Presiding Officer, I'm very pleased that we're having this debate today. [Signs in BSL.] And I'd like to thank the committee for their work in this area and for its report and the recommendations. I wrote to the Chair last November with the Welsh Government's response, so I do not propose to replicate all that in detail now this afternoon. But to be absolutely clear, the Welsh Government has accepted the recommendations of the report, either in full, or one recommendation in principle, because that recommendation relates also to the issue of qualifications at GCSE level.

The Welsh Government has an independent qualifications body and as Members have referred to, there is already some work that has gone on with Qualifications Wales with regard to a GCSE. The decision was made that a Wales stand-alone GCSE would not be viable, but that an England and Wales GCSE may well come to fruition. In the meantime, it is important to recognise that equivalent qualifications at both level 1 and level 2 are available, and that those qualifications do count towards a school's accountability measure. But I will write to Qualifications for an update on the collaboration that they are having with English examination boards, and I will be happy to put the copy of that letter in the library. 

The Welsh Government formally recognised British Sign Language as a language in its own right in 2004, and I would be the first to recognise that more could be done to develop a co-ordinated approach to the promotion and support for BSL, and work is ongoing in recognition of this. We are continuing to address the issues and difficulties being faced by members of the deaf community in Wales. This includes supporting training to increase the number of qualified interpreters in Wales, and we are in the process of tendering for a review of BSL provision for adults in Wales, which will report in June. We are aware that current provision is limited. It's limited for the offer, it's limited for access and capacity to deliver it too. Despite this, ultimately what is important is that I want to develop a fair and equitable system. So, that review will look at current provision. We will also look at latent demand for BSL provision for adults in Wales, what factors facilitate our Act as a barrier to that demand, and the Welsh Government will consider BSL as an essential communication skill, and, as such, what the cost would be to delivering that to a level 2 and whether we have the workforce to deliver that to a level 2. So, this work will be ongoing, and, as I said, will report in June.