No.

I also call upon my Conservative colleagues to join me in applying pressure on the Government to improve the prospects of future generations of young people throughout Wales, regardless of their financial background.

To those who believe grammar schools are a relic of some sepia-tinted bygone era, I would offer one word: PISA. This December, the latest PISA results will be published, and there are early signs in the corridors of this place that the Welsh Government is already preparing its excuses. Since 2007, Wales has slipped down the PISA rankings. As more countries have joined, Wales has slumped from twenty-second in science to joint thirty-sixth, dropped 10 places in maths, and fallen from twenty-ninth in reading to forty-first. What surprises will PISA bring this time? In 2012, Wales performed worse on average in science, maths and English than did England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. At the time, Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Kirsty Williams, tweeted:

‘Really sad and angry that 14 years of Welsh Labour Education Policy has led us to these #PISA results.’

Now, as education Secretary, will Kirsty Williams stand firm behind this statement and drive forward a policy that delivers real change?

The time has come for a bold new vision for education in Wales, and at the centre of this vision should be the principle of diversity—diversity of teaching styles, school aims and priorities. In 2006, according to the National Grammar Schools Association, pupils in England’s 164 grammar schools produced more than half the total number of A-grade A-levels in the more robust A-level subjects than those produced by in up to 2,000 comprehensive schools. It is clear that selective state schools produced some of the best performances in examinations, based on league tables. From this experience—[Interruption.] From this experience, as the UK Government’s most senior civil servant responsible for education quality, the previous chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, states, unequivocally,

‘grammar schools have contributed more to social mobility than any other institution this country has known’.

In his statement Chris Woodhead went further and said abolishing grammar schools may also be seen as attempting to impose a one-size-fits-all education system on an area.

Thankfully for children in England, the Government have heeded the advice of the experts and backtracked on the earlier catastrophic decision to prevent the establishment of new grammar schools. But what about Wales? Will the Government—[Interruption.] Will the Government put political dogma to one side and place young people ahead of ideology? Will you do that? When the PISA results were last published the First Minister was quoted as saying to all three opposition parties, ‘If you don’t like it, what would you change?’ So, to Carwyn Jones, on behalf of the disenfranchised and passed-over schoolchildren everywhere, I say, ‘choice’.

Grammar schools provide an opportunity for students from low-income families to escape poverty and gain a high standard of education without recourse to the fee-paying sector.