Reform MS refuses to say if he signed off error-riddled PISA press release

Emily Price 

A Reform Member of the Senedd has refused to say whether he approved a press release on Wales’ latest PISA results that was riddled with factual inaccuracies, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

A Senedd staffer working on behalf of Sir Gaerfyrddin MS Gareth Beer issued a press release to media outlets on Tuesday (September 8).

The correspondence came after the release of the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results for 15-year-olds, which showed Wales falling further behind the other UK nations.

These results were based on tests taken in September and October 2025, a period when Welsh Labour was still in power in the Senedd

Mr Beer’s press release contained several spelling and grammatical errors, alongside a number of inaccurate and misleading claims about Wales’ PISA results.

The tests were taken by a sample of teenagers across 91 countries and are widely regarded as an important measure of how education systems are performing.

Mr Beer’s press release claimed that Wales had hit “rock bottom”, adding that “the results are worse than last years”.

Aside from the grammatical error – which should have read “last year’s” – the statement was also factually incorrect.

PISA assessments are not conducted annually – the previous assessment took place in 2022 with results published in 2023, when Wales recorded its lowest-ever scores across all three subjects.

Mr Beer’s claim that the latest results as a whole are worse than the previous PISA results is misleading.

Compared with 2022, mathematics saw a statistically significant fall, reading saw a difference that was not statistically significant and in science Wales was actually three points higher and not statistically significantly different.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that saying “the results are worse” substantially oversimplifies what the report found.

Mr Beer’s email also claimed that “Carmarthenshire students and families are facing the stark consequences…”

However, the PISA report does not provide evidence of a specific impact on Carmarthenshire.

The press release also stated that the results were “…threatening local youth in Carmarthenshire and their competitiveness in a modern economy”, an assertion for which no Carmarthenshire-specific evidence is offered.

Mr Beer’s correspondence warned of “plummeting standards…”, but “plummeting” isn’t supported by the latest results as maths declined significantly, while reading and science were statistically stable compared with 2022.

The press release also stated that Reform UK’s manifesto had promised to demand the “immediate reinstatement of national diagnostic testing…”

However, we pointed out that the manifesto says no such thing.

The email was littered with awkward and unusual phrasing including describing the recent Senedd election results as “recent governance structures involving Plaid Cymru…”

The press release stated that “Senedd leaders have consistently prioritised administrative restructuring over academic rigor”.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that this was an enormous claim covering 27 years, presented as fact without evidence.

And Mr Beer’s team had spelled “rigour” incorrectly.

The press release warned how “generations of Welsh pupils have borne the cost of ideological experiments” but didn’t identify what these “ideological experiments” were.

It added that this had left “…communities across west Wales underserved by regional governance,” a line that appears to have virtually nothing to do with PISA.

It is unclear what Mr Beer’s team meant by “regional governance” but they did not supply any evidence that showed west Wales had been “underserved” by it.

Later in the email, the author said that “Reform UK continues to champion regional empowerment…” a claim that sits awkwardly alongside their earlier attack on “regional governance”.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that it seemed Mr Beer was simultaneously blaming regional governance and advocating regional empowerment without explaining what either means.

The press release also mentioned that Reform would ensure “…that educational resources bypass unnecessary administrative layers to support classrooms directly”.

The author offered no explanation of which layers would be bypassed, how funding would reach “classrooms directly”, or whether this is actually established Reform UK policy.

The release also omitted one of the more positive findings for Wales — that socioeconomic attainment gaps were significantly narrower than the OECD averages in science, reading and maths.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that although a political response doesn’t have to celebrate that, presenting the results as an entirely unqualified collapse gives an incomplete picture.

The press release didn’t explain what PISA actually measures. There was no explanation that it tests 15-year-olds, or that the latest Welsh results come from a sample rather than every pupil in Wales.

PISA itself stresses the importance of statistical significance and cautions around comparisons.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that the lack of any figures in the press release raised questions, with the claims appearing to suggest that whoever produced it had not actually read the latest PISA results.

Gareth Beer’s staffer was asked to explain how the press release had been produced and whether the Reform MS had personally signed it off.

We did not receive a response.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said yesterday that Wales’ education system was “making headlines for all the wrong reasons”.

He said: “These PISA results are not Plaid Cymru’s to defend, but they are our motivation for taking a new approach to raising standards in schools.

“Next week, we will launch our Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Plan, setting out a long-term strategy for improving literacy and numeracy.”

The First Minister said the plan will set a “national ambition and a set of national indicators”.

He added: “It will set out how schools should develop literacy and numeracy targets alongside individual targets for learners.

“Plaid Cymru is not afraid of setting targets – they drive ambition and demand accountability, and whilst we can’t reverse 27 years of decline overnight, by focusing on getting the basics right we can set Wales on the right track.”

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