Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Could I begin where David Melding left off, in thanking, most sincerely, Lynne Neagle and the members of the committee for their report? As stated by the Chair, the committee focused this inquiry on the impact of the new grant funding arrangements that were introduced in 2015-16, following the rationalisation of a number of education grants. Now, much of the evidence provided to the committee covers, in my view, long-standing issues, a number of which predate the new funding arrangements through the education improvement grant. The diverse range of opinions provided in the evidence to the committee perfectly highlights that this is a complex area where one single, consensual approach to how the challenges should be taken forward and managed does not prevail. There is validity in the various points of view expressed, and I am grateful to the committee for their hard work in drawing together the issues in such a coherent fashion for debate here today. In seeking to understand the challenges that some minority ethnic and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners can face in achieving their educational potential, the committee has embraced a difficult but very important area of work.

It is no surprise to Members, I hope, that I am committed to equality of opportunity and equity of provision, ensuring that all children and young people are supported to achieve their potential, regardless of their background or their personal circumstances. In opposition, as now in my role as Cabinet Secretary for Education, I have always prioritised action to ensure all children and young people have the opportunities they need and deserve to achieve that potential, and much has been achieved. But the challenge remains, as we have heard from David Melding, for some groups, significant, and there is much more to be done. It’s no exaggeration, Deputy Presiding Officer, to say that we are embarking on the single greatest educational reform since the 1960s. We’re delivering a new curriculum and assessment arrangements, and a clear strategic focus on the supporting factors that will help all our learners achieve.

In ensuring our most disadvantaged learners are supported to achieve their potential, I will be releasing a revised plan of action for education in due course, which will demonstrate my commitment to an inclusive education system, with equity of opportunity for each and every learner at its heart. I welcome the committee’s recognition of the recent improvements in performance for the vast majority of these learner groups, and that is something to be celebrated. And I thank Darren Millar for highlighting some of the good practice that exists in our education system. Yes, in Gwent, I recently had the pleasure of visiting Lliswerry school. I saw for myself the hard work that they do, but it extends beyond Gwent into, for instance, some of the work done at Monkton in Pembrokeshire, who are exemplars in how they support their children.

And a number of ethnic minority learner groups, as we’ve heard from Bethan Jenkins, already outperform the national averages, and that is to be welcomed and celebrated, as Bethan has done today. As I have said, it’s important that we recognise this complex picture. Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and minority ethnic learners do not form one homogenous group. The individual needs and attainment levels of these learners vary significantly from some of our most able and talented children to those who are achieving well under the national average. The committee recognises this in the report, and, as I said, it’s an issue I am also very aware of. But as I’ve said, the challenge is significant, and in particular in relation to those groups who stubbornly remain below the national average, and that’s why I’m pleased to see the report recognises the positive contribution of our services and schools over the years.

Our schools, our local authority support services and our regional school improvement services should have, and do in many cases, extensive knowledge and expertise in supporting these learners. I firmly believe that our strength and future success is not grounded in my office in Tŷ Hywel, but it is in the sector, working as a whole, in partnership within a self-improving system that values our teaching profession and the diversity of our society.

Moving to the committee’s recommendations—it provided 14 recommendations in its report, which provide, I believe, a clear focus for action. I have responded formally and, I believe, positively, to the committee, outlining my agreement to all but one of the recommendations. I have rejected the committee’s recommendation to revisit the equality impact assessments undertaken some years ago. I understand why the committee is disappointed at this, but as the committee makes no explicit recommendation to change the funding mechanism, I feel a separate impact assessment at this stage would not be beneficial and our efforts and those of my officials and the service are better directed in supporting and delivering on all the other committee’s recommendations, which I believe will take us forward into the future.

One of the recommendations I am particularly very strongly in agreement with, and that is that the current education performance framework is not sufficiently robust. It simply is not, and there was no hiding from that during the committee sessions. And that is why, prior to the publication of the committee’s report, I have asked my officials to strengthen the framework for the education improvement grant for schools. Over the past few months, I am pleased to say that they have worked with the regional consortia to establish an improved and much more robust outcomes framework, which will provide a focus to challenge and support local authorities and consortia on efforts to improve educational outcomes for these learners from 2017-18. The education improvement grant outcomes framework articulates what our national outcomes are, and demonstrates how, through the EIG, regional consortia strategies contribute to the delivery of these outcomes, and ensures that the EIG is having a positive impact on learner outcomes. The intention through the framework is to move away from activity-led prescription to being outcome-focused, whilst remaining sophisticated enough to draw on the activity if required. The revised framework will be published alongside the regional consortia business plans for 2017-18. I’m also pleased that Estyn has agreed to revisit the subject through a short review in 2018-19. The review will focus on progress since 2011, and its report at that time, and will consider the impact of the current services and support for these learners. That review of that report is well overdue.

What this evidence has crystallised for me, Deputy Presiding Officer, is that there is a delicate balance between supporting all learners to access the opportunities to achieve their potential and respecting and valuing the diverse nature of our communities, which helps make today’s Wales the modern and progressive society in which I—and, I hope, the majority in this Chamber—want to live. Over time, attendance has improved, educational attainment has improvement, and expectations, which are absolutely crucial, have rightly increased. And we have listened to our communities. I will indeed publish the Save the Children Travelling Ahead project peer research report on Learning Wales, and I will make it available to every school, to every local authority and every regional consortia, so that our educational professionals and service providers can consider the views put forward by the young people in their provision.

In many cases, our services have done a good job, and I want to thank them for their determination. But I now ask them to increase their efforts to ensure that more of these learners and their families feel comfortable registering their characteristics on the annual school census returns, so that I can be assured that the support available for them through school budgets and our grant funding reflects their numbers.

Darren Millar, I am hopeful that our Diamond review, our continuation of EMA and support for FE learners to address barriers will continue to provide a financial framework to encourage people into FE and HE, but expectations of those communities are key. A valuable point was made with regard to the diversity of our teaching profession. Our teaching profession is not as diverse as I would want it to be, and I will be considering, with the Education Workforce Council, what more we can do to encourage diversity in our teaching profession.

Deputy Presiding Officer, can I thank Members for their contributions this afternoon, and thank the committee once again for this valuable report? It has strengthened my arm in being able to galvanise action within the department, especially with regard to monitoring. I look forward to working alongside committee members in future work in this area.