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Local education authorities await shake-up decision Councils lose responsibility for school improvement services
(about 11 hours later)
The 22 education services in Wales are awaiting a decision on a report calling for up to a third of them to be cut. Councils in Wales will no longer be responsible for school improvement services from April next year.
The Welsh government will give its response to recommendations by Robert Hill, who was an adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Education Minister Huw Lewis said the work would go to the four education consortia established to raise standards across council boundaries.
He said "new slim-line elected local authorities" could run the service. Nearly a quarter of council education services are or have been put in special measures following concerns.
First Minister Carwyn Jones told the BBC's Wales Report programme in July he backed the idea of a cut. But opposition parties said the consortia were criticised recently for providing patchy services.
"It's difficult to put an absolute figure but we're probably talking about the early teens I suspect in terms of numbers," he said. Mr Lewis was giving his response to the recommendations of Robert Hill, who was an adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Schools inspectorate Estyn says council education staff are spread too thinly and cannot offer specialist help. Mr Hill's report also called for up to a third of the 22 education services to be cut.
Nearly a quarter of education services in Wales either are or have been placed in special measures - and deemed not up to scratch - by inspectors. Mr Lewis said other such elements of the report were still being analysed and he would respond to those "in due course".
The report by Mr Hill says "the fact that there are so many small local authorities is a major contributory factor". "I am not prepared to wait any longer for local government to get their act together," he told AMs.
The review states: "Despite this there has been a reluctance by local authorities to consider joint appointments of directors of education services and/or merging services. "Decisive action needs to be taken now in order to support our schools and young people.
'Too variable' "I have made it absolutely clear to local government that I am minded for local authorities to retain their statutory responsibility for education and to put in place a national model for regional working."
"The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has itself recognised that 'the system is underperforming and that is unacceptable and unsustainable'," the report says. He said money for the new system would be diverted from funding the Welsh government allocates for local government.
But the review also warns that the performance of four educational consortia already working across local authority boundaries was "too variable". 'Sticking plaster'
Mr Hill's report says the organisations' leadership arrangements "are not working properly", partly because "the wrong people have been recruited into the role, and in part there is confusion about what the job is about". But the Conservatives described the changes as a "sticking plaster" for a failing education system.
The review says it would be a "distraction" to reorganise local government in an attempt to improve school standards. Shadow Education Minister Angela Burns said: "Just a year ago there were concerns over the performance of regional consortia - today they have effectively been given a clean bill of health and direct funding.
"In the medium term a complete reorganisation of local authority education functions and boundaries is required, as part of the more general review of the governance and delivery arrangements of public services in Wales, in order to realise this strategy. "We need guarantees that improvements have been made and that this change will work effectively.
"The focus must be on bringing clarity to the existing system, consolidating the number of education services and ensuring that all the consortia are operating as effectively as possible as quickly as possible. There is real urgency on this issue." "The sticking plaster announced by Labour today is a drop in the ocean of what's really needed."
During the three month consultation period since the report, the National Association of Headteachers and National Union of Teachers in Wales have worked with Welsh ministers on measures in the report they could support. Plaid Cymru described Mr Lewis's response to the Hill review as a "damp squib".
Education spokesman Simon Thomas said: "The delivery of education services in Wales will continue to be a mess, unless other issues around governance, accountability, data sharing, targets, structures and appointments are sorted out first.
"Plaid Cymru would strengthen the accountability regarding the working of consortia at the same time as they got the money from Welsh government.
"If I was education minister I would chair twice yearly meetings of all consortia to hold them to account."