I do welcome the Cabinet Secretary's intervention with the new code that has come into force this month, I believe I'm correct in saying, albeit it was laid before the Assembly back in the summer for consideration. I would like to reflect on an issue that is in my own particular area, and I appreciate that the Cabinet Secretary will not be able to speak directly to the Llancarfan school closure, which she has heard me speak on many times in this Chamber, but she did indicate that the code, even though it wasn't in force when various notices were issued on that particular school closure, should carry some weight, given that it was in the public domain and it was understood by the local authority to be part of the Government's thinking in maintaining the rich fabric of education provision in rural areas. Indeed, under the code, Llancarfan is the only rural school that is mentioned in the list of schools that the Government saw fit to include in the code.

The proposal to close Llancarfan school was a proposal that was first brought forward in 2012-13 by the then Labour-controlled council, and many residents in the area do feel that it's almost officer unfinished business, if that makes sense, what I've just said, in that the current councillors have picked up the mantle in trying to force through what was an ill-thought-out proposal back in 2012, and placed a great deal of store on the guidance that the Cabinet Secretary was bringing forward to protect their school. Because Llancarfan school is a school that is very vibrant. Whilst it might not have a full roll, it has a roll of in excess of 100 pupils, it has a school estate that, with modest expenditure, could be brought up to speed, and every argument that has been deployed by the current council to close—and, interestingly, they will not use the word 'close'; they use the word 'relocation'. I fail to see how you can say that you're maintaining the school in a location when the proposed new site is some 3 miles away. That, surely, is a loss to the site, and in anyone's understanding of the word 'closure', that defines closure.

This petition that has come, admittedly from the other side of Wales, from the top end of Wales in Anglesey, does pertain to many of the aspects that the community in Llancarfan have found themselves fighting against. And that very community, at every turn, has put forward a coherent plan to maintain the school within the village of Llancarfan, and supporting the surrounding villages. Every time an argument is put forward to support and maintain the school, an alternative argument is presented by the council. The first argument was that the only way twenty-first century schools money could be brought forward was by a relocation and creation of a new school. Thanks to the clarification that the Cabinet Secretary has given, that is not the case. Twenty-first century schools money can be used to upgrade current facilities. We are then told that there is a falling roll at Llancarfan and it would not sustain the current teacher-pupil ratio. Well, we know that there is a demand for education in that area, and that demand has been sustained for many years and would be sustained going into the future for many years as well. So, that argument doesn't stack up. And now we are hearing that because necessary orders have been placed, it is a foregone conclusion that the school will ultimately close in a few years' time, when the new site is presented to the community in Rhoose. I would say that that, actually, is a cocking-a-snook act—obviously, the sentiment that the Welsh Government put have forward via their new code.

I do believe, and I would hope, that the Cabinet Secretary will use her good office to try and influence this decision, because as we have heard, and as I've outlined in my comments today, it is a fact that twenty-first century money an be used to upgrade that school, it is a fact that the roll is strong enough to maintain the education provision in that school, it is a fact that the school has had a good Estyn report, and it is a fact that we identify that it is important that a rural school is maintained and isn't considered for closure as just a matter of course. It should be only considered for closure after every conceivable option has been considered and explored, and I do not believe that that is the case here. I therefore welcome the report that the Petitions Committee has brought forward, and unearthed various arguments, albeit in another part of Wales, but which is pertinent to the rest of Wales, and in my electoral area, in particular around Llancarfan school. I do thank other Members in the Chamber who have helped in the campaign and certainly will continue to support the community of Llancarfan, because this isn't a done deal, and we will continue to fight to maintain the school in the village of Llancarfan.