Thank you, Llywydd. I want to start where I left off the last time I had a conversation with you across this Chamber, namely with this very unfortunate sentence in your White Paper, published last week, about teaching English in nursery settings and nursery schools. I’m not going to rehearse the same issues again, and I’m very pleased that you have carried out a u-turn on this issue and that there will be no change of policy, as the Minister for the Welsh language suggested in answering my questions last Wednesday and as was confirmed in a brief statement that appeared on the Government’s website on Monday.

But there are further questions arising in my mind in the wake of this fiasco. It’s clear that the inclusion of the sentence was an error, but how on earth did that sentence, which would have meant a substantial and shocking change of policy, appear in the White Paper in the first place? Are important publications like White Papers not read and re-read time and time again in order to avoid fundamental mistakes such as this one? Isn’t there a process in place to ensure consistency with the Government’s core policies?

The other question arising is: why would anyone in the education department add such a sentence? How will you ensure that all your education officials are familiar with policies that have been recognised over decades as being the right ones for teaching Welsh to children under seven years of age? All I can say is that this mess has undermined your credibility as Minister and that of the civil servants of the education department and this Government.