May I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement? Certainly, more needs to be done to tackle this agenda. Perhaps I won’t be quite as negative as the Conservative spokesperson, but I do agree with some of the points that he has made—one of them being the fact that we’ve had report after report that’s highlighted weaknesses in this area, and we have, at last, reached a point where there is more specific action being taken.

In relation to further education, I do think that the point that was being made is a valid one. Yes, there is a programme in place, but we are talking here about a programme that goes to schools to promote these opportunities prior to GCSE; therefore, I do think that we need to ensure that this parity of esteem extends down the years into our schools too, and not just when one gets to FE, having made those decisions. Perhaps you could respond further to that point in responding to my questions.

The statement that you’ve given us today emphasises that we need to facilitate the identification of the more able and talented learners at an earlier stage. I could ask, 'How early are we going to go?', because the sooner the better as far as I’m concerned. One of the greatest challenges facing schools—I will go back as far as primary schools here—is differentiating within classrooms, particularly in rural schools where you have a small number of teachers, perhaps, and you have classes that not only have a range of abilities but a range of age groups, from eight to 11, perhaps, so the more able at 11 are in the same learning environment as the less able pupils who are perhaps eight years old. That brings about an exceptional challenge to the workforce and the education system.

My first question, then, is: how do you, as a Government, believe that we can arm our teachers more effectively with the skills, techniques and strategies required to differentiate within classrooms, so that we can start to identify these skills and take advantage of that as soon as possible, because it is a huge challenge? I’m not saying that it’s a direct role for Government to do that—certainly, the consortia are going to be at the heart of it—but I would like to hear what the Government is doing to encourage and promote this, even at the primary level, if we are going to identify, encourage and take full advantage of the opportunities for our more able and talented pupils at the earliest possible stage.

You also refer in your statement to the pupil development grant.