Welsh Liberal Democrats have reacted with anger after revealing that the Labour-Plaid Government is sitting on school re-organisation proposals for an average of 32 weeks, and in one case, for nearly a year.
The revelations may raise suspicions that the Government is holding up proposals for political reasons, and ensuring that any political pressure over school closures remains on local authorities rather than the Assembly Government for as long as possible.
The details come on the day when the First Minister, during exchanges with Jenny Randerson in the Assembly, blamed growing class sizes on LEAs failing to act quickly enough to deal with surplus places.
Jenny Randerson, who is the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Minister said:
“The Government demands that Local Authorities take action on surplus places, but then are needlessly prolonging the worry of parents, pupils and teachers for months and months. The fact that the First Minister is blaming LEAs for delays while his Government is holding on to proposals for up to 49 weeks is unbelievable.
“To keep people hanging on, not knowing about their children’s education for up to a year is frankly unacceptable.
“I appreciate that these proposals require careful consideration, but this is a Government who managed to implement an entire re-organisation of the health service within a couple of months.
“This Government love targets and regulations, so maybe they could enforce some on themselves to ensure they deal with proposals in a timely manner.”
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