The next item, therefore, is a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education on relationships and sexuality education, and I call on the Cabinet Secretary to make the statement—Kirsty Williams.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Many of you will know that this month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the introduction of section 28 that forbade schools to promote, or treat with equity, non-heterosexual relationships. Though section 28 has been consigned to history, its effect can still be found within our education system. Schools often find it difficult to provide fully inclusive sex and relationship education, and can struggle to respond to the diverse needs of their learners, and instead follow a one-size-fits-all approach.

Presiding Officer, this has to change. I believe Wales must do more to support all of our young people to develop healthy relationships, maintain good mental health and keep safe.  

Last year, I established the sex and relationship expert panel to provide independent advice on these matters, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the expert panel members and its chair, Professor Emma Renold, for their excellent work. Their report recognised that there is some excellent practice happening in our schools. This, however, is not happening in all of our classrooms, with many only focusing on the biological aspects of human relationships. But, sex cannot and should not be taught in isolation. It should be placed in the wider context of the social and cultural issues that affect how we perceive ourselves and build relationships with others.

The expert panel made 11 recommendations that, together, form a holistic plan for enhancing provision, for both our current cohort of learners and those who will learn under our new curriculum. One recommendation is that this area of study should be a statutory part of the new curriculum for Wales. Statutory status will protect access to traditional sex education, but also encourage schools to engage with the broader range of topics identified by the expert panel. It will also enhance the new curriculum’s focus on health and well-being.

As we change the way we think about sex education, the panel recommended that we should also change its name to better represent the broader array of topics that it covers. I intend to rename this area of study as 'relationships and sexuality education'—RSE. This is to place the emphasis on learning about the formation and maintenance of healthy relationships as a key purpose of this area of study. 

'Sexuality education', as defined by the World Health Organization, is learning about the wider social, cultural constructions around relationships. This includes how we form beliefs and attitudes, how we establish a range of relationships and how cultural issues, such as gender identity, stereotypes and inequality, shape our values. This wider learning, which is included under 'sexuality education', is critical and crucial to developing young people’s understanding of a broad range of issues, issues such as consent, violence against women, other forms of gender-based violence, domestic abuse and respect for diversity. Through learning about relationships and sexuality, learners form a rounded understanding of how the values of the individual, community and society can affect our ability to establish respectful and fulfilling relationships. 

However, I will not be waiting for the new curriculum to take forward this name change; it is something that we can do immediately. My officials will be updating the current guidance for schools to reflect this change in name, as well as providing greater support on a range of topics.

Statutory schooling in Wales starts at age five, therefore, statutory relationships and sexuality education will also start at this age. I want to make it clear, Presiding Officer, that we are not looking to teach children about topics for which they are not developmentally ready. We currently have the foundation phase, which provides learning for our youngest children, and this already includes an area of learning for personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity. Within this area, children learn about relationships with friends and family and how to keep themselves safe. Therefore, as learning regarding this area is already well delivered in early years education, I would expect to see similar approaches taken under the new curriculum.

Making RSE statutory is not, on its own, enough to ensure we realise this vision of high-quality provision in our schools, for both our current and future learners. Professional learning, supporting our teachers to become knowledgeable, confident and responsive to learner needs, is essential. The expert panel emphasised the importance of establishing specialised professional learning pathways for RSE, both within initial teacher education and for the existing workforce. I agree that, as we move to a system that is school and teacher led, we must start the process of ensuring that they have the training and the support they need to provide effective teaching.

I am therefore also minded to accept, in principle, the other recommendations from the expert panel in order that we take a strategic and holistic approach to improving RSE. I am not looking to tinker around the edges; my vision is that we transform the way this area of study is delivered, now and in the future. To kick-start this process I have made £200,000 available to consortia to begin the process of identifying professional learning needs in this area. A further £50,000 has also been awarded to Welsh Women’s Aid to develop resources and training for teachers.

Presiding Officer, what we are doing is of profound importance to the well-being of the next generation. The relationships that we form throughout our lives, from our family to our friends to our romantic partners, are essential support networks. They make us feel safe, they make us happy and they give us comfort, or at least they should. How we are able to form these relationships is determined at a very young age, and they are essential to our ability to prosper. By taking forward the recommendations of the expert panel, and so driving real improvement in the quality of RSE provision, we will be contributing to making Wales a healthier, happier and more connected place.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement, and for foresight of it before it was made this afternoon? Can I also put on record my thanks to the chair of the expert panel for the work that she and her fellow panel members have done? Emma Renold, I think, has produced a very decent report that considers thoroughly many of the issues that relationships and sex education present.

You'll have to forgive me here, because I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to these matters, but I do think that some people will have some concerns about the fact that you are talking about the possibility of introducing issues into the classroom for five-year-olds that they may not be prepared for developmentally. I notice you made reference to the development of young children and making sure that there was appropriate sex and relationships education for them. But, clearly, children develop at different rates, and in different ways, and we must ensure that this sort of education can be flexible enough, even within the classroom, to be targeted at individuals and not just whole cohorts of young children.

I think that many people will want to protect the innocence of children and that parents will question how it's going to be possible to ensure that there is appropriate education, in a sensitive way, that also meets the requirements that faith groups might have, for example, where they may raise concerns about the breadth of the education, if you like, and the information that is being relayed. So, I wonder what guidance you will publish to go along with the new regime to make sure that those concerns can be addressed, while still maintaining a very high-quality input for children of all ages, and at all stages of their development, but which doesn't unnecessarily introduce young children in particular to things that clearly are inappropriate for them to be able to digest.

You made reference, I noticed, in your press release, which was issued yesterday under embargo, to the issue of online safety. I notice that you haven't referenced it in your statement today, but I know that you share my concerns about making sure that young people, particularly 'tweenagers', shall we call them, are properly prepared for the challenges that online social media in particular can present them with. I wonder whether you can just expand on the comments that you made in the media regarding the content that you expect to be delivered in respect of online safety in terms of relationships and sexuality education.

You've also said that you want this revolution in relationships and sexuality education to start immediately, and yet you've said that you've made £200,000 available in order to educate people. Well, it can't start immediately if they've not been educated in how to deliver these things first. So, can you just tell us how you expect things to be delivered immediately without equipping the teachers in the classroom with the skills, with the knowledge, with the expertise to be able to deliver this new set of educational standards in terms of relationships and education on sexuality? Because I think that, again, many people will be concerned that you're going to rush to roll this thing out, without it being fully considered in terms of the way that that is going to be implemented.

Can I also ask how you expect to monitor the implementation of this? You've quite rightly said that there are some excellent examples of schools that are getting this right and there are some very poor examples of schools that get it absolutely wrong. How do you expect to be able to monitor the way that schools are implementing the changes that you've proposed? Do you see a role for LEAs? Do you see a role for the regional consortia? Are Estyn expected to inspect against these new standards, and if so, how are they going to get a holistic picture across a whole school if you've said it's not going to be a fixed prescription, as it were, but that there's going to be some flexibility within it? So, perhaps, again, you could just touch on how you intend to do that to make sure that it's going to be handled in the proper way.

Just finally, obviously, for many children, the only example they have of relationships are those around them, either within the family or beyond the family, or those that are portrayed on the television or in the media. How is this going to fit in with other work that is being done by the Welsh Government on issues such as parenting and relationship support more widely? Clearly, that example in the home is going to have an even more profound impact than a teacher discussing this on an infrequent basis in a classroom. So, perhaps you could tell us how joined up this is across Government. Thank you.

Thank you, Darren, for that series of questions. If I didn't make it clear, Presiding Officer, in my initial statement, let me say it again: I have no intention of teachers in our schools teaching children this topic that they are not developmentally—I can't even say the word—that they are not ready to learn [Laughter.] It's age appropriate and I've got no intention of doing that and I've made that very, very clear.

Yesterday, I was at a school in Newport, and from the very earliest age, that school is teaching their children about the concept of difference—that we're all human beings, but each one of us is an individual and that's just fine, and you need to celebrate who you are. They don't talk about it in any other way, but they start from the very youngest age, saying, 'We're all different, but essentially, we're all the same as well.' And as they go through the school, they learn about other issues. So, I was talking to young girls yesterday who were expressing their frustration that, because they are girls, they're supposed to dress in dresses and they're supposed to like pink. I talked to primary school aged boys who, already, at that age, feel the pressure to be strong and not to show their emotions. Those are the types of issues that we're talking about teaching our children at the very youngest age—how they conform, healthy relationships and respectful relationships with their family members and with their friends, and how they can keep themselves safe and secure. So, I want to be absolutely clear that this will be delivered in a sensitive way that is age appropriate for children.

Your point about online, Darren, is so well made. And this is precisely why we have to up our game in this regard in our schools. Because, where children are getting their information from now is they are Googling it; they are Snapchatting it; they're WhatsApping it; they're Facebooking it and they are living in that world. Now, we, as adults, maybe don't like that world, but we can't dream about—. We can't go back. We are where we are and we need to give our children the information that they need. And when they come across this material online, they can keep themselves well and they can keep themselves safe. Because if we create a vacuum in our schools and we don't address this, children will look for this information in some other way and that won't necessarily be in a reputable way or in a way that gives them a real picture, a proper picture, about what a healthy relationship looks like.

I met a young man recently who had been severely disturbed by viewing pornography online, how that had affected him, how that had coloured his view of what a sexual relationship was like, what he, as a man, was supposed to be about and how he was supposed to treat a woman in a sexual relationship. We need to give these children a more realistic and holistic and true picture of relationships, not just leave them to the mercy of what is online. That's why we've got to change it, and that's why the Government, as you know, is producing a new online safety programme to address some of these issues, because, at the moment, in too many cases, we're leaving our children to flounder out there, Darren, in a digital world that is not pleasant.

We will have new guidance for the new curriculum in the new year. So, we're starting that process now. You're right; there's a job of work to do, but we're kickstarting it by having training sessions before the summer to identify what the learning needs are, and by refreshing the guidance. So, we can't just wait until the new curriculum comes along; we need to up our game at the moment. With regard to inspection, well, Estyn already look at well-being in the current inspection framework that they have. And, of course, in our new curriculum, one of the areas of learning and experience is health and well-being, and we would expect RSE to sit within that AoLE, and when Estyn is making a judgment on the quality of education within that school then that would be addressed via that mechanism.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for your statement and also thank Professor Renold and the expert panel for their work, and all of those who contributed to the report and its recommendations? I disagree with Darren Millar. It isn't a decent report; I think it's an excellent report, and I think it's exactly the kind of report that Cabinet Secretaries should expect from these kinds of expert panels, with clear recommendations—ones that I would urge you to accept in their entirety. Maybe, just to start, I'd ask: what needs to happen for you to decide on the other ones then? How long do we have to wait, because you did receive the report at the end of last year, a full six months ago? When can we expect a full response to all of those recommendations? It would be good just to have an idea of what the hold-up is or what the reasons are for you to be reticent to confirm today that you're happy to accept all of the recommendations.

I would also challenge the assertion that children aren't ready at five. I have a five-year-old son, and I find myself already challenging some things that are said in our house, and to have the reassurance that the school will be reinforcing those messages, for me, is very, very important. 

Now, I'm slightly confused, but I'm looking to you, clearly, for confirmation here, because I've seen some of the news coverage around the statement being made today, and they say that there'll be no change for religious schools. So, I just need clarity that all schools, including faith schools, will now have that statutory duty upon them, because children and young people who attend religious schools face the same challenges and need the same information as children who don't. I just need to be clear what the situation is, because in your statement you say:

'Wales must do more to support all of our young people to develop healthy relationships, maintain good mental health and keep safe.'

I presume that we share the same aspirations for children no matter what schools they attend. So, I just want to hear it from you this afternoon. 

Clearly, it won't be rolled out as part of the new curriculum until 2022. Now, there are four years until then, and only then does it start to be rolled out. You've mentioned a few things: you want to push forward with the name change, you want to provide greater support. I'm just wondering how soon can we really effect some of these changes in the classroom, without having to wait until 2022. You've mentioned new guidance; I just need to be clear when exactly that will be expected to be reflected in what's happening in our classrooms across the country. And I won't miss the opportunity, as well, just to remind the Government that SchoolBeat is a programme that does cover some of these areas, albeit not with the focus that the changes being proposed would do, but it could reinforce many of these issues, as it does in terms of bullying, domestic abuse, sexual abuse and healthy relationships. I would press on you, once again, to influence your colleagues in Government to secure the long-term funding for SchoolBeat.

Now, we know, because the expert panel tells us, that a third of schools in Wales don't provide any staff training in safeguarding young people. You've clearly signalled that that's going to change. You've highlighted the £200,000 for the consortia, which is, what, £50,000 each—£50,000 to Women's Aid as well. Now, clearly, as welcome as that is, it isn't enough, I'd imagine, to have the broad and the deep impact that we are hoping this policy change will have. So, I'm just wondering what more the Government can do in the medium term in that respect. You said that you're not going to tinker around the edges. You said that your vision is that we transform the way this area of study is delivered now and in the future. If that is your aspiration—and I don't have any reason to doubt it—then I can tell you now that Plaid Cymru will support you in that aspiration, and I very much welcome the statement.

Thank you very much, Llyr, for your welcome of the statement. Just to provide clarity, I am accepting all the recommendations of the report in principle, and I want to make progress on all of them, the most important of which is to ensure that, as we move to our new curriculum, RSE will be a statutory part of that curriculum, which is new policy. It wasn't the intention initially to make it a statutory part of the curriculum. The review has made that recommendation, and I'm accepting that review, and, when we come to legislate for the curriculum, then Members across the Chamber will see that reflected in the legislation that we will bring forward that will enact the new curriculum. So, that is a significant change.

The second recommendation was around—this is why it's accepted in principle—changing the name. Because the report says we should call it sexuality and relationship education. Actually, I'm going to call it relationship and sexuality education. I'm doing that because I want to focus on the issue of relationships, of whatever kind, because I think it is relationships that are the backbone of all of our lives. As I said in my statement, whether that's a relationship with a sexual partner or a relationship with our friends, it is the ability to develop and maintain healthy, fulfilling relationships that is a building block of our happiness and our well-being, and I really want relationships to be at the forefront of what we're talking about to our children. So, it's a slight change from what the panel recommended.

You'll also be aware, in the report, that there was a strong, strong emphasis on the need to develop our staff, because we need our teachers to be confident about addressing these issues with children and young people. I'm accepting that. The money that we're talking about today is to begin that process of identifying immediate professional learning needs that we have in the current system. Alongside that, as we work forward with our professional learning pioneers as part of our curriculum reform, there are other opportunities to think about the professional learning needs we will need to have for the successful delivery of the new curriculum. We also need to take up the opportunity of our reforms of our ITE provision also to ensure that these issues are addressed, because we need to have good-quality teachers who are confident, as I said, to be able to address these issues.

The curriculum is of a statutory nature, so that will apply to all schools that have statutory age children. So, that's five to 16, and all schools will be required to deliver that part of the curriculum. For schools of a religious nature, we will continue to have ongoing discussions with that particular sector about how this new curriculum will affect their delivery, but I have to say we've had engagement with schools of a religious character in the development of the policy. I myself had a discussion with the Archbishop of Wales about it recently, and there is an understanding across all schools of the necessity of equipping our children with the knowledge that they need, because they recognise, just like Darren Millar did, the very real dangers that sometimes our children and young people are facing. And they understand that they want to ensure that their children have good mental health, good physical health, can equip themselves to develop those good relationships that we all want to see for our children, and, crucially, keep them safe.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement today. I'm sure everyone in this Chamber will agree that relationships and sexuality can be complicated and are very rarely straightforward. For young people, they can be confusing and, in some cases, difficult to understand. In your statement, you are right to allude to the damage done by section 28, and, thankfully, it's now confined to history. We must always accept people, no matter what their sexuality or gender—something that has overwhelming support from the majority in today's society. But I'm sure that I'm not the only Member in the Chamber to have concerns over the overhaul of sex education in Wales. It is the role of the national curriculum in Wales to facilitate children's education by identifying pupils' abilities and encouraging them to be the best they can be, whether it's in academia or extracurricular activity or, hopefully, both. It's essential that schools do provide support for children as they develop relationships and begin to understand their sexuality. However, this should be done at an appropriate age and should be led by the child. I'm startled to see in the expert panel's report and your statement today that children as young as five years old will be taught relationships and sexuality education. Cabinet Secretary, surely you must agree that we should encourage children to focus on their schooling and forging friendships with their classmates without over-complicating their childhood. I firmly believe that it's the role of parents to educate their children on relationships and provide valuable lessons on consent and what's appropriate behaviour. UKIP have long opposed interference from government on matters of sexuality and sex education, especially for younger children, and we stand by our manifesto commitment that any form of sex education should not be taught in schools to anyone under the age of 11 years old. From the statement today, it is clear that the Welsh Government think that they know best. We believe parents know best. The Cabinet Secretary assures us that she does not intend that children are taught topics that they—[Interruption.] It's a response to a statement.

There's no intervention in a statement, Joyce Watson. Carry on.

As has been pointed out by others in this Chamber, children develop at different rates. It's not possible to say that simply because most are ready, all are ready. It is also impractical to say that, because a child is age X, they're ready to be taught Y. Parents know their child better than the Cabinet Secretary, her panel of experts and the schools. As the Cabinet Secretary has pointed out, RSE is not just about biology—it's about values, ethics and making informed decisions. As such, it is not for the state to dictate what a child is taught about these matters. I would therefore like to ask whether the new roll-out of relationships and sexuality education will have an opt-out for parents who feel that the curriculum is not appropriate for their child. You've said in your statement that you'll provide professional learning and support for teachers who will be responsible for delivering relationships and sexuality education. I greatly value and admire the job our teachers do—it's a stressful and demanding job. People go into the profession with a passion for exploring and teaching their subject, but the curriculum is already arguably over-burdened and lacks a clear vision on what our education system's priority should be—something that's demonstrated in Wales's worrying Programme for International Student Assessment results. Do you not agree that these measures will further over-burden teachers in an already demanding job, detracting their focus from what truly matters—educating the future generations of Wales? And, as a final question, you've referred in your statement to providing additional funding for this. Where is that funding coming from? Thank you.

Presiding Officer, the Member has just said that sex education isn't just about biology, it's about values and ethics, and I don't think it's ever too young to start to talk to a child about values and ethics. 

It's not for you to decide what values are to be taught. It's for parents.

I think—. As I said, I don't think it's ever too soon to start to teach children about values and ethics, and I would reiterate the point I made earlier in the reassurances I gave Darren Millar, that I have no intention of children being taught lessons that are not appropriate for their age. Now, the Member has just said that her party's policy is that there should be no sex education—I think it was—below the age of 11. So, I guess that there should be no sex education in our primary schools. Only a couple of weeks ago we had a debate in this Chamber about period poverty and period dignity. The reality is, because of—[Interruption.] The reality is—[Interruption.] The reality is, because of changes in how children grow, the age at which most girls will start their periods is dropping and dropping and dropping. There are many girls in our primary schools whose periods have started. If the Member had her way then there would be no ability within our curriculum to help prepare our children for these things that are about to happen to them. And not just about preparing girls for what's about to happen to them—to be able to explain to the whole class that you don't tease that child because you see a sanitary towel or a tampon in her bag, because that's just how the world is. Now, I appreciate the Member is of a set view, but I have to say, thankfully, she is in the minority in this Chamber, and more importantly she is in the minority in the wider civic conversation. The announcement today has been welcomed by our children's commissioner, by our future generations commissioner, it's been welcomed by children's charities, and it's been welcomed by Relate, the relationships charity. It has been welcomed across the board, because what they understand is a crucial part of our education for our children isn't just about English or maths or Welsh language or science, it is about teaching them how they can survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

If you think that children can make the most of their curriculum and their learning opportunities and their ability to learn those traditional subjects if they have not understood about domestic violence or they haven't been able to keep themselves safe because they may themselves be a victim of abuse—they can't learn the curriculum. This is a crucial part of our children's education, and I say that not just as the Cabinet Secretary for Education but as a mother as well.

I completely agree with Llyr Gruffydd and, indeed, with the Cabinet Secretary. I salute the work done by my grandchild's nursery in preparing her for the emotional jealousy excited by the arrival of a young sibling. You know, this is essential. If we say we can't talk about this, we are going to create damaged children. We cannot have children having their period without knowing what's happening to them, thinking that they are in some way being wounded. This is absolutely terrible. So, you were very eloquent in saying all that. 

I just want to pay tribute to the young people at St Teilo's who attended Just a Ball Game?, which I hosted on the international day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, because of the courage of these young people, speaking in a public meeting in front of a group of adults about their sexuality, about their right to respect, and their ability to confront the aggressive masculinity that unfortunately is a dominant feature of this pornographic-focused society that teenagers are growing up in. If we can't confront the problems that we have in Britain, which is that sex is absolutely everywhere, selling all manner of consumer products—. It's something that we in this country have not had the adult conversation about that they've had in the Scandinavian and northern European countries, which is why we have much higher teenage pregnancy rates in our country than they do in those countries. 

So, there is huge amounts of evidence that children are less likely to have sex early on the more information they are given early on about what sex and relationships is all about. This cannot be overemphasised. This sort of mortal turpitude of some people is just really desperate. I salute the work of your expert panel, which points out really clearly that children aged three are arriving in school already bringing loads of baggage with them. They need to be given assistance to interpret the way of the world. They'll bring with them their own family circumstances, other people's family circumstances, and we need to support all young people to ensure that they are respectful of each other and respectful of difference.

Thank you so much, Jenny. The example you gave of a nursery child becoming a sibling is a perfect example of developmental-appropriate education. From the very earliest stage, we're beginning to make relationships, aren't we, with our parents, with our siblings, with our community, and that's exactly what we need to be teaching our very youngest children about. It's about how you cope with that jealousy and what your role is within a family and how you treat your friends. 

I think our Member opposite has fallen into the trap of seeing this in the way in which it's delivered at the moment. The reason why we've done the report—and what the report says—is that this education just focuses on biology, it focuses on sex in a biological way, it doesn't talk about all of these issues about what it means to be a human being and what it means to have relationships with a whole host of people, and that's why we need to develop the programme that we're doing.

And you're right; I spoke to some very eloquent primary school and secondary school pupils yesterday. They aren't embarrassed, they aren't a prude, as somebody described themselves. This is their life, and they are very confident and they're very happy in those instances to talk about it in a matter of fact way, not in a sitting-at-the-back-of-a-class giggly kind of way, but in a very mature kind of way, because they've been allowed to do that in the context of their school. They're much less het up about these things than maybe some people here in this Chamber are this afternoon. 

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for this important statement. As you're aware, the Children, Young People and Education Committee has recently published our report into the emotional and mental health of children and young people, and a number of themes arising in our wide-ranging inquiry resonate with the key findings of the expert panel. First, that the whole school approach is crucial in reinforcing key messages about well-being, including healthy relationships across the curriculum and in different areas of the school and community. Secondly, what the expert panel said about SRE as a curriculum area being poorly resourced and given low priority in schools, leading to uneven and unequal provision. We heard similar messages about well-being more generally, and our report highlights the once-in-a-generation opportunity provided by the Donaldson reforms to get this right for our children and young people. And finally, we heard that training for teachers is crucial if they're expected to deliver effective support, and attributing equal status to well-being alongside other curriculum areas has a key role to play in this regard. 

So, turning to my questions, I heard on the radio this morning that it will still be open to parents at the moment to withdraw their children from these lessons if they want to, and I understand that is the case in the short term. So, it's a bit similar to Llyr's question, really, and I'd like to ask what consideration you've given to children's rights under the UNCRC in enabling that situation to continue. I'd also like if you could outline how pioneer schools will be supported to help develop the approach to this area of the health and well-being area of learning experience within the new curriculum. Thank you.  

Thank you very much, Lynne. The concern about the status of this subject in the curriculum is one of the reasons why I have decided to make it statutory in the new curriculum going forward—to be able to give it that prominence and to be able to secure this learning in the curriculum. It is a mental health issue. It's absolutely crucial that we equip our children with the scaffolding and the resilience to respond to the situations they may find themselves in. A 13-year old girl in receipt of sexting—you know, pictures or those messages that constantly say, 'Take a photograph of yourself and send it to me'—this is the reality of our children's lives, and we need to equip them to be able to deal with that. 

The research put forward in the Stonewall 'School Report 2017' shows that LGBTQI+ identifying young people are still more likely to suffer from poor mental health, self-harm and depression. So, it's imperative that we act and we make sure that our curriculum going forward is inclusive. Otherwise, we're leaving these children to suffer alone. We're leaving these children to suffer alone. And that's why we'll be taking the opportunity in the autumn term to have published early in the new year new advice and guidance to support the name change, and to support this fully inclusive approach, because we can't just wait until the new curriculum. 

With regards to the new curriculum, obviously, work is being undertaken at the moment with a specific working group looking at the health and well-being AoLE. And if it hasn't happened already, I have written to the Chair of the committee inviting her and, indeed, all committee members to participate in some visits to some of our pioneer schools who are working on each individual AoLE, so that Members can see for themselves actually what that work looks like on the ground, rather than simply just hearing from me about it. So, obviously, this is an important part of the health and well-being AoLE development work. But, crucially, we've also got pioneer schools that are looking at the professional development needs of teachers to be able to deliver the new curriculum, and this will form part of that work, too. 

At this stage, I am not amending the right of parents to withdraw children from lessons, but we will have to look at that as we go forward with the new curriculum, because the nature of the new curriculum is much more cross-cutting. There aren't individual lessons in the same kind of way. But I would encourage all parents, if they have concerns about these issues, to have a conversation with their school about what's being taught in school. But, as we go forward and as we change and develop our new curriculum, we'll have to take these issues under closer and more careful consideration about how that will practically work in the new circumstances.

You'll recall that at Stage 4 of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, your colleague Peter Black, Jocelyn Davies and I took the Government to the wire on healthy relationships education, and the assurances that we received then ensured that, hopefully—well, they contributed to the position that we're now in with your announcement today. Part of the evidence we all used at that time related to third-sector programmes, particularly Hafan Cymru's Spectrum project, which was being delivered in schools, delivering healthy relationships education through sessions to school pupils. I attended one of those and was very impressed by the incredible impact it had just within a couple of hours on a group of 15 and 16-year-old boys and girls—or young men and young women. But how are you going to ensure—and I hope you are—that projects such as this continue to be integrated into the programme as it goes forward and that this doesn't simply become an extra 'chore' for teachers or an extra statutory project to be accommodated within the wider curriculum delivery? 

Thank you, Mark. I hope you'd agree today that, if, in a previous administration, we pushed up against the wire, today we've gone through the wire by this announcement, and I would pay tribute to those in the previous Assemblies who pushed on this issue. It's crucial to me that, in discussing relationships and sexuality, what a healthy relationship looks like is a key fundamental part of that, and there is an opportunity through our new updated guidance in the new year and our new curriculum to look at violence against women and other gender-based violence also. Now, that can be done in a combination of ways, whether that's via the classroom teacher or whether schools look to outside organisations to come and deliver bespoke individual programmes. Certainly, I would want to encourage the third sector to keep discussing with us how they can help us transform this part of our curriculum. That's why we have given a small grant of £50,000 to Welsh Women's Aid so that they can help develop material that we can get out into schools to support teachers to deliver that part of the curriculum, but the third sector has had an important voice in developing this report and I will want to continue to work alongside the third sector so that they can support our teachers and educators to deliver a whole range of programmes. Certainly, there's space for both in the new curriculum.

I welcome this document very much and the statement by the Cabinet Secretary. I'm very glad that she started off mentioning section 28, because I can remember the terrible burden that section 28 put on staff in schools. I can remember them talking about it to me, and I can remember the huge relief when it was repealed by the Labour Government in Westminster. I think that we are now in a much better, much healthier position. I'm also very pleased that this, as Mark Isherwood has said, fulfils one of the pledges in the violence against women Bill to bring education in as part of the whole programme.

So, I welcome this very strongly. I'm very pleased that the plan is to start at age 5. I think it's really important that we talk about relationships as early as we possibly can, and I think this is very common in other countries. I remember looking at the programmes for early relationship education in Canada, for example, where they introduce it very early in the primary schools, and so I think it's essential that we start early. So, I think that's a very good point.

I am concerned about the issue that has been raised already about the fact that parents will still be able to withdraw their children if they wish, so I'm glad that the Cabinet Secretary has said that she will look at this as it evolves, because I strongly support the whole-school approach. I'm hoping that if the schools can reach out to the parents who've got concerns and explain what the nature of what we're planning to do in the schools, in terms of incorporating all this in the context of relationships, it will help encourage those parents who may be nervous by what they hear people say, or have got some sort of genuine anxieties about it. I think it's really important to reach out and explain to parents, so I'd like the Cabinet Secretary to assure me that she'll be encouraging schools to do that.

I think this heralds an openness and a great move forward, so I'm thoroughly behind it, and I'm sure that it will really change the whole ethos of the way schools operate.

Thank you very much, Julie. I think there are a number of people in this Chamber who had involvement in some way or another with section 28—some people desperately trying to oppose it, and, unfortunately, I understand there is one Member here—well, not here in the Chamber at the moment—who actually voted for it, and I'm glad that we've been able to move such a long way.

Julie, I absolutely agree with you. What is very clear in the expert group's report is that this area is best developed as a whole-school approach, and that means schools working with parents and the wider community about what is going on in their school. There may be parents who have genuine anxieties, there may be parents who've heard some of the myths and are a bit unclear about what this may entail, but as with many aspects of education, we know our children do best when schools positively engage with parents. After quality of teaching, parental influence and parental engagement of education is the second biggest factor that influences educational outcomes. The more that we can do to get schools working with parents on this subject, on all subjects, then that leads to better outcomes for their children. And I haven't met a parent yet who doesn't want better outcomes for their children.

I too welcome this statement today. Creating a new way of introducing sex, sexuality and relationships education is an important positive step forward, and I congratulate you personally for driving this agenda forward with energy.

I agree entirely with you that the emphasis needs to be on healthy relationships as well as the other aspects, and I also agree that children at the age of five are very open to sex and relationships and sexuality education. As a mother of four, I clearly remember the numerous questions that I was asked when the children were very, very young: questions that were very simple very often—they were factual issues raised by the children. It’s us, the adults, who have created this complexity and mystery surrounding sex, and it’s about time that we moved away from that. Having parents and children introducing the same messages positively and together is very important indeed.

What we’re doing here today, for me, is one of the great blessings of devolution. What we’re doing here is allowing ourselves to draw up our own innovative policies as we break new ground. That is, we’ve identified a problem and we have found a unique, Welsh solution to that problem, without waiting for Westminster to take action on our behalf.

Having said that, I’m sorry to become slightly negative at this point, but I do regret that it has taken so long for us to get to this point. As Mark Isherwood mentioned, during the discussions on the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, and prior to that, Plaid Cymru sought to ensure that healthy relationships and sex education was included in that particular Bill, and it’s taken until now for the Government to recognise the importance of this issue, and in the meantime, of course, a generation of children have missed out on an important aspect of their education. I acknowledge your personal commitment to this area, so can you explain the main barriers that you have faced in seeking to drive this policy forward? And are there lessons to be learned in order to hasten the process of introducing innovative policies for the future in education and in other areas too?

This new policy will provide a focus on scrapping the damaging aspects, including gender stereotyping, which militate against the development of individuals to their full potential. The First Minister wants his legacy to be a feminist legacy. He has a pledge to make Wales the safest place for women in Europe and to transform the Welsh Government to become a feminist Government. This follows a period of increasing attention on gender equality, and, of course, the gender review is happening across—

We do need some questions now, Siân Gwenllian.

Okay. Just one sentence on that: that can’t be empty rhetoric—we need a detailed action plan on all of those aspects. So, the question is: what difference do you expect to see in light of the introduction of the transformed sex education?

Can I thank Siân Gwenllian for her comments? I do want to make it clear that we're not in a situation where nothing is happening in our schools. There is some very good practice in our schools, as recognised by the report. The challenge, as always, in Welsh education—as I've discovered over the last two years—is how you make that consistent in all of our schools. So, I don't want people to think that none of this is happening at the moment. I see very good practice when I go around. What I want to see as a result of the changes I'm announcing today is that consistency across all settings, and a very strong emphasis and importance being placed upon this subject, by making it statutory in the new curriculum going forward, which wasn't the original plan two years ago.

If I may, Presiding Officer, Siân Gwenllian did pick up on a very important issue that hasn't been raised by anybody else today, and that's the issue around gender stereotyping and how devastating that can be and the implications that can have for children and for an entire lifetime. If you Google a well-known toy retailer on your computers today, you can actually click on age preference and gender preference. Gender preference—is there such a thing as a gendered toy? According to this well-known retailer, yes, you can put in a gender preference. If you click on the generic 'dressing up' section, guess what the girls are dressed in? Oh, yes, they're all fairies and princesses, and the boys are superheroes, policemen and firefighters. If you look at the picture for building and construction tools, guess what you see: boys with hammers and Lego. My goodness me, one would have hoped by now we'd have moved on from that. So, actually, being able to say to our children in our schools, 'You can be whatever you want to be' and 'You don't have to play with a certain type of toy'—these are the reasons why we need to make the changes we're making today. I'm grateful for Plaid Cymru's support for doing that.

And finally, Joyce Watson.

Diolch, Llywydd. I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement today on such an important issue, and all of those individuals who have been involved in bringing this report to fruition. Some of you will know that I already go into schools and ask them to take part in the White Ribbon campaign, and many schools have done that. That's talking about ending violence against women and girls. I've asked schools to come up with, through their pupils, what that means to them. Time and time again, they've come up with one single word when we're talking about relationships, and it is 'respect'. That's what the children say. It isn't what I've influenced, it isn't any influence whatsoever by any adults, it comes from the children themselves. Last year, Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech had a fantastic banner that they produced with the words 'parch' or 'respect' written on it.

Really, what we're talking about today here is trying to instill respect for each other in terms of difference, whatever that difference is, regardless. Some of the things I've heard here today have reminded me of about 30 years ago and section 28. They haven't quite gone that far, but they've been shrouded in that sort of language. So, I congratulate you, Cabinet Secretary, on moving us forward, not taking us back, and putting respect at the core of relationships and sexual education. My question to you is here: I note that you've said that you're putting some money there that will be advanced to Welsh Women's Aid— £50,000—and that they will then in turn produce materials that are age-appropriate for young children. How soon can we see some of that happening? I know there are things already happening, but how soon will it be—because these are questions that I will be asked—that that organisation will be able to access those funds?

Thank you, Joyce. I don't expect any further delays in releasing the resources that I've identified today. I think you're right—the concept of respect is one that will underpin much of the delivery of this curriculum. You also made a very important point: if any of us take time to listen to children and young people, they will tell you what we're providing for them at the moment is not good enough, and they want better provision. If we are a Parliament and a Government that truly listens to pupil voice, then we need to act, and that's one of the reasons why I'm doing this today.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.