Thank you, Llyr, for your support for the importance of digital competency and recognising that if we are to give our children the very best opportunities to compete in the global market place, being digitally competent is absolutely crucial to them. With regard to Hwb—and apologies for not answering Darren Millar’s question in the first session—it is very encouraging to see the increasing usage of Hwb, and a recognition of the value the resources that are available on Hwb can play.

I’m also very pleased to engage with a wide number of stakeholders who also see value in working on educational resources that, as long as they’re bilingual and we have checked them, we are happy to host. So, for instance, I recently took part in an event with the fire services of Wales—they are sharing their resources on Hwb. The National Farmers’ Union Wales have shared their resources on Hwb, and I know that, for instance, this summer, in the Royal Welsh Show, Hybu Cig Cymru will be launching some educational resources that we hope to be able to host on Hwb. So, it’s great to see not only schools engaging, but a wide range of organisations throughout Wales that see this as a valuable way of engaging with schoolchildren.

But, you’re right; we need to identify which schools are not engaging with Hwb and understand the reasons why that is and what we’re going to do to address those barriers. Are there barriers around infrastructure? I hope that the investment that we’re making means that that no longer becomes an issue in terms of superfast broadband and adequate broadband speeds to the schools themselves.

I’ve not been made aware that hardware is a particular issue, but undoubtedly I’m aware that parents and PTAs and friends of schools are often working really, really hard in this area to make those resources available for our young people, and I will keep under review whether this is a barrier to schools using our particular platforms. In-school infrastructure can be a problem and, as I said to Darren Millar, we’re working with local authorities to try and address that. Broadband connections at the home is not my job. My job is to get the broadband connections to the school. We’ve got everybody up to the minimum speed. We’re improving that with 341 schools. But I’m sure Julie James later on will explain very clearly how the Government intends to make sure that broadband connections for home usage are what we would all want them to be.

Professional learning is absolutely key and we need to work on this on a number of levels. You will be aware, as I mentioned in my statement, that the first thing we need to do is to be able to assess what the professional learning needs are. That’s why the Hwb self-assessment tool, which has now been renamed the DCF professional learning needs tool, is being developed by our pioneer schools. The updated version is now available. It’s got new functionality attached to it. That supports teachers in assessing their skills and their confidence. It supports DCF co-ordinators in schools to identify professional learning needs within their own individual school and it’s there to assist and develop professional support for staff. It also allows local education authorities and consortia to identify what the learning needs are in their particular area so they can adapt their professional learning programmes and what’s available to meet those needs.

So, identifying the need is one thing and then we need to look at what those offers are. And those offers are many and varied. So, for instance, I recently launched Barefoot resources on Hwb at Cadoxton Primary School in Barry. Barefoot resources have teach-yourself material specifically for staff. Yesterday, I was in a school in Llandough with the Cabinet Secretary for health, and the teachers there said that they’ve had great enjoyment learning side-by-side with their pupils and actually, getting pupils to explain to them not only increased their skills but that’s a great way of testing learning. If a pupil can explain to you what is going on, that’s a really great way of knowing that learning is being embedded as well as developing other skills. But we need a national approach and that is being developed. Welsh Government previously has funded a number of posts to train teachers in the use of Hwb. And, as I said, the ongoing professional learning needs of our staff will be absolutely crucial in delivering this agenda.