I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement today. I welcome the news that Swansea and Cardiff universities are to receive funding to expand coding in schools, colleges and communities. This will help these universities to be part of the UK Institute of Coding, created by the Conservative Government, which is a partnership deal with leading tech firms, universities and industry bodies in an effort to bolster future digital skills in this country. I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary will join me in praising this UK Government initiative.

Coding is a skill that every organisation needs. Today, code is so fully integrated not only across businesses, but also our entire lives, that almost all businesses have code at their core. So, may I ask how will she ensure that Government planning to provide Wales with specialised digital skills will keep pace with the scale of the challenges that lie ahead? Teaching youngsters how to succeed in the digital world is crucial. The Welsh report called 'Cracking the code: A plan to expand code clubs in every part of Wales' made several commitments under each strategic heading. However, many of these commitments are vague, with no timescale for change, therefore making progress difficult to monitor. So, how will the Welsh Government monitor the progress of this plan?

The Welsh Government has committed to an increase in the quality and the amount of Welsh language support for schools for coding. Can the Cabinet Secretary confirm whether or not it has created a dedicated zone of Hwb to bring partners together with schools to create a repository of projects and resources? We need a coherent and a long-term commitment from the Welsh Government for digital Wales, from skills to infrastructure. Estyn has raised concerns that pupil progress in digital skills has not kept pace with technology in Wales. They report that opportunities to develop ICT skills across subjects are limited in many secondary schools and in a third of primary schools. In just under two thirds of primary schools, there are important shortcomings in standards of ICT. Though most pupils are confident using programmes such as Word processing and creating presentations, their skills are often limited to a narrow range of applications. How will the Cabinet Secretary address this issue and deal with the fact that the number of students studying ICT in Wales has decreased? There is also a huge gender disparity in the number of students studying computing at A-level. Three hundred and thirty nine students sat A-level computing last year; only 32 of these were women. Will the Cabinet Secretary commit to tackling this shocking gender gap?

One major issue is that our digital lives are changing so fast that educators are struggling to keep up with this. Digital skills are changing faster than formal education providers. Industry is developing at such a rate that by the time a curriculum is crafted and approved by the various bodies, and students finally graduate, you can be talking almost a decade from start to finish. How will the Welsh Government ensure that our educators keep up with the pace of change?

Cabinet Secretary, a person's level of digital ability is fast becoming a key determinant of their earning power, yet Wales is a patchwork of digital skills. The Barclays digital development index 2017, which analysed 88,000 UK job adverts and 6,000 adults, claims that Welsh employees score amongst the lowest of all UK regions for their digital skills. I hope we will receive regular statements from you on progress in putting Wales at the top of the league of digital skills in the United Kingdom. Thank you.