Todays Estyn report is a very important step forward for education in Powys. It marks a major milestone in the journey which began with the highly critical inspection report and change of Portfolio Holder in 2019.
Since then there has been a significant improvement in professionalism and transparency at both officer and political levels which is recognised by Estyn today.
Right from the outset, I made it clear that the L+S scrutiny committee would be a harsh but fair critical friend in the process. We started as we meant to continue with 3 hour grillings of officers responsible for the individual sections of the action plan prior to presentation to Estyn in Autumn 2019. Sessions which left them battered bruised and far better prepared for the meeting the following week.
Since then the report quality has improved and relevant officers, those who wrote the report not the Head of Service or Portfolio Holder, now routinely present reports to the committee, a change we insisted on which was commented favourably on by the inspectors today.
It hasn't always been plain sailing and it's no secret that Cllr Phyl and I, whilst agreeing on the need to transform, have very different visions of how and where to move forward especially in respect of small rural schools but we have worked very well together to try to achieve the best outcome for Powys Pupils.
This is however a milestone not a destination. The pandemic has made it almost impossible to measure the improvement in educational attainment during the plan period and there are significant challenges still present in delivering both post 16 and Welsh language education. The cost of the transformation in terms of new build schools or refurbishment of the existing estate will also be a significant challenge during the next stage.
But those are challenges for tomorrow. For today I would like to thank the members of the scrutiny committee over the past 4 years for the support and challenge they have given to officers. You have all played a key role in ensuring quality and accuracy in the policies that have emerged and helped officers grow in confidence. You have also helped ensure that Cabinet have made fully informed decisions with a full range of facts and options in front of them. They may not have accepted our recommendations on every occasion but they made those choices with all the information laid out in front of them.
There is still much to do to reach a final destination and more than one path to get to it but we are as an authority much better equipped to make those decisions now than we were in 2019 two years into this administration.
www.estyn.gov.wales%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2F2021-11%2FMonitoring%2520report%2520Powys%2520County%2520Council%25202021_0.pdf