Secretary, the Library of Wales series, thanks to Welsh Government investment—

You need to ask the question on the order paper.

Oh, I’m very sorry.

2. What is being done to promote the Library of Wales series in schools? OAQ(5)0474(FM)

The Welsh Government continues to fund the Library of Wales series, through the Welsh Books Council. As part of our aim to promote the series, gift sets of one copy of each title are being sent to all secondary schools, colleges and library authorities when new titles are published.

Thank you very much. Thanks to the Welsh Government investment of some £600,000 over the last 10 years, 46 important literary works are now back in print in English. The two most recent books, ‘Ride the White Stallion’ and ‘Farewell Innocence’, by Llanelli-born author William Glynne-Jones, are an impressive addition to that canon. Just before the recess, Jon Gower and I held an event in Coleg Sir Gâr, where we discussed these books with local sixth-form students. Having invested so much in these titles, it’s vital now that local people get to know about these works about these communities. And Jon Gower is of the very firm view that every community in Wales has a title within this series that can tell them something about their community and about their past, to help us reflect on our common heritage. So, I’d welcome any further initiatives, to make sure that schools and colleges make use of the copies they now have, so we can reflect on this important investment.

Well, I’m glad that the Member for Llanelli has drawn attention to that most interesting, I’m sure, visit with Jon Gower, and also drawn attention to the fact that Llanelli author William Glynne-Jones is featured in the new series. It is important that it isn’t just gift sets going to schools—clearly, those books have to be used widely, they need to be borrowed, read, shared, discussed throughout schools, libraries and colleges. And I think, as the Member has said, the fact that we’ve brought this new generation of a series to readers—46 titles being published—is vitally important. But it actually is also crucial that we see this as part of developing our world-class education system, geared to equipping our children and young people to thrive amid the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Cabinet Secretary, whilst I welcome the continued commitment to the Library of Wales series, are you aware of the report that was published last week that talked about the reading trends and reading ability of pupils across the UK? In that particular report, it demonstrated that Wales had seen a slump in reading ages, so that, actually, in terms of the situation against chronological age, pupils in secondary schools are a full year behind, on average, than their actual chronological ages. And I wonder what action the Welsh Government is going to take to address this particular problem, in terms of addressing these reading ages in our secondary schools.

Well, in March, of course, we published our national literacy and numeracy programme, and that plan does give a very clear vision of our strategy for literacy and numeracy, going forward. It ensures that there’s significant ongoing support for literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. And Estyn’s 2015 annual report showed that standards are improving in Wales, and we will work to maintain that momentum.