Item 5 on the agenda is a statement by the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language on the rapid review of the Welsh in education strategic plans for 2017 to 2020, and I call on the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, Alun Davies, to make the statement.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Welsh in education strategic plans have established a sound basis for planning Welsh-medium education, but so much has changed since the Schools Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 came into statutory force. We now have to adapt and modernise the way in which we plan Welsh education to reflect the ambition set in ‘Cymraeg 2050’, recognising that education is a key catalyst for change.

During the summer, I laid out the Government’s plan to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. This will require ambition, support and leadership from local authorities, governors, headteachers and, of course, parents and students themselves. To reach our target of 40 per cent of learners receiving Welsh-medium education by 2050, all of us have to collaborate.

I was disappointed with the level of ambition within the WESPs at the beginning of the year, and that’s why Aled Roberts was appointed to undertake a rapid review of the system and to engage with local authorities on their current plans. Deputy Presiding Officer, ‘rapid’ is a fair description of the whistle-stop tour of Wales undertaken by Aled Roberts. I am very grateful to him and to all 22 local authorities for their co-operation at such short notice, as well as other influential stakeholders for their commitment and input. It’s important for us all to note that many people across the country have collaborated very hard together in order to reach the aim where we all want to be.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Aled’s report provides 18 recommendations for the future development of the WESPs. I will be accepting all of the recommendations. This process has given me an independent overview of what needs to change, and how we can implement those changes in the most inclusive way. Aled provided us with a review of each local authority’s WESP. In early August, I wrote to each local authority to share these comments. My officials have worked closely with local authorities during the past month in order to amend, support and challenge these plans. We are expecting to receive the revised WESPs during the coming weeks.

Aled’s report also offers recommendations for developing the future planning of Welsh-medium education. These include reviewing the timetable of the WESPs to coincide with the Welsh Government’s capital schemes, specifically the twenty-first century schools programme, and capital investment should be targeted to ensure a correlation between pre-school and schools programmes. Secondly, a panel should be established, or a board, to discuss and evaluate the changes needed in terms of the legislation and regulations prior to their introduction to the Assembly. Thirdly, strengthening the strategic relationship between local authorities and Mudiad Meithrin in order to ensure growth at local authority level that will contribute towards the Welsh Government’s targets on the journey to 2050. Also, simplifying the process of linguistic categorisation for schools; and urgent planning and action in order to increase the number of teachers trained to teach through the medium of Welsh.

Llywydd, one of the recommendations was to establish a board and I want to move ahead to ensure that representatives from all sectors of education are part of this board. I have said many times that the Welsh Government can’t do this in isolation, and everybody who has a role in educating our young people must be a part of this journey.

Plans for capital investment for Welsh-medium schools will be central to the growth of Welsh-medium education. Aligning the information provided within the WESPs with local authority business cases for capital funding will ensure consistency. We have already ensured that the next band of capital investment takes into account the Welsh Government’s vision for 1 million Welsh speakers, and early drafts of the local authorities’ plans look promising. But let me be clear: I will not agree to any plan that does not show ambition. I will continue the dialogue with local authorities until we have plans that reflect the ambitions set out in ‘Cymraeg 2050’.

It is important to note that the school population projections suggest that numbers will be fairly static over the next 10 to 20 years, and so these amended plans will need to consider innovative solutions to expand provision. This is not just about opening new schools. The Government, with the support and guidance of the board, will also be exploring options for the linguistic categorisation of schools in order to provide greater clarity regarding the level of Welsh-medium provision available within a given school.

Another obvious challenge will be to ensure that we have sufficient numbers in the education workforce to achieve the expansion that we’re aiming for. The Cabinet Secretary for Education announced some weeks ago her intention to invest £4.2 million from the education budget to develop the workforce able to teach through the medium of Welsh. This will include extending the sabbatical scheme—£1.2 million—and extending the role of the education consortia with £2 million.  

Therefore, although we have begun our journey to implement the changes necessary to grow Welsh-medium education, I am in no doubt that more needs to be done. We must legislate to strengthen and we must look in greater detail at the existing structures, the role of the consortia and how we develop a clear and effective way of identifying the demand for Welsh-medium education.

Llywydd, in line with our commitment to respond to the ambitious challenges we face in the long term to achieve 1 million Welsh speakers, I, as Minister, will continue to work in partnership with local authorities and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Welsh in education strategic plans work for the whole of Wales. Thank you very much.

Can I thank the Minister for his statement and for advance copy of the statement, which I received this afternoon? Like him, I was very unimpressed to see the lack of ambition in some of the local education authority proposals and plans that were published. I was very pleased to welcome the rapid review that he announced earlier this year, which has now been completed by our former colleague in the Assembly Aled Roberts. We all know that we’re not going to achieve the ambitious target of securing 1 million Welsh speakers here in Wales without actually growing the number of young people and children in Welsh-medium education. So, absolutely, we need to drive that ambition up, and I’m looking forward to being able to see the new strategic education plans, which are coming forward from the local authorities in due course.

The Minister made reference to the fact that he had had some correspondence with local authorities about those plans, and I wonder, Minister, whether you would publish for the record that correspondence, so that we can see exactly what you challenged those local authorities about, because I think, in the interest of transparency, so that we can all agree with him and perhaps support the suggestions that he was making, it would be good to see that on the public record.

I also note, of course, that the Minister has made, quite rightly, a reference to the proposal to establish a board to see the improvements through and has suggested that that board will include representatives from all sectors of education. I was particularly pleased to hear him refer to the nursery education sector, the ‘cylch meithrin’. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I was at my local ‘cylch meithrin’ in Abergele, which was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary on Friday, and I can see just how valuable that is and what an asset that is to the local community. It’s the success, at that very early age, that then encourages parents to get those children moving on into primary education through the medium of Welsh and, indeed, gives them the confidence to allow those kids to go on into secondary education.

One area that you haven’t talked much about, actually, in your statement, is the role of the further education sector, and I wonder if you could tell us to what extent they’re engaging with local authorities, because, obviously, one of the weaknesses that Aled Roberts did identify was the need to ensure that there was progression enabled, if you like, and that there was a significant growth in further education through the medium of Welsh. We know that it’s not where it should be at the moment, and we’ve got children and young people leaving their secondary education wanting to go on to further education through the medium of the Welsh language, and they simply can’t get it. Where it is available, it’s a sort of phony provision, because very often it simply means doing exams through translators rather than actually being able to do the whole gamut of their courses through the medium of Welsh.

You’ve also made reference in your statement to the valuable role of youth work—Welsh language youth work—and I know that one of the things that we’ve been looking at in the Children, Young People and Education Committee is the provision of youth work across Wales, and one of the concerns that we flagged up in our recent report was the need to ensure that there is access to Welsh-medium youth work provision. Given that faith communities across Wales are the single largest provider of youth work in the country, can you tell me what activity is going on in terms of engagement with your Government? What sort of levels of engagement do you expect the local education authorities to have with faith communities, given that they’re such significant providers? And where there may be a need to support some of those faith communities to introduce more Welsh into their provision, is that something that the Welsh Government would be interested in doing?

I note, also, that you made reference to the anticipated population projections in Wales for school populations, and that the Welsh Government expects it to be fairly static over the next 10 to 20 years. We know that local development plans are rolling forward across the country, many of them with significant housing growth. In north Wales, I think if you tot up the individual local development plans, it’s around 100,000 new homes that are planned over the course of those plans being implemented. That’s a huge—. Sorry, 100,000 in population terms, rather, that we’re going to expect to grow that population by, just in north Wales alone. I suspect that similar levels of growth are planned for elsewhere. Can you tell us whether you take into account that growth within your estimated population figures, and also advise on what you expect local authorities to do in terms of those section 106 moneys that might become available as a result of that growth, for investment in the capital infrastructure to support the growth of Welsh-medium provision in the communities that might be affected?

I am concerned, frankly, that the existing Welsh language impact assessments, which local authorities are required to undertake with regard to developments over a certain size, are not always looking for opportunities through their section 106 agreements to extend Welsh-medium provision in their communities, and I think that that is something that perhaps there’s been a bit of a blind spot to, and perhaps you can tell us whether this is something that is emerging as a theme from some of the draft WESPs that have been presented to you.

Finally, just on the subject of the timetable for any legislation that might emerge, obviously, once the board is established, I presume that you will task it with exploring how the legislation can be best framed and to bring proposals forward to you. But, clearly, we need to make some rapid progress in this Assembly in terms of trying to set the path going forward so that we can achieve the ambition that’s in ‘Cymraeg 2050’, and I for one would like to see a very clear timetable for that board to work to, so that we can hold you to account as a Government Minister for delivery against that timetable. I wonder whether you’ve any idea at the moment in terms of an indication as to when you expect that board to be able to report back to you—I know it’s not been formed yet, but to report back to you in terms of the timetable for any legislation for the framework that might be required. Thank you.

I’m grateful to the Conservative spokesperson for the constructive way in which he has approached his remarks this afternoon. I think there is fair agreement on the basic analysis that we’ve made on all sides of the Chamber, and agreement that we all need to share the same ambition, and level of ambition, for the plans in each local authority area.

Can I say to him—? I expect to be able to publish the agreed WESPs by the end of the year, and I will look then at how we publish all the sustaining and supporting information, and look at how we provide Members with all the information they require, both to hold us to account in terms of the decisions that we take, but also in understanding the way in which we’ve developed policy in this field, and to enable others to understand the process that we’ve been through over the last period.

I’ve made a number of statements in this area, and I hope that I’ve been consistent in the approach that I’ve taken in that I’ve sought always to build bridges and I’ve sought always to reach agreement. I’ve sought always to encourage, support, enable, facilitate. I’ve sought always to have a conversation rather than simply send letters and demands and diktats from this place. I hope that this approach is going to bear fruit, and I hope that the approach of working together, across all parts of our country, is one that will receive broad support on all sides of the Chamber again today.

In terms of establishing the board, as I said in my statement, I will look towards how quickly we can move forward to doing this. You’ve asked a number of questions on legislation. Clearly, I published a White Paper on the Welsh language in the summer. These proposals are not a part of that White Paper. However, I don’t have any formal proposals yet for primary legislation. What I want to be able to do is to look at the interplay between primary and secondary legislation. Some of these areas are the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and we will need to take a considered view on how we approach having a holistic and comprehensive statutory framework that enables us to take these decisions, but also which enables us to have coherence on the statute book. So, I will look at the relationship between primary and secondary legislation and, when we’re in a position to take decisions on that, I will make a further statement to this Chamber.

I hope the Member will forgive me for being a little reticent with timescales on this. I want to be able to consider the proposals that I’ve made in the White Paper first. I want to be able to ensure that we have coherence on that area of policy, and then to ensure that we have coherence in terms of our current set of WESPs, and then learn the lessons from both those two policy imperatives before coming together to provide further clarity in terms of how we will take forward any legislation in this field. But, certainly, I will be coming back to the Chamber to make further statements on all of those matters.

In terms of moving forward, the issues over early years and nursery education are areas that I’ve been giving some great consideration to. We are aware of a number of examples—the Cabinet Secretary reminds me of a situation in her own constituency in Builth Wells where a meithrin has led to the growth of Welsh-medium education in that town. It’s an interesting example, I think, of what might be possible in other areas as well.

I hope that we will be able to see a significant growth in the experience of the Welsh language for children at the earliest years. I say that in a very broad way, because there will be different and appropriate settings, delivering different levels of the language in different ways in different parts of the country. But what I’d hope we’d be able to do is to ensure that all our children, from the very youngest age, have experience of listening and hearing and learning to speak the Welsh language, whether they go on to a formal education in Welsh or in English. So, I hope that we’ll be able to give that some examination.

In terms of the FE sector, the Cabinet Secretary for Education made a statement on this over the summer in terms of the task and finish group that Delyth Evans has chaired and led, and there will be further statements on how we’re going to be taking that forward in the coming weeks. I and the Cabinet Secretary have met with Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in order to consider the implications of Delyth Evans’s work and we will be taking forward those recommendations in due course.

In terms of youth work, I recognise the point that’s been made and I think the use of the language outside of the classroom and the schoolyard is absolutely essential. I hope that faith groups will play their part in that and all groups in different communities will play a role in enabling people to socialise, particularly young people to socialise, through the medium of Welsh.

In terms of local development plans, clearly, this is something that has been a matter of some debate locally in different parts of the country. I have met the Cabinet Secretary for the environment in order to discuss how we can take these matters forward. We are still considering our position on that. For me, I see no reason at all why local authorities cannot ensure that any schools built as part of 106 agreements in local development plans cannot ensure that the Welsh language is a part of that.

Clearly, again, in different locations in different communities, we’ll have different results of that consideration, but it appears to me that there’s no reason at all, certainly no good reason, why the Welsh language should not be a material consideration in terms of those 106 agreements and that Welsh-medium schools should be considered on the same basis as English-medium schools. So, I hope that we’ll be able to take that forward.

I hope I’ve covered most of the questions that you asked. I’m very grateful for the considered way in which the Conservative spokesperson has approached the statement.

May I thank the Minister for his statement and also endorse the thanks on the record—and I’m sure that we have done in the past—to Aled Roberts for his work on these WESPs?

You start your statement by saying that the WESPs have set a firm foundation for the planning of Welsh-medium education. I don’t want to disagree with you on the very first sentence, but, clearly, some people have questioned whether they have been robust enough, and the fact that we are where we are suggests to me that they haven’t. You only need to look at the critique from RhAG, for example, on some of the individual plans, to demonstrate that there is great cause for concern. But things improve from there on in, Minister, I have to say, and I do agree with you that we need to adapt and modernise the way we plan.

You’re entirely right in saying that this isn’t just a role for Government. The local authorities, the boards of governors, headteachers, parents, children, and the wider community, of course, all have an important role to play. But the Government has to show leadership. The Government has to show strong leadership; it must be brave and unstinting in order to ensure that everyone else follows. Without that, then I do fear that we will be starting from a weak position. I have confidence that you will do that as Minister, but, clearly, we will be pressing you to ensure that that does happen.

Now, I warmly welcome the fact that you have accepted the 18 recommendations in the Aled Roberts report. But, as you know, of course, accepting recommendations isn’t the test, but the way in which we all respond to those recommendations and take action as a result of them.

Now, you say that you wouldn’t approve a single plan that doesn’t show ambition, and I couldn’t disagree with you on that. But my question there is: what is the yardstick that you will use to decide whether they are ambitious enough? What does ambition look like? Because ambition in one part of the country may be very different to ambition in another part of the country. That’s important, because, in order for us to hold you to account and for you to be accountable, and in the name of transparency, we have to understand what your definition of ambition is. I know that the recommendations don’t suggest specific targets for various parts of the country. The only reference to targets is looking at milestone targets that refer to ensuring opportunities for young people to use the Welsh language outwith the school gates. Now, I would like to hear how those might be created, but we need that clarity on what ambition looks like. And, if truth be told, we need to take a step back here, because I would like some clarity from you this afternoon on the more general target in terms of the number of Welsh speakers: has the target of ‘Cymraeg 2050’ for the percentage of seven-year-olds receiving Welsh-medium education replaced the target from the 2010 strategy? Because the 2010 strategy said that 30 per cent of seven-year-olds should be getting Welsh-medium education by 2020, but the ‘Cymraeg 2050’ strategy says that 30 per cent should be reached by 2031. So, I would like some clarity as to which target we are working towards.

Reference has already been made to the early years, which are entirely crucial, because, if we lose our young people in those early years, then it’s possible, or more likely, that they will be lost to the language forever. The childcare offer is central to this, and, in the budgetary agreement between the Government and Plaid Cymru, we have ensured that there will be additional funding for Mudiad Meithrin, and I would look forward to discussing with you how we can ensure that that contributes to the ambition that we share here in terms of increasing the number of children who do receive Welsh-medium childcare and preschool education.

You mentioned the need to simplify the categorisation process, and I would agree with that, because I have no confidence that the categorisation process at the moment is considered enough. There are some schools in the same category in the same county that are entirely different in terms of their linguistic make-up, and we do need to tackle that issue. But as one who has experience—and I would declare an interest as a governor in a primary school where there has been a battle fought—in the current climate and in the context of the ambition that the Government has set, we can’t put up with a situation where a school in one language category will be downgraded to a lower category in the context of reorganisation. We must guard against that.

You refer to the twenty-first century schools programme, and that stands to reason. You say that you have already ensured that the next cycle of capital investment takes into account the Welsh Government’s target of a million Welsh speakers. Perhaps you could expand on that: how exactly do you see that happening, and what assurance is there that that will happen?

Just to conclude, and to pick up on the point that you say that we must legislate to strengthen the situation, I understand the intention to change the legislative framework, and I understand that the panel, or the board, will weigh up what changes are necessary. Are you giving them an entirely blank page, or do you see it in the context of the current legislation only? We need clarity, I think, on legislation surrounding the WESPs, and categorisation will fall into that category, and so on. We need a little more meat on the bone in that regard. I know that you’ve also touched upon the timetable, and I understand that you want to hear the views of the board or the panel and so on before coming to any final decision, but Aled Roberts’s recommendation did mention that we should legislate by the next cycle of plans, or before that if possible. So, some confirmation that it is the intention to secure legislation before the next cycle of WESPs would be something I would welcome. Thanks.

Llywydd, I’d like to start by thanking the Plaid Cymru spokesperson for his constructive response to the statement and to the way in which we are developing policy in this area. I did use the word ‘foundation’, of course, as a way of starting—it’s not the end of the process. You don’t finish a house with the foundation, but it’s important that we move forward and that’s what I’ve tried to do during the last few months. I understand the point that you make about the Government showing leadership, and I know that you’d understand ‘A fo ben bid bont’, because it is important that we do move forward and collaborate with people.

I do admire councillors in terms of the work that they do and the way in which they deal with the different challenges that they face in different areas. I also recognise that councillors know better than us here in the bay, and that means that we have to have a relationship of mutual respect and collaboration. That’s what I’ve tried to do during the last year, and, through doing that, I hope that this Government is showing real leadership, which comes from sitting down and discussing issues, not arguing things in the papers. I hope that people appreciate that kind of leadership.

In terms of the more interesting question, which no-one’s asked me for a while in this Chamber, namely how I define ambition, I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that the ambition that I have for Blaenau Gwent would be very different to the ambition that you would have in Denbighshire. I do think that we need to recognise or acknowledge where the different linguistic characteristics exist in different parts of the country and start collaborating with parents and communities to ensure that we move in the same direction to ensure that there is more Welsh and more opportunities to receive Welsh-medium education and Welsh education—to have that through agreement. So, the ambition that I have is that we can move forward through agreement to expand Welsh-medium provision in all parts of the country.

What’s not acceptable is that we don’t plan for growth anywhere—that’s not acceptable. So, we have to have growth, and the kind of growth that we want to see, and the period in which we want to see that growth, will depend on the linguistic nature, I think, of the local community—it’s an issue of local leadership as well. So, I have ambition on those two counts.

We will be setting targets, because the pathway you’ve described is an important one. The target that we have is the target that I announced in the summer—not the previous targets. The current targets are the targets we’re working towards. I do think that I have to publish a more detailed pathway over the next few months that will show the yardstick, and the targets and objectives that we have for the journey that we face in the years to come. I hope, Llywydd, that I will be able to do that before the end of the year.

Regarding the other issues that you’ve raised in your contribution, I do agree with you on the points that you’ve made about Mudiad Meithrin—a Welsh organisation that does vital work not just to increase the number of speakers of Welsh, but to ensure the status of Welsh in our communities. I admire the work that Mudiad Meithrin does right across the country, and I am very pleased that we’ve come to an agreement to ensure that we can continue to fund that and support the work of Mudiad Meithrin.

Also, when it comes to the childcare plan, I will meet the Cabinet Secretary to discuss that over the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing more detailed figures in terms of childcare availability through the medium of Welsh. I’m looking forward to seeing how we develop that situation. I take it that everywhere won’t be where we want to see it, but I haven’t seen the figures yet. When I do see the figures, I’ll be working with Carl Sargeant to ensure that we do see the kind of progress and increase that we want to make, which goes back to Darren Millar’s question about nursery schools.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education has made statements on the capital programme, and she will be coming back to the Chamber to make another statement on that. What I can say this afternoon is that we are collaborating very closely on that and that we will have the kind of programme that will help us reach those targets. The Cabinet Secretary for Education will be making statements on that in due course.

The final question was about legislation and the role of the board. When I ask people to do this kind of work, I ask them to follow their instincts and see where it leads. There will be a mixture, probably, between primary and secondary legislation and we’ll have to see where that leads us. But, if we’re talking about changing subordinate legislation, it’s possible that we will be able to do that before the next round of WESPs comes into force. I’d like to move as quickly as possible on that. If we change the law, of course, that will take more time. At present, we haven’t done that work and I’d like to let the board do that work and give them a blank page for them to do that. Once they come back with reports, then we’ll be in a position to make another statement to the Chamber and on how we see that timetable developing.

Well, very appropriately for the land of song, we’re all singing in harmony on this, if not entirely in unison. I do commend the Minister for the energy and leadership that he has shown on this groundbreaking policy. I do endorse the approach that he mentioned in his earlier response to Darren Millar about building bridges and bringing people along by persuasion, rather than compulsion. Aled Roberts, in his report, refers to this and how some local authorities are very weak in seeking to create any demand for Welsh-medium education. It is creating demand that is the very essence of the success of the policy, and I hope that this review will bear fruit in that respect—and I’m sure that the persuasive powers of the Minister are certainly up to the task of trying to bring along voluntarily any recalcitrant local authorities who have expressed too little enthusiasm for this project. He will certainly have my strong support in that respect.

One part of the report that has not been mentioned in responses so far is paragraph 1.35, where Aled Roberts refers to the way in which Welsh is taught in schools. He says it’s

‘time for a robust discussion with Qualifications Wales with regard to changing the way the language is taught going forward.’

Well, I know it’s a very, very long time indeed since I was in school and Welsh was taught in a very, very different way then from how it’s taught now. It was taught to me as a foreign language, and I’ve never actually fully recovered from it, in a way. But, I would like the Minister, perhaps, to expand a bit upon that aspect of the policy: in what way are we going to change the way in which the language is taught in order to help to achieve these objectives? It is, of course, obvious that the only way this policy is going to succeed is to have more and more early years children being brought up to speak Welsh as something that is natural and not something that is learned as a bit of a chore, as with many other foreign languages. And I would like to commend in this respect a report that Sian Gwenllian produced not so long ago, which we debated in this house, called ‘Reaching the Million’. There were some very interesting figures in there that show—and encouraging figures, for that matter—that of our three and four-year-old children, an increased proportion of the total have been taught in Welsh—from 18.8 per cent in 2001 to 23.3 per cent in 2011. Well, that’s six years ago; I hope that figure has now increased beyond that, and perhaps the Minister can tell us.

Another interesting feature of that was how the number of children who are being taught through the medium of Welsh has increased where they live in households where neither parent speaks Welsh. The figures in that report were 9 per cent in 2001 and 14 per cent in 2011. This is clearly going to be the case for some time to come, and I appreciate what the Minister said in reply to Llyr Gruffydd a moment ago about how the ambition is different in different parts of Wales, and how Blaenau Gwent is different from Gwynedd or Denbighshire, but inevitably in places like Blaenau Gwent and areas that don’t have a very high proportion of Welsh speakers at the moment, we are going to find that children are going to be speaking Welsh but the parents will not be able to follow them. That is the great challenge, I think, that we will have in the next couple of decades.

But in addition to increasing the demand for Welsh, of course, is the crucial question of increasing the supply of teachers who are able to meet that demand. I know that the Cabinet Secretary has announced this £4.2 million in order to help to deal with that, which is extremely welcome, but I wonder whether there needs to be more done in this respect to encourage teachers. I don’t know whether it is possible to introduce any financial incentives or whether indeed that is desirable, but if there is a way of adding to what has already been done, I think that is something that the Minister ought certainly to consider.

I certainly approve of what has been said about Mudiad Meithrin and the importance of ‘cylchoedd meithrin’ to the achievement of the ambitious goals that we’ve set ourselves. It is absolutely vital that we have more examples such as the one that was quoted in Builth Wells and in areas, in particular, where the future growth of the language needs to take place. I fully agree with those who say that, first of all, we’ve got to consolidate where there is a tradition of speaking Welsh and it is the natural language of communication both in the home, in the work and in the community. But in areas where it’s been 100 years perhaps since there was any Welsh spoken or heard in the streets, then this is something that has to be advanced by the rising generation as people of my age start to fall off the perch and will be replaced by people who have a natural facility to help the Minister to achieve it. I will be 101 years old if I survive to 2050, but you never know—my mother’s mother lived to be 103, so there is a chance that I could still be here. Well, maybe not here, but certainly alive on the planet and adding my voice to the political debate.

But I’d just like, on behalf of UKIP, to welcome this report, which is a further extension of the good work that the Minister has done, and that we’ve supported all the way through.

I’m grateful to the UKIP spokesman. He started his remarks talking about the land of song. Well, there are Members in this Chamber—Presiding Officer, you may be one yourself—who have actually heard me singing. The one thing I think that unites Members on all sides of the Chamber is that they don’t want to hear it again. I wouldn’t seek to inflict that on anyone.

I understand the points that have been made about increasing and stimulating demand for Welsh-medium education. I think all of us who have children who’ve been in or through the system recognise the benefits of that, and recognise the benefits of acquiring a language at an early age. Certainly, my seven-year-old son is now able to speak, write and use the Welsh language in a way that would have been unimaginable for me at that age. And as a consequence of that, it is something that he has now for the rest of his life, and I think that will be of great benefit for him, as it would be for all children of that age. I hope that as we move forward in this debate, we will be able to demonstrate both the—. I don’t like to use the words ‘advantage of bilingualism’, but certainly that bilingualism is something that has added to my life and is certainly I think something that adds to all our different lives, and enables us to not only appreciate the history and culture of our country but also the history and culture of other countries, other nations and other peoples as well.

I hesitate as well before I try to define the little ambition that has come from some local authorities, but I will say this in answer to the Member’s question: the conversations that Aled has led and which my officials have continued with all local authorities of all political complexions in all parts of the country have been overwhelmingly positive. It is about how we move forward and not whether we move forward. I think it’s a tribute to local authority leaders—as I said, of all political complexions from all parts of the country—that they are looking at this agenda in a positive way at a time when they’re dealing with some very difficult financial pressures. So, rather than emphasise little ambition or little enthusiasm, I would like to emphasise the positive ambition and the positive enthusiasm we have seen from local authorities.

The UKIP spokesperson asked me about categories, and I neglected to answer Llyr Gruffydd’s question on the same matter. The purpose of looking at categories is not to necessarily change or undermine the status of the language in schools as it exists today, but to understand what is actually happening in the classroom in different categories of schools, because we recognise that categories can be a perplexing and bewildering array of different balances of the language where they are used. I appreciate that quite a few parents might find them perplexing themselves. So, I want to understand what exactly is happening in all of those schools and whether there is a way in which we can move forward that moves away from that sort of sometimes overly complex structure. It is done without prejudice. It is done in a way to learn and to understand and to look at and learn from best practice. The purpose is not necessarily to undermine—it certainly isn’t to undermine the status of the language anywhere.

What I want to emphasise in that is that I’m anxious that we need to look as well at the English-medium sector, and the points made about the teaching of Welsh are well made and points that I accept. The Cabinet Secretary for Education has already made a number of statements on this matter and will continue to do so as we look towards moving along the continuum and introducing the new curriculum, but let me say this: the Welsh language is something that belongs to everybody, no matter what the medium of education is in the school that they attend. It is important to me that children who attend English-medium schools are able to leave that school with a working knowledge, at least a conversational knowledge, of the Welsh language. We know that is not the case at the moment, and what we need to be able to do is to understand why that isn’t the case and to ensure that, through the new curriculum that is being introduced by the Cabinet Secretary, we’re able to change people’s experience of learning Welsh in schools.

I know that time is moving on, Presiding Officer, but I have to say that the role of parents is essential. The role of the community is essential. School is always a part of the community, wherever that community may be located, and the role of the language of instruction in schools is important—it’s a reflection of that community—and I think that people right across the country are very, very positive about seeing more Welsh and allowing the language of instruction to enable parents and others to learn the language themselves. I hope that the national centre that was established two years ago for the teaching of Welsh will look at this and look at how we can help parents to have at least a working knowledge of the language at the different times that that’s needed during a child’s education.

The issues about the supply of teachers and others are matters that have been already raised by the Plaid Cymru spokesperson this afternoon, and this is a matter that I recognise as being a significant challenge facing us. When we do publish our plans for delivering on the 2050 strategy and the work that we’ll be completing during the current Assembly, we will be setting out how we intend to meet those objectives and meet those targets.

May I welcome the Minister’s statement and welcome the fact that he intends to accept all of Aled Roberts’s recommendations? You mentioned in your statement how important it is to identify demand, and you have just acknowledged, in your last answer, how important it is to generate demand and to encourage that demand where it currently doesn’t exist or it isn’t as high as it perhaps could be, and explaining the benefits and winning people over to the case of Welsh-medium education.

One of the recommendations of the report is a more strategic relationship between local authorities and the ‘mudiadau meithrin’, as we’ve been discussing already, but in order to achieve the aims of the strategy we will surely need to do more than that to enhance demand at a broad enough level. So, you’re looking at a situation here where elected members and officers in local authorities are perhaps going to be challenged to meet the current demand. So, what would you like to see happening on the ground beyond the strategic relationship with ‘mudiadau meithrin’ in order to encourage this demand and to win the argument on the benefits of Welsh-medium education to a larger audience, perhaps, than we’re currently reaching?

Llywydd, I agree with the point that the Member has made, and the Government has historically been quite shy about these issues. I’m less shy. I have seen the advantages of Welsh-medium education in my own family and I see the advantages of having Welsh-medium education for children across the country, which allows them to be part of the wealth of cultural inheritance that we have. I think that that is vital.

In the next few months I will be considering how we can stimulate that demand, as you’ve described, and also ensure that we can persuade people that Welsh-medium education is a real option for their children, wherever they live and whatever the language of the household is, and to allow people to have access to Welsh-medium education. Very often, having access to that Welsh-medium education is one of the main barriers in terms of entering the Welsh-medium system. So, it’s making it a real option for people in every part of the country, ensuring that people can have schools close to their homes, ensuring, then, that people can feel at home moving to the Welsh-medium option, if Welsh is not the language of the household, and then supporting families who make that choice, and moving forward in a way that several Members have described this afternoon, through having more opportunities for very, very young children to learn Welsh and get to grips with the language.

Thank you, Minister.