Welsh Conservatives today welcomed the Assembly Government's consultation on new procedures to be followed when a school is earmarked for closure.

Just days after the Party published its call for improved consultation procedures for schools under threat of closure the Assembly Government published its long-awaited consultation documents.

Shadow Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Paul Davies AM, said, "We have been expressing concerns for some time that the school closure consultation process is not suitably robust and fails to take into account the impact on local communities or the Welsh language.

"The proposals currently in place are slow, overly bureaucratic and give undue control to Ministers in determining local school reorganisations.

"A lack of clear guidance from the Assembly Government has been to blame for the release of controversial proposals, which have not always taken account of the educational performance of schools.

"We are pleased that the Assembly Government has been pushed into publishing its long-awaited consultation documents.

"We believe that local communities should be able to have confidence in a robust process which listens to their concerns.

"Welsh Conservatives proposals would ensure that a school closure should only occur when the alternative is educationally stronger than the status quo."