A total of 1,800 children will have a longer day for 10 weeks and take part in sessions such as art, music and sport, as well as academic lessons.

The trial is focused on supporting disadvantaged pupils and schools affected during the pandemic and is part of the Welsh Government’s Co-Operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru.

The results of the trial and the next steps will be considered with Plaid Cymru as part of the Co-Operation Agreement, the Welsh Government said.

Mr Miles said: “We know from research that young people can gain in confidence and wellbeing from this approach, especially disadvantaged learners.

“Programmes which provide enriching and stimulating additional sessions and support learners to re-engage with learning can have a greater impact on attainment than those that are solely academic in focus.

“The trial is a great opportunity to gather further evidence on how we use and structure time at school and how that might evolve in the future. We will be learning how these additional sessions might improve well-being, academic progression and increased social and cultural capital.

“As we move forward, we will continue to support schools with even stronger community engagement so that we deliver on our mission to tackle the impact of poverty on educational attainment and achieve high standards for all.”

Laura Doel, director of education trade union NAHT Cymru, said it had not been provided with any evidence to support extending the school day.

“There may be some educational benefits to reforming the school year and we are open to discussions on what those benefits may be,” she said.

“All the focus from the Welsh Government has been on the school day fitting in with family life and working patterns, with no mention of the education benefit to learners.

“All the evidence available suggests that there is little or no data that supports keeping learners in school for longer because longer periods in school does not increase a child’s capacity to learn.

“If the Welsh Government’s plan is to support working families with a national childcare offer, then they should come out and say that.

“Schools are not childcare providers and our profession of dedicated school leaders, teachers and support staff should not be expected to take on additional work and responsibility to do this.

“We urge the Welsh Government to be honest and clear with the profession about the motivation behind reforming the school day.

“If it is about childcare, then they need to direct that conversation with those who work in that field and allow school leaders to focus on their core business of teaching and learning.”

The report added that a majority of council tax payers in most of of South Wales Police’s local authority areas will pay much less than this, with 87 per cent of households in Merthyr Tydfil set to pay less than this amount.

The force’s council tax property analysis showed that 68 per cent of the residents in the South Wales Police area are below Band D and the majority would pay between 18p and 25p extra per week, excluding receipt of any council tax discounts or benefits.

If approved, the increase in the precept would generate £302.11 in council tax from a Band D household, £268.54 from Band C, £234.97 from Band B and £201.41 from Band A.

From Band E there would be £369.25, Band F £436.38, Band G £503.52, Band H £604.22 and Band I £704.92.

Here are the total precept amounts for each of the seven areas and the Band D tax bases

• Vale of Glamorgan: £18.72 million and £61,978;
• Cardiff: £45.04 million and £149,107;
• Swansea: £28.13 million and £93,114;
• Bridgend: £16.48 million and £54,568.51;
• Merthyr Tydfil: £5.61 million and £18,587.44;
• Neath Port Talbot: £14.62 million and £48,393.68;
• Rhondda Cynon Taf: £23.47 million and £77,707.

The report said the force would need to find a further £4.5 million worth of savings to balance the budget.

The inflationary and other increases in costs that South Wales Police faces in 2022/2023 add up to £23 million.

This includes the additional employer national insurance contributions which are due to commence from April 2022, and are forecast to add £2.1 million to the pay bill.

It also includes provision for a 2.5 per cent staff pay award in 2022, plus any further increase needing to absorbed within the total funding envelope.

The cost pressures of £23 million, when set against the total increase in Government grant of £11.4 million, leaves a gap of £7.2 million after deducting savings of £4.5 million, of which £1.8 million form part of the provisional settlement.

The report said that South Wales Police will continue to have below average cost for policing in Wales in terms of Band D property and is mid table in terms of percentage of precept to budget, across England and Wales.

The proposed revenue budget for 2022/2023 is £346.36 million with a capital programme of £28 million including £6.7 million of reserves.

In the report, Mr Michael said: “I have weighed up all the relevant issues and the significant risks, balanced with the need to both protect South Wales Police and be fair to the taxpayers of South Wales.”

He later added: “This increase provides very little flexibility within the budget, and will require continued very tight financial discipline and strict control in order to achieve a balanced budget in the 2022/23 year.

“In view of the pressure on residents, I have considered whether there is scope to further reduce the budget, and I have concluded that to do so would put at risk the service we provide to the people of South Wales and be likely to disadvantage those who are most vulnerable and live in our poorer

communities”

There were 1,630 responses to the consultation which was a 63 per cent increase on the previous year and is the highest number it has received.

For the first time, a majority of 55 per cent of responses indicated that they would not be willing to pay more in 2022.

Since austerity started in 2010/2011, South Wales Police has had to deliver a total of £56 million worth of cuts to produce balanced budgets in each year on the back of a £45 million cut in police grant funding since 2010.

In 2022/2023, the provisional settlement includes South Wales Police getting an extra £11.4 million in funding from the Home Office.

But much of the funding is earmarked for ‘Operation Uplift’, which is the three-year programme to deliver 20,000 additional police officers in England and Wales, and the funding is specifically for the final tranche of recruitment of new officers.

In this final tranche, South Wales Police has an allocation of 181 of the 8,000 new officers, bringing a total of 450 for the three years.

Even with this additional 450, the total number of officers remains below the pre-austerity level, the report said.

It also said the Government has not yet indicated that it will fund refresh costs or other inevitable increases related to Operation Uplift.

To help mitigate this risk, £10.3 million is included in the 2022/23 budget for uplift, to include salaries, capital and other infrastructure costs.

Once the allowance for the increased employer’s National Insurance

contributions is excluded from the total grant, it is a flat-cash settlement, and is the twelfth consecutive year of a real-terms cut in our grant funding from the government, the report said.

It added the analysis shows that the provisional settlement, after allowing for inflation, both pay and non pay, plus pension increases, provides no additional resource for growth, and leaves a ‘gap’ in government funding of £11.7 million.

In order to achieve a balanced budget for the year, this gap will need to be fully addressed by a combination of precept increase and savings

Capital funding to commissioners has now stopped completely meaning the capital programme now needs to be funded by revenue.

South Wales Police used to receive £3 million a year in capital funding until 2010, since when it has been reduced year-on-year.

In 2021/22, the force received £300,000 in capital funding which has now been reduced to zero.

The proposals will go before the South Wales Police and Crime Panel on Thursday, February 3.

Of the 4,528 newly reported cases of Covid in Wales, 931 were in the Gwent region. Newport recorded the highest number of new cases in Gwent with 320. Caerphilly recorded 252. There were 172 cases in Torfaen, 103 in Monmouthshire and 84 in Blaenau Gwent.

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Here are all of the newly recorded Covid cases in Wales by local authority:

• Anglesey – 61
• Blaenau Gwent – 84
• Bridgend – 204
• Caerphilly – 252
• Cardiff – 547
• Carmarthenshire – 350
• Ceredigion – 45
• Conwy – 124
• Denbighshire – 134
• Flintshire – 192
• Gwynedd – 118
• Merthyr Tydfil – 82
• Monmouthshire – 103
• Neath Port Talbot – 201
• Newport – 320
• Pembrokeshire – 148
• Powys – 155
• Rhondda Cynon Taf – 304
• Swansea – 371
• Torfaen – 172
• Vale of Glamorgan – 216
• Wrexham – 195
• Unknown location – 24
• Resident outside Wales – 126