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.