§ Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he intends to announce the outcome of his recent consultation exercise on exemptions for the teaching of Welsh in the national curriculum.
§ Mr. David HuntI have now considered the advice of the Curriculum Council for Wales and the representations made by others to the consultation document which I issued in early May. I now intend to proceed to make Regulations to exempt the 10 secondary schools—three in Clwyd, two in Gwent and five in south Pembrokeshire —as specified in my consultation document from the key stage 4 (pupils aged 14 to 16) to teach Welsh in the national curriculum. Schools where exemptions apply will be encouraged to offer those pupils who so wish, the opportunity to study the language.
Regulations have been made to extend the implementation timetable for a number of schools in Dyfed, Gwent, Powys and south Glamorgan and to exempt from the national curriculum requirements to study Welsh pupils arriving in schools from outside Wales or transferring between schools in Wales late in their school career but with no previous experience of learning the language.