In this afternoon's First Minister's Questions, Rhun ap Iorwerth was challenged over the pace of school safety reform after the jailing of paedophile head teacher Neil Foden in 2024 for sexually abusing girls.

Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates raised concerns expressed by Children's Commissioner for Wales Rocio Cifuentes that safeguarding recommendations have not been implemented quickly enough.

Rhun ap Iorwerth says there were "recommendations that are either completed or are in varying stages of progress, some very, very close indeed to being completed" but it "is about absolutely making sure that we put in place lasting measures".

Also in today's FMQs:

• Reform Wales leader Helen Jenner asks if the first minister agreed with comments made by a Plaid MS suggesting a full public inquiry into Covid in Wales, rather than a review, might have wasted £10m, with ap Iorweth saying he would "not take lessons from Reform on the Covid inquiry"
• The Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar accused the Welsh government of "dragging its heels" on the establishment of a defence technical college
• Reform's Iain McIntosh welcomed the decision to scrap Welsh government support for a tree planting scheme in Uganda, asking if other such schemes would be ditched, with the first minister accusing Reform of wanting to "cease our interaction with the world"

Our live coverage is now ending. You can read more on Welsh politics by clicking here.

Gareth Beer, a Reform MS for Sir Gaerfyrddin, raises the issue of rural school closures in Carmarthenshire.

Savings from closures "if they exist, will be short lived", he warns, while the "long term cost, the disruption, the upheaval will be great".

"We talk about protecting rural Wales, caring for rural life, nurturing the Welsh language for future generations, but warm words need to move to decisive actions," he tells the first minister.

Rhun ap Iorwerth replies that local councils "must, and do always, keep under review the extent to which the existing pattern of school provision meets current and forecast demand for places and requirements of the modern curriculum".

Reform's Iain McIntosh welcomed the decision to scrap Welsh government support for a tree planting scheme in Uganda.

More than £4m had gone to the Size of Wales charity since 2015.

Ministers said "difficult decisions" had to be made and the grant would end in March.

McIntosh explained that other schemes still exist, such as £310,000 allocated to the Welsh and Africa grant scheme.

"Will you please now commit to ending those funding arrangements when they expire too, and redirect the money towards services here in Wales instead," he said.

Rhun ap Iorwerth replied: "These questions session are quite useful in just portraying how insular members of Reform are when it comes to wanting to cease our interaction with the world.

"Reform wants us to stop spending internationally on attracting business to Wales - want us to stop spending internationally on creating new trading links for Welsh businesses."

Reform's Claire Johnson-Wood asks Rhun ap Iorwerth to bring in "standardised testing under controlled conditions for literacy and numeracy so that progress against targets can be measured".

She says that currently there's a reliance on "existing personalised assessments and derived indicators", which means using existing rather than direct, new raw data.

The first minister says his government's aim is to measure the progress of each pupil and adapt the teaching to their needs.

He adds that the administrations "foundational numeracy and literacy mission" is focused on "understanding what's going on nationally" but "having pupils themselves at the heart of what we're doing".

Conservative Sam Rowlands asks the first minister for an independent review of anti-Semitism in schools and colleges in Wales, along the same lines as one Sir David Bell recently conducted in England, external.

Rowlands quotes the report's finding that "one in five children have witnessed or experienced anti-Semitism" and says that number "rises to one in three Jewish children", something he calls "deeply troubling".

Rhun ap Iorwerth says he expects anti-Semitism allegations in education establishments to be "fully investigated" with "appropriate action taken to address the matter and prevent further instances from happening".

"But whilst Sir David Bell's review relates to England only, there is lots of work being undertaken in Wales to address discrimination and promote that equality and diversity that that we all should seek to pursue," says the first minister.

There has been a lot of discussion about veterans in today's FMQs.

Lindsay Whittle says he visited troops in Afghanistan during the war, spending four nights and five days in the country visiting Camp Bastion, Kabul and Kandahar, where his group had come under attack.

"The decision to send our troops to war and into harm's way rests solely with the Westminster government," he said.

"And I believe it is fair that the bulk of support [for veterans] should come from the Westminster government."

Rhun ap Iorwerth says the Armed Forces Covenant means "we can't duck our responsibilities when it comes to people who have served in the armed forces".

"I agree the UK government must support those who have served our country and honour the commitment made to them," he says, adding the Welsh government takes its own responsibilities under the covenant "seriously".

The Welsh Conservative Senedd leader accused the government of "dragging its heels" on the establishment of a defence technical college.

Darren Millar said the UK government had made £5m available to the Welsh government to set it up.

Millar asked for an update on where the college was.

"There is positive engagement on the issue of the Defence Technical College and I can say at times that we were waiting on UK government because of delays in moving forward," ap Iorwerth said.

Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates brings up concerns expressed by the Children's Commissioner for Wales Rocio Cifuentes that safeguarding recommendations made after a paedophile head teacher was jailed for sexually abusing girls have not been implemented quickly enough.

Neil Foden was jailed for 17 years in 2024 after being found guilty of sexual abuse involving four girls over a four-year period.

"What assurances can you give victims and their families that this work is being driven forward with the urgency they they expect?" Skates asks.

Rhun ap Iorwerth says there are "recommendations that are either completed or are in varying stages of progress, some very, very close indeed to being completed".

"But it is about absolutely making sure that we put in place lasting measures," he adds.

Helen Jenner's final question references a Nation.Cymru article which quoted a former Labour council leader accusing Romanian-born Reform MS Christiana Emsley of "whitewashing her past".

"It implied that my colleague Christina, because of her Romanian heritage, was somehow responsible for mass murder during the Holocaust," Jenner said.

She described the site as a "blog with a history of disinformation". She called for the Welsh government to "defund" the site.

The site has been in receipt of cash from the Books Council of Wales, which is funded by the Welsh government.

Without attempting to defend Nation, ap Iorwerth said: "I will agree with the leader of Reform in Wales in the need to condemn the attacking of people because of the colour of their skin, attacking of people because of the country they come from, attacking of people because of their sexuality, attacking people because they are different."

"This is a party determined to undermine the good name of our Senedd through their culture wars agenda," he said of Reform.

Helen Jenner asks if Rhun ap Iorwerth agrees with comments made by Plaid MS Elwyn Vaughan on X suggesting a public inquiry into Covid in Wales might have wasted £10m.

The Plaid government has instead backed a review.

Ap Iorwerth said he "will not take lessons from Reform on the Covid inquiry given that they have not taken a stance of the kind that we have taken on the need to learn lessons".

Helen Jenner follows up by asking why he couldn't afford "serious answers and closure for bereaved families that Plaid promised to support before the election when your government spent so much taxpayer money abroad".

Ap Iorwerth accuses Reform of being a "one trick pony" interested "in nothing other than stoking culture wars".

The first question is about services in the NHS for veterans.

Reform's Gareth Thomas said just three GP practices in Bridgend were credited as being "veteran friendly".

"Whether a veteran in Bridgend can see a GP trained to understand that service depends on where they live," he said.

Rhun ap Iorwerth replies that it is a "voluntary scheme".

"It is a scheme very much supported by this Welsh government," he added.

"I think we're up to somewhere around the 20% mark of GP practices that are a part of this system."

Developments over the past week included the Welsh government's mini budget finally passing in the Senedd, nearly four months after the original version was defeated.

That followed a deal being agreed between Plaid Cymru ministers and Labour on funding to support children with additional learning needs

It's also emerged that Green Party members in Wales will vote later this year on who will take over from Anthony Slaughter as party leader.

The Senedd member must stand down as leader, under party rules, after completing three terms.

Image source, Getty Images

Rhun ap Iorwerth returns to Welsh Parliament to face questions from Senedd members for the first time since his government announced a review of Wales' experience of Covid-19.

The Plaid Cymru administration has been criticised by a campaigner for families bereaved during the pandemic for this being a review rather than a public inquiry, something the party previously argued for.

Ministers insist they are doing what they promised during May's Senedd election campaign.

This afternoon's First Minister's Questions is the first time Senedd party leaders and members can scrutinise ap Iorwerth since the review was announced a week ago.

We'll bring you live updates here, and you can also watch FMQs by clicking play at the top of this page from 13:30 GMT.