A concern about the declining standard of education in Powys secondary schools has been elevated to the council's strategic risk register.

The move, which was agreed at a meeting of the Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet on Tuesday, March 25, follows a series of underwhelming Estyn inspection results for secondary schools in the county over the past year.

It comes in the same week that a damning Estyn inspection found Powys County Council’s education services were failing to provide sufficient support for schools and learners.

Finance portfolio holder, Cllr David Thomas (Labour, Tawe Uchaf), outlined the risk escalation at the meeting, saying: “There is one risk where there is a request for escalation. Education services would like to escalate the following risk.”

Cllr Thomas read the risk aloud: “If standards in school leadership, teaching, and learning decline in Powys schools, and learners underperform compared to learners in similar schools in Wales, then educational outcomes in Powys will fall below local and national expected standards, leading to reduced opportunities for our learners, decreased parent/carer and stakeholder satisfaction, and potential reputational damage.”

He added: “The reasoning behind this escalation is the increasing number of secondary and all-age schools in Powys falling into an Estyn category. This trend indicates that these schools are not meeting the required standards or Powys’s educational vision.”

“The implications are significant,” Cllr Thomas continued.

“It could lead to a decline in the quality of education, affecting pupils’ academic performance and future opportunities.”

By moving the risk to the council-wide register, the cabinet and senior staff will have greater oversight of how the issue is managed, with the goal of reducing its impact over time.

The cabinet also agreed to remove two risks from the register, now manageable at a departmental level: the potential failure of a social care provider, with early warning systems in place for a quicker response, and the risk of increased fraud due to the cost of living crisis, addressed through awareness training and monitoring.