A TARGET for improving education in Wales which a minister last week said had been scrapped remains in place, first minister Carwyn Jones has said.

Last week education secretary Kirsty Williams suggested the Welsh Government’s aim of achieving at least 500 points in each subject in the global PISA test by 2021 had been scrapped, saying “it’s not my target”.

But speaking yesterday, the first minister said this “remains the Welsh Government’s target”.

“The cabinet secretary was correct in the sense that she didn’t set the target, because she wasn’t a minister at the time,” he said.

“But she is part of the government that is adhering to that target.

“But remember, the target is one diagnostic indicator amongst many others such as GCSE performance, the closing of the attainment gap, school categorisation and Estyn inspections.”

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies called the statement “a slap down”.

“It’s evident that Kirsty Williams had acted outside her authority when she disassociated herself from the Labour administration’s PISA target last Thursday in front of a committee of AMs,” he said.

PISA ranks the education systems of 72 countries.