WALES’ education minister has vowed to tackle the “root causes” of antisocial behaviour in schools.

Plaid Cymru’s Anna Brychan was pressed on the Welsh Government’s plans to fix the issue by Reform MS Paul Marr on Wednesday July 1.

Referencing Plaid’s 100 day plan, Ms Brychan said the government will address the root causes of behavioural challenges, including “attendance, wellbeing and wider needs”, through a “co-ordinated whole system approach.”

She noted the importance of early intervention and aligning support services to “enhance learning environments”.

Welcoming Ms Brychan’s commitment to early intervention, Mr Marr said parents in his Ceredigion Penfro constituency want to know “why schools are increasingly being expected to deal with the threat of knife crime without proper resources.”

Calling on the Welsh Government to commit to funding preventable security measures and emergency response training, he noted: “Policies and plans, with respect, Minister, do not stop blades.”

Mr Marr also referred to his experience working in the prison service, where he said attacks on staff with bladed instruments became “a regular occurrence”.

He called for assurances for teachers from Ms Brychan that, with rising numbers of incidents, these attacks are “not expected to be their new norm”.

She said: “Every learner has the right to feel safe and know they belong in a school, are able to attend, participate and achieve.

“And the same is true of members of staff, and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our school workforce is equally a priority for us.”

Labour’s Shav Taj spoke of the importance of correctly framing the debate around antisocial behaviour in schools.

She said: “While challenging behaviour is obviously a real concern, we’re hearing very clearly from unions but also staff on the ground, that it is actually increasingly linked to unmet needs, particularly around mental health and additional learning needs as well.”

Ms Taj went on to emphasise the importance of ALN reforms and ensuring the right level of support is in place through “a person-centred, needs-led system”.

She continued: “What teachers and teaching assistants are continuously telling us is that too often they’re being left to manage increasingly complex needs without it.

“So while some may frame this purely as an issue of discipline, isn’t the reality that where needs aren’t being met early, those pressures are simply playing out and compounding in the classroom?”

Ms Taj asked how the Welsh Government plans to ensure mental health provision in schools is properly resourced, including school counselling and wider ALN support.

Ms Brychan responded saying her points are “exactly the reasons” the programme will look at “wellbeing, attendance, and wider needs through a co-ordinated whole-system approach.”

She added: “She [Ms Taj] touches on ALN; that is a wider issue in our system, and that’s precisely why we want to bring all of these areas together and to recognise the barriers to learning that are part of this area of concern for us, and that’s why we have framed our response in this way.”

Ms Brychan was also pressed for an update on the progress made so far towards introducing a foundational literacy and numeracy plan.

Reform MS David Mills told the Siambr that Estyn found roughly 20% of pupils leave primary school functionally illiterate – a figure he described as “frightening”.

He called for the minister to set out “a clear timetable” for bringing the plan forward, and how it will deliver “measurable improvements” in both literacy and numeracy.

Ms Brychan stressed the problem is not with Welsh learners, and said: “Our learners are able to achieve and have potential comparable to anywhere in the world. It isn’t the lack of a willing workforce either.

“It is, I think, a lack of understanding of the expectations around progression in literacy and numeracy, and that’s precisely why we are introducing this literacy and numeracy foundational plan.”

Ms Brychan reassured the member that she is working “at pace”, noting that on her second day in the job she wrote to schools to outline the Welsh Government’s work on the plan, promising an update at the end of the summer term, before the framework is introduced in the autumn.

Natasha Asghar, of the Welsh Conservatives, questioned the deputy minister on what steps the Welsh Government is taking to boost the number of apprenticeships in Wales.

Noting that university isn’t “for everyone”, Ms Asghar stressed the importance of apprenticeships as a route into the workplace for “those who want to earn and learn at the same time”.

Recalling a commitment from Plaid’s election manifesto, she noted the party promised to expand both work experience and apprenticeships.

However, Ms Asghar went on to share a conversation she had recently with Jane Blackwell – a franchisee of five McDonald’s restaurants in the Newport area – who noted that despite wanting to take on more apprenticeships she is limited to due to the strict criteria of the apprenticeship levy.

Ms Asghar said: “We have a situation here where a business owner with multiple sites is contributing towards the apprenticeship fund, but isn’t able to access it to take on her own apprentices; it is, frankly, absurd”.

She called on the deputy minister to commit to meeting with Jane to discuss the issue and “iron out the problems” to start getting more young people into work.

In response, Cefin Campbell – the deputy minister for skills and tertiary education – said the Welsh Government is currently investing £151 million in apprenticeships to support delivery across Wales.

He said: “We believe that apprenticeships are a cornerstone of Wales’s post-16 skills system and a key policy, as you mentioned, for economic growth, fair work and productivity.

“They provide high-quality routes into employment, supporting people of all ages and helping employers develop the workforce they need.”

The deputy minister agreed with Ms Asghar that the current apprenticeship offer needs changes to reflect both “changing economic needs and the needs of businesses”.

He added: “A new apprenticeship programme from August 2027 will deliver a more flexible and responsive model for employers and delivery partners, shaped by extensive engagement, led by Medr.

“Now, this reform should be seen as part of a wider drive to create clearer pathways, improve parity of esteem with academic routes, and strengthen alignment between skills and economic growth.”

PEMBROKESHIRE’S council has made 17 purchases of housing in various sizes and a building to be used as a children’s home, amounting to just over £6.5m in just six months.

At the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members are asked to note a report covering acquisitions and disposals in excess of £100,000 which have completed between November 1 of 2025 and March 31 of this year.

It lists 18 separate groups of acquisitions, totalling £6,526,967, along with one disposal of the former contact centre, Argyle Street, Pembroke Dock, at £415,000.

For those purchases, grants have been secured to the tune of £6,440,179, the report says.

These acquisitions, all for housing stock in various sizes and amounts, are: 22 The Glebe, Tenby £200,000, with a grant of £119,419; 12 Gay Lane , Marloes, £180,000 (£129,728); 5 St Mary’s Road, Pembroke Dock £125,000 (£76,764); 51 Augustine Way, Haverfordwest £105,000 (£69,126); 82 Heywood Court, Tenby £115,000 (£87,633); 19 Maes Ewan, Solva £220,000 (£165,155); 29 Heol Penlan, Goodwick £132,000 (£86,393); 1 Churchill Close, Tenby £125,000 (£83,571); 3 Westaway Park, Rosemarket £142,000 (£93,134); 22 Churchill Close, Tenby £125,000 (£83,571); 31 Haroldston Close, Merlins Bridge £110,000 (£62,318); 28 Flemish Court, Lamphey £160,000 (£114,597); 7 Precelly Place, Milford Haven £125,000 (£81,578); 17 Newell Hill, Tenby 170,000 (£120,098).

Larger acquisitions are: 3 Rose Haven, The Beacon, Rosemarket, of four two-bed houses and six three-bed houses £2,601,967 (£1,725,179); 32, 33, 34 and 35 Harcourt Close, Hook four two-bed semis £864,000; 36 and 37 Harcourt Close, Hook two three-bed semis £552,000, with a grant of £2,821,760 covering 15 units in the case of the latter two.

An additional purchase of Sentry Cottage, Jordanston for a children’s residential home at £475,000, with a £580,152 grant is also listed.

Planning permission for that scheme was granted back in February.

Last November, Cabinet members heard a similar report, covering April 1 to October 31 of 2025, which included includes the purchase of 16 properties for housing stock, to the tune of £3,470,000 and the disposal of two industrial estate plots, at some £278,400.

A DECISION on a £200,000 conversion of a Pembrokeshire village former public house, on which officers wanted to see removed chimneys reinstalled, has been given a breathing space so councillors can view the building.

In an application recommended for partial approval at the June 30 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee, Craig Kidney sought permission for the removal of chimney stacks and construction of front porch and retaining garden wall at the former Carpenters Arms pub, Cosheston.

The application was for committee consideration as it has been made by or on behalf of a close family member of a member of the council.

It was previously due to be considered by committee in April and June, being withdrawn from both meetings.

It was subject to a split recommendation, approval for the porch and retaining wall, but refusal for the retrospective removal of the two chimney stacks on the basis “the removal of the chimney stacks has had a harmful impact on the character and appearance of this part of the Cosheston Conservation Area, creating harm to visual amenity and the historic environment”.

No objections had been received from Cosheston Community Council, but two letters of objection raised concerns including the impact of proposal on historic character and Conservation Area, and the changes being unauthorised.

Speaking at the meeting, agent Andrew Vaughan-Harries of Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd, who had only taken up the application the previous week, said the applicants were a teacher and plumber who had spent some £200,000 renovating the “run-down property,” the chimneys demolished after advice they were unsafe.

Mr Vaughan-Harries questioned the “legality” of the application forms, saying the paperwork accompanying the scheme was incorrect.

He also said that, while the two chimneys had been removed, there was “a great whopping” chimney at the rear, restored at a cost of some £5,000, adding that while “two wrongs don’t make a right” other chimneys had been “quietly” removed from properties in the conservation area without any objections; suggesting members attend a site visit to view the property prior to any decision.

Officers disputed the planning form was incorrect.

After debate on the merits or otherwise of chimneys in buildings in conservations areas, Cllr Simon Hancock, who is also Dr Simon Hancock  curator of Haverfordwest Museum, said he had been reading around the importance in chimneys in a historical context.

Describing Cosheston as “one of the gems of south Pembrokeshire,” he said he had no problems with the conversion, but felt that “the chimney stacks ought to be replaced,” moving the split approval proposed.

At the behest of Cllr Tony Wilcox “in the interest of natural justice” where “99.9 per cent of the village had no issues whatsoever” with the removal of the chimney stacks, members voted for a site visit ahead of any formal decision, which was supported by seven votes to five.