Thank you very much, Llywydd. Well, throughout this legislative process we have been consistently reminded of the deficiencies that exist in terms of the capacity of the workforce in this sector to adequately meet the needs in terms of Welsh-medium provision. Now, it’s an old complaint and many Members here will be familiar with regular casework in this area—a lack of Welsh language services, not getting a diagnosis for various conditions through the medium of Welsh, a shortage of specialists who can provide services in Welsh, and a shortage of providers in order to meet the needs that have been identified. They are the same complaints and the same weaknesses that were reported to many of us five or even 10 years ago, and that is not acceptable. My concern is that if we don’t take this opportunity to take action in this area in the context of additional learning needs, then we will still be discussing the same frustrations and the same problems five or 10 years hence. Put that together with the Government’s ambition of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 and there is an opportunity here to create a new momentum that will hopefully truly tackle this problem.

The Government has strengthened the Bill to this end—I recognise that. We’ve discussed some amendments earlier and we have come to an agreement on other amendments at Stage 2. Ministers need to review the adequacy of the additional learning needs provision available through the medium of Welsh every five years, and that is a very positive step, although the possibility of having to wait up to five years having passed this Bill for the first review is excessive delay in my view. The duty to keep additional learning need provision under review, including the Welsh language under section 59, is a duty for local authorities.

Much of what is at the heart of the success of this Bill—the reforms in ALN—is reliant, of course, on the role of health bodies. My amendment, amendment 64, therefore calls on local authorities and health boards, in accordance with regulations that the Government would make, to assess the level of likely demand for additional learning needs provision through the medium of Welsh in their areas, as a first step, and then to compare that with the capacity available to them to meet that demand, and then of course to outline the steps that they will take in order to provide what is required.

We must create a situation where the relevant bodies are more proactive in this area or, as I say, we will be back to the very same problems that we have faced over years, and still face far too often in terms of the availability of provision, rather than saying that the Government will assess the situation at some point during the next five years, with the risk of course that in the meantime another generation of children won’t actually get their rights to receive provision through the medium of Welsh. We need to create an impetus for action and be proactive; that is the aim in terms of that specific amendment.

Amendments 65 and 66 relate specifically to advocacy services and that services should usually be available in Welsh in all cases where an individual makes that request. This is a fundamental right and it’s not unreasonable to expect this to be delivered by collaboration and training, because if the will is there to ensure that that happens, then the time has come, in my view, for us to insist that, from here on in, that does happen. Assembly Members, I know, will have received correspondence from a range of bodies and I referred to them earlier, including UCAC, Mudiad Meithrin, RhAG, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, CyDAG and Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg, asking you to support these amendments, and I would certainly urge you to do that too this afternoon.