Janet Finch-Saunders; What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that financial literacy is available for all those within the education system in Wales? OAQ(4)0414(ESK)
Huw Lewis; I thank the Member for Aberconwy. The Welsh Government has acted to make sure that financial literacy is embedded in our education system. ‘Manage money’ is a key element of the literacy and numeracy framework, which is now a statutory curriculum requirement, strengthening existing curriculum arrangements under which financial education is included in mathematics and personal and social education.
Janet Finch-Saunders; Thank you, Minister. Certainly, in the schools that I have visited, I have actually been asked whether more time could be spent for pupils as regards financial literacy, because many, as they grow older and get into colleges and universities, actually start to struggle with finances. There are various schemes working over in England. Barclays Money Skills has created a fantastic set of financial education resources, ‘Sort your Spending’, and it assesses pupils’ money personality—do they spend money on impulse or plan weeks ahead and plan every purchase? Minister, as you will be aware, there will be a new Bill coming forward to support financial literacy in Wales. Will you be supporting that Bill when it comes forward?
Huw Lewis;First of all, as I mentioned, we now have a statutory requirement, through the LNF, for each and every school to be taking a look at the managing of money and raising children’s awareness of being savvy around cash.However, if she is talking about good examples of materials, there is no need to cross the border, necessarily, to get them, because there will be a bilingual pack that will go live on the Learning Wales site—it is there now, I believe. The materials included in the pack are mapped onto the Welsh literacy and numeracy framework, and include a number of modules around using a bank account, handling money, budgeting, saving, being a smart consumer and so on. So, there is no necessity to travel too far; it is there at the click of a button so that all teachers in all schools in Wales can access this material in a bilingual format.