P-06-1540 Remove The Manipulative Funding System Forcing Students To Do Welsh Baccalaureate

Petitions4

This petition was submitted by Ioan Armstrong, having collected a total of 1,125 signatures.

Text of petition:

Ioan Armstrong & Sam Bartlett: We are A-level students at Coleg Sir Gâr, Graig Campus, Llanelli who are starting this petition as a platform for student choice against the forced Welsh Baccalaureate qualification.

Despite claims from the Welsh Government that the qualification isn't compulsory, we discovered a manipulative funding scheme through a FOI Request showing colleges receive £1000+ per student in additional funding through forcing Welsh Baccalaureate onto students.

Additional information:

FOI Request: £3606/student for 3 AS/A Levels without WBQ, £4620/student for 3 AS/A Levels + WBQ.

Senedd Research: "Welsh Bacc is time consuming and students don’t see the value of the qualification".

Children’s Commissioner for Wales: Criticised the Welsh Government's "target of universal adoption". Making WBQ universal is NOT in the best interests of all young learners.

Further and Higher Education (Governance and Information) (Wales) Act 2014: Ensures quality & accountability in further education, but is undermined due to funding pressures, and an unclear stance on WBQ being a non-compulsory qualification.

Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022: Clear legal expectation that institutions deliver education as high-quality as possible. Undermined by colleges being financially punished if students aren't signed up to do WBQ.

WalesOnline have published an article on our campaign.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its final meeting of the Sixth Senedd on 16/03/2026, as part of the Committee's review of all petitions under consideration.

Full details of the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above. 

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 12/01/2026. 

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Llanelli
• Mid and West Wales

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