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.