May I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement and welcome it too? Clearly, we will want to see the framework and the details when they become available, but I certainly welcome the direction of travel. Very often, we forget—we certainly have done so in the past, perhaps—that we need to trust in our teachers more than perhaps we have done in the past. I've said this in the context of identifying children's ability and potential to make progress and so on and so forth, and I think that the same principle applies here, namely moving to self-evaluation and self-assessment. Plaid Cymru has long since asked for a system of self-improvement where the profession is responsible for their own standards but also where there is an assessment framework in place that is robust and underpins that.

You said in a statement last September that you would publish the new framework for the education system as a whole during the autumn of this year. Clearly, today, now, you have confirmed that you will do that next year. You've touched on this in a previous response, but I would like to understand why we've seen this delay. You referred to the fact that you were linking this process with the introduction of the curriculum, and one can understand the rationale underpinning that, but when will this be fully operational across Wales? What's your aim in terms of getting this framework operational and everyone within the education system being accountable to it? I would be pleased to hear confirmation of that.

You mentioned in your statement that self-evaluation across a number of different areas will be expected, looking at attainment and pupil well-being, the range of the curriculum available, the capacity for improvement, working with other schools and so on and so forth, and all of those are laudable and are to be encouraged, but how will that be considered in the context of the divergences in terms of the resources available to schools? There is inconsistency. We're looking for consistency in assessment, but there is inconsistency in the resources available in terms of delivering the range of the curriculum in certain areas. In certain areas, there are better budgets available, and that will have a direct impact on the subjects schools can offer. So, whilst I believe that the principles are important and that we should have a coherent system—I think that's the word you used—and that they should be consistent across Wales, the context, of course, varies from one area to another, and that may create some conflict within the system.

You're also entirely right in saying that we need to encourage and facilitate sharing good practice, but, again, one of the things that we hear from the sector very often is that there isn't the space and capacity and the slack within the system to release staff members to go and share this good practice, and that, to a certain extent, is acknowledged in the additional resources that you're providing to the flagship schools, in order to enable teachers to go to conferences and share their experiences. So, are there additional resources available in order to implement elements of this framework? Or do you anticipate that there will be some transitional funding for moving from regime to another? I'd be very pleased to hear what the situation is in that regard.

It's great to see that the consortia and the Welsh Government will be accountable to corresponding frameworks. I think that sends an important message to teachers and to the sector as a whole that everyone is not only pulling in the same direction, but that everyone is accountable and is playing to the same rulebook, and it introduces an element of equality, which is a positive message in my view.

I would also ask whether there is an intention to pilot this at the coalface, because we're all eager to see us moving in that direction and it's important that, if it is to happen, it is done properly. You talk about the need to avoid unintended consequences and introducing a coherent approach across Wales; well, I'm sure that an element of piloting, as part of its introduction, would contribute towards that and would be an important contribution in that regard.