First Minister's Questions

First Minister Carwyn Jones has been forced to defend the Welsh government's record on literacy standards in schools after he was accused of "running out of ideas" on education.

Carwyn Jones was speaking during first minister's questions on 19 June 2012.

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew R T Davies highlighted the recent Estyn report that found 40 per cent of pupils entering secondary schools in Wales are "unable to read properly".

Mr Davies told AMs that Labour needed to "take responsibility" for improving school standards.

He said: "What confidence can we have that the new National Literacy Programme will be able to deliver the improvements that the pupils, teachers and parents of Wales deserve given that previous initiates by the Labour Party in government have failed to achieve this?"

Carwyn Jones acknowledged that "more work needs to be done" on education standards but insisted new numeracy and literacy programmes would be a success.

He told AMs: "We prize education more than any other party.

"We know what it means in terms of giving opportunities for people to rise out of poverty, for people to be able to acquire the skills they need...something that has been denied across the boarder where his party is in government."

Plaid Cymru's leader Leanne Wood used her contribution to discuss future funding for Wales.

Ms Wood called for a "needs based formula" and expressed her concerns that reform of the Barnett funding formula could lead to a "Barnett floor becoming a Barnett ceiling".

First minister Carwyn Jones told AMs he agreed that Wales was "underfunded" but that the Barnett formula needed reforming and that he was in favour of a so called "Barnett floor".

The Barnet floor is a device proposed by the Holtham Commission as a way of stopping convergence funding for Wales and Scotland.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams used her contribution to focus of the ministerial code within the Welsh Assembly.

Ms Williams called for an independent body to be set up to judge and rule over the ministerial code in Wales.

But Carwyn Jones insisted that ministers were responsible to him and that he was "ultimately responsible to the people of Wales".

Mr Jones also answered questions on domestic violence in Wales, neonatal services in North Wales, and a joint Celtic nations bid for the European Football Championships in 2020.

Read this in Welsh.