This report has not been hurried. The first evidence session was held in January 2017 and for the time that I was on the committee, those of us who served—and it's significant, when you look at the report, the number of different people who've gone through this particular process; it's involved coming up to a fifth of all Assembly Members. But I think we took our time deliberately, because it was easy to rush to a quick, glib answer to what is a very difficult issue in this age of austerity. I think there was universal agreement that the provision of musical services in schools was both a public good and a cultural right. But with declining resources for local authorities and a duty to provide statutory services, there was no easy way out. And as tempting as it would have been to respond to Owain Arwel Hughes's call of a crisis by simply issuing a report saying this was important and councils should spend more on it, that would be unfair to our colleagues in local government, who are struggling with difficult decisions every week.

So, we did take our time and we set up an expert panel to scrutinise our initial thoughts and work with us, alongside us, to test our emerging ideas, to see if they passed muster. So, I think it's to the committee's credit that it has taken time, though, I have no doubt, it's to the slight exasperation of the stakeholders that it's taken this long to come up with a report.

I must say, I thought the Cabinet Secretary's response was a very encouraging one. I'm not sure if I've misread it, having listened to the characterisation of the Chair of the committee, which I thought was a little churlish. I thought that the response was very constructive and a genuine attempt to try and craft a solution that would last to what is, without doubt, a difficult set of circumstances.

I was very sad to hear recently that the Carmarthenshire Youth Orchestra has been suspended, and I think this a source of pain to all those who have gone through the services, as indeed the committee Chair herself had and as Jeremy Miles, who served on the committee alongside me, had too. There's a real, genuine sense of commitment, I think, of committee members to preserve what is put there.

I was reflecting, reading on the impact of the changing world of work, and of automation and digitisation and the skills that we are teaching to young people, to give them the ability to do the jobs that have not yet been created. And, actually, it's not the importance of coding or programming that is the most important thing. The most important thing is creativity, it's team work, it's empathy, it's human skills. All exactly the sort of things that you get from a musical education. And I was listening on the radio this week to somebody talking about the experience they were given, showing an interest in music, but not an aptitude. By simply showing an interest they were showered with attention and encouragement—the sort of cultural experience that we want to give young people.

So, this agenda is central of the future skills agenda. It's not an add-on, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had more money to fund local authority services?' Which is why I think the call of the committee to put this at arm's length from local authorities, to take a national lead—. Because we looked at the task and finish group that had been set up under Huw Lewis and we tracked its progress, and little had happened to it. We had very unimpressive evidence from the WLGA. And I sympathise with the dilemma they're under, but they have failed. They have failed in the task of providing leadership on this and I understand why, but that's not good enough. So, I think it's right that the Welsh Government steps in to say this should be done on an all-Wales basis.

I applaud the new models that have been put forward through the endowment from National Youth Arts Wales. I worry for them, having run a charity and tried to get funding from trusts and foundations. It's damn hard. It really is difficult, and London trusts and foundations are not quick to come to the aid of cultural services outside of the metropolis. So, I think it's right that we've set them up, but we mustn't leave them to languish—we must follow it through with support, both in cash terms, but also in aid. I also applaud the musical instrument amnesty that I was very proud to give my daughter's guitar to. I even strummed a little bit before I handed it over.

So, I think the interventions that the Government are already doing are right and are welcome. The direction of travel the committee sets out in the report, I think, is the right one. The importance of this agenda is essential, both in terms of cultural rights, but also in terms of future skills. And I, along with others, will be watching with interest as the Government develops what I thought was an encouraging response. But, inevitably, it's the follow-through that matters. Diolch.