FMQs February 11th 2014

Andrew RT Davies, Leader of the Opposition Credit: ITV News

It was no surprise that the Leader of the Opposition turned his fire power this week on the English language January results published a few days ago. It was a topic at the Tory press briefing on which he waxed lyrical.

How daunted must the students be and indeed their teachers to find that their results had taken an unexpected trajectory downwards. This only 18 months after what he described as the '' previous marking debacle ''

Mr Davies, turned the heat up and accused the First Minister of ignoring educational expertise and failing to trust teachers. He expressed his concern that the Welsh Government had ignored calls from the WJEC exam board to delay the introduction of new GCSE courses currently scheduled for September.

But did this cut any ice with the First Minister? I think you by now know the answer!

The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams , also was primed to have a go at the FM over the same issue. But he had no apologies to make.

Plaid Cymru Leader, Leanne Wood chose a different tack . She focused her attention on what could be done to protect women in Wales from domestic abuse. She wanted reassurances from the First Minister that issues of concern for women remained on the political agenda and were not just to be highlighted on occasions like the recent International Women's Day.

The FM pointed out that the Government had already proposed a bill to tackle violence against women and domestic violence but Leanne had another proposal to make.