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 I can remember them talking about it to me, and I can remember the huge relief when it was repealed by the Labour Government in Westminster.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.