Simon Thomas AM
The Party of Wales has put pressure on the Education Minister to come clean on whether he has misused funds secured by Plaid Cymru in its budget deal.
Leaked documents from a government official suggest that the £35 million secured by Plaid Cymru for the Pupil Deprivation Grant has been used to pay for the 1% rise in education funding that the Labour Government promised in its manifesto.
The Party of Wales Shadow Education Minister Simon Thomas said that Plaid Cymru’s budget deal was clear that the Pupil Deprivation Grant was to be additional to the government’s outstanding commitments, and called for honesty from the Education Minister.
The Party of Wales Shadow Education Minister Simon Thomas said:
“Plaid Cymru fought hard to ensure extra funding for students from deprived areas in our budget deal, but if government officials are to be believed, the Welsh Government is syphoning this money away from them and using it to pay the education bill.
“If the Welsh Government has made promises without working out how it will pay for them then that is its problem to deal with, but I will not allow the Education Minister to take money out of the pockets of deprived students to pay for its mistake.
“Plaid Cymru has been clear that the Pupil Deprivation Grant was to be additional funding, that was targeted to break the link between poverty and low attainment. The Education Minister needs to come clean and tell us if he has misled Welsh teachers, parents and education professionals.
“On at least two separate occasions the Minister has told me that the Pupil Deprivation Grant is additional money above and beyond what was promised by the Labour Government. The evidence is mounting that through either ignorance or deception, the Assembly and the education profession have been misled.”
