Steffan Lewis on Plaid Cymru South Wales East AM is proposing a bill to strengthen safety on school trips. Mr Lewis was inspired to pursue this amendment after meeting with the parents of Glyn Summers, who died on a school trip in 2011. Mr Lewis stated: “Glyn Summers, whose tragic death on a trip in Barcelona is an example of what can go wrong when the guidelines are not properly followed. The law regulating school trips is in need of strengthening and updating. Children and young people benefit hugely from educational trips, and I want to ensure that they can learn and enjoy themselves in safety."
Glyn Summers was only 17 when he fell from a hotel balcony, sustaining injuries which lead to his death a week later. Glyn had flown to Spain on the encouragement of his parents to help him pass his language course. The family later learnt from Spanish police that Glyn had consumed alcohol on the night of the accident. However, it was not until a year later in a letter to all college student parents that it was revealed that staff had allowed a group of students on the trip to visit a nightclub: "We were shut out. We were given no information whatsoever," said Mr Summers. Glyn’s parents have been campaigning for an independent investigation into the death of their son, as the one undertaken by the college, Ystrad Mynach, has never been released.
Entitled the Safety of Educational Trips Bill, the legislation will be presented to the National Assembly for Wales’ Individual Members Bill ballot. If selected and passed the law will introduce a minimum ratio of supervisory staff to pupils; a code of conduct for staff during school trips (which includes not consuming alcohol) and guidelines on what information is passed to parents before a trip. There would also be an introduction of an independent review mechanism to be followed in the event of a trip death. Sarah Summers said: "If they had these laws before Glyn's accident it would have made things a lot easier for us. It could have made a difference to the extent that Glyn would be still alive."
