Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:19 pm on 3 October 2017.
Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank Members for their generally constructive comments and generous words during this debate. Can I say this? I sometimes worry when Mike gets to his feet on a debate that I’m answering, because I’m never quite sure how I’m going to answer some of his points, but he makes some very fair and very judicious remarks about cost. And the cost, of course, of failure will be borne not by Members here but by the people we fail out there, and the children and young people who fail to fulfil their educational potential because we, here, don’t deliver the system that will enable them to succeed. I accept the points that have been made by Llyr, but I would say to Llyr that the strength of parliamentary scrutiny is such as to shine a light into these things and to compel Ministers to come to this place and to make the case for their legislation, and to make the case for what they’re seeking to do, rather than to set the bar a lot lower. So, I think a higher bar is a better way of measuring these matters. I think what this has demonstrated over the last few months has been the strength of the parliamentary process in this place, and I’m sure that Members will recognise that I would always defer to the processes and to the committees we have here, and to the recommendations that the committees make in ensuring that we have not just a Bill but the best possible Bill that will deliver for the people we all seek to represent.