The Education Minister Leighton Andrews says he is 'very concerned' with Estyn’s findings after they recommended Torfaen's education services are place into special measures.
He says it is "particularly disappointing to see that an authority that has had the benefit of an Estyn inspection, and been left with clear recommendations to address, has failed to tackle the issues with the required pace and urgency."
The conclusion reached by Estyn, that 16 months after their initial inspection the progress made by the authority has been limited and slow, is unacceptable. I look to the Leader of the Council to take the appropriate action.
These failings reflect serious weaknesses in the management of education services.
Our response needs to quickly improve outcomes for children and young people in the area, but any action we take must also be sustainable in the long term.
As such my department will be working over the coming weeks to consider how best to respond. A full update on our proposed course of action will be provided to Assembly members as soon I have determined the matter.
Estyn has recommended that education services in Torfaen are placed into special measures. The council becomes the sixth local authority to be told it requires 'significant improvement.'
The schools inspectorate said they found that since their "original inspection in October 2011 the authority has made limited progress against most of the recommendations and improvements have been slow."
"On completion of the original inspection Estyn identified five recommendations for the authority to address, during the monitoring visit the inspectorate concluded that the authority has partially addressed 3 of these recommendations and not addressed the remaining two."
"As such it is the view of the inspection team that the authority has made insufficientprogress to address the recommendations in the inspection report and thatthe authority should be placed in the category of Special Measures."
Torfaen County Borough Council has kept more than 2,000 laptops intended for school pupils and teachers in storage for over 18 months. The machines were bought under a Welsh Government pilot project.
The authority says the laptops were to be shared with Monmouthshire and Newport councils. Torfaen was left with kit costing around £1 million, after Newport City Council pulled out of the deal. Newport says it never made a formal commitment to the project.
Outbreak of Cryptosporidium investigated in Newport
Health officials say they are investigating an outbreak of Cryptosporidium in Newport.
The main symptoms include stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and fever. It can be acquired from other people, from animals, and from drinking or swimming in contaminated water.
Seven of the 14 people who became unwell had visited the swimming pool at Newport Centre, where subsequent water sampling revealedthe bug to be present.
But a spokesperson for Public Health Wales said some of those affected had ‘other possible exposure’ that could also explain their infection.
The pool remains closed until the investigation is complete.
