school such as teaching amendment was "called in" on Wednesday, after opposition councillors reacted angrily to Mr Miller's comments. During a fiery meeting, Mr Millar accused Mr Murphy of "making something out of nothing" and said he should be "deeply ashamed" of the call in request. "I don't accept for a second that we should do anything to discourage anyone from making the choice that they want to make, be that a Welsh-medium education or an English-medium education," Mr Millar told the BBC said that parity between the two languages was "absolute".Councillors voted to send the decision back to the cabinet, which can decide to either stick with the original amendment or change their the end of the meeting, Mr Murphy called on Jon Harvey, council leader, to appoint a Welsh speaker to the cabinet as there are currently no fluent Welsh speakers in the a letter to council leader Jon Harvey, seen by BBC Wales, Welsh language commissioner Efa Gruffydd Jones expressed said any subsequent action would likely go "against Welsh government policy" and potentially harm Pembrokeshire's WESP (Welsh in Education Strategic Plan) targets and "convey negative messages to parents who are considering Welsh-medium education for their children".She also questioned why the amendment focused on choices about Welsh language education and not parents who choose English language commissioner also said there is "duty on local authorities to encourage the demand for Welsh-medium education".She pointed to the establishment of Ysgol Caer Elen in Haverfordwest as a success and said: "It's clear there is a demand for Welsh-medium education in Pembrokeshire".Mr Millar said he considered her letter a "pretty extraordinary political intervention in a democratically elected body by the commissioner".He said the local authority had facilitated growth in the Welsh language "extremely successfully", and was committed to ensuring that parents in Pembrokeshire had the choice they "deserved"."But if you're saying we should be building Welsh-medium schools where there might be absolutely no demand for them what[so]ever, I would say that that's crackers, isn't it?," he said."Surely we should understand where there is demand for Welsh-medium education and where there isn't and we should work hard to invest to make sure we're meeting the demand in the places where it exists," he added. When challenged over the use of the phrase "couldn't give a toss" in the cabinet meeting, Mr Millar said he was "repeating the language that was used to me"."Uncomfortable or not, there was a group of mums in my constituency who said that to me," he said he had been accused by the group of not being interested in Ysgol Caer Elen being a Welsh-medium school, but only in the fact that it was a good school with good facilities and free transport."There is a need to understand who is choosing to access those schools for the medium - so because it's a Welsh-medium school - and who is choosing those schools because it is the only available alternative perhaps to the catchment school that is not performing in the way that it should be, or does not have the facilities that the parents feel it should," he said."I think this has been blown up out of all proportion," he said, adding that suggestions he was anti-Welsh "could not be further from the truth".
