Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I welcome your announcement of the increase in the early years PDG. Acting earlier in a child's life to mitigate social and other disadvantages the child is subject to makes sense, and obviously the earlier you act, the better it is for the child, and the more likely you are to head off the consequences of that disadvantage. I also welcome your decision to extend the eligibility criteria to two years—with a little bit of caution, because it may well take a lot longer than two years for a child to recover from the effects of being on free school meals or other disadvantage. So, can the Cabinet Secretary explain to us why this period isn't longer, and why she has chosen two years as opposed to three, four, five or whatever? Guaranteeing the allocation for two years is also a welcome development. I do actually agree with you that it will provide a level of certainty at least. Do you have any thoughts as to whether you might review that period? Is this two-year thing going to be an ongoing thing or is it just going to be a one-off?

Coming to the PDG and how it's applied, a level of flexibility seems to exist in how schools use the PDG, and whilst 100 per cent of the PDG may not be specifically and directly targeted at pupils on free school meals by the schools, I wouldn't like to see that flexibility compromised. I think it gives schools something—an extra tool in their armoury to help children who may fall into a grey area, perhaps. So, do you have any intention to restrict how schools are going to be using the PDG? Because you've gone to quite big pains today to emphasise that this PDG is to narrow the attainment gap. What are the implications for schools? Are you going to try and restrict how they use the PDG, or are you just going to leave it as the status quo, as things are at the moment?

Free school meal entitlement is also quite a blunt tool, and I think you would agree with me on that. Factors such as adverse childhood experiences can have a hugely detrimental impact on educational attainment, so have you given any consideration to whether the PDG criteria could be adjusted to take into account factors such as certain ACEs that can detrimentally affect a child's development and educational attainment hugely through life? If you don't feel that the PDG is the appropriate tool for that, what proposals are you coming forward with to address those factors that do have such a big impact on educational attainment? I recognise that your objective is to narrow the attainment gap between pupils on free school meals and those who aren't, but narrowing the attainment gap is only part of the picture. If pupils on free school meals are to escape the cycle of low wages that their parents may have found themselves in, they must be allowed and encouraged to fulfil their potential. So, do you have any proposals on how pupils on free schools meals can be targeted to become higher achievers, over and above payment of the PDG? Thank you.