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.