Thank you very much, and I move those amendments.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to discuss the findings of the Estyn report for 2017-18. The situation in our secondary schools is a cause of great concern, with pupils in half of our secondary schools, so, around 100 schools, being let down. That is, the children aren't reaching their full potential by the time they leave school.

Now, this is sobering for every young person who reaches that point, and it's also disappointing in terms of the prosperity of the nation as a whole. Wales needs an education regime of the highest order for the benefit of the nation and of future generations. Now, there are only 195 secondary schools in Wales. This isn't a huge number, so there has to be something major wrong if we can't ensure higher attainment rates across Wales. So, the important question is: how can we improve the situation?

The chief inspector of Estyn noted in the Children, Young People and Education Committee in December of last year that three things need to be done. First of all, we need to identify earlier those schools that are underperforming. Second, we need to ensure that they receive better support and, thirdly, we need to co-ordinate the support that they receive at present better.

I'm going to focus on the third point, which is vital, I think, and does deserve attention. At the moment, there are so many layers within the system—the schools themselves and their management teams, the governors, the local authorities, the consortia and the education department at the Welsh Government—so who's taking responsibility? Is it a responsibility for all of them, or for none of them, ultimately? This is a concern. We need to improve accountability in the system as a whole and, as a matter of urgency, we need to review the arrangements, and the need for all of these layers in order to co-ordinate the support better, which was one of the objectives of the chief inspector.

Now, turning to the Donaldson report on the learning inspectorate, the main thrust of it was that Estyn should have more of a role in terms of supporting the process of improving schools—namely, that Estyn should be more active in its response rather than just being part of the diagnosis. There are arguments in favour and against that, and this morning we had a statement from the Government stating that they did accept the recommendations in that report.

But one announcement today that has frightened everyone is this: there will be more inspections, and Estyn, not Donaldson, has talked about this. It has succeeded in raising the hackles of everyone involved in education. There was no reference to this in the Donaldson report, as far as I can see, and, if anything, the report says that we need to move in the opposite direction, with a focus on self-validation and inspection, not on greater inspection itself. But the Government has accepted the recommendations of that report, so if the Government wants to see Estyn giving greater support to our schools, then we have to ask the question: what's the point of the consortia? We need to look seriously at their role if Estyn is going to be taking some of the responsibilities over.

Another of the Estyn findings was this: that leadership is adequate and needs improvement in four out of 10 schools, and is unsatisfactory in about one out of 10 schools. Now, the intervention that comes from different directions makes the job of the head very difficult, and this is another reason for creating fewer layers in the system and for greater accountability throughout. And I don't think that we can look at the problems that are pointed to in the Estyn report without looking at the wider context that faces our schools and our teachers. There's no doubt about it—that the profession is under a great deal of pressure at the moment, and we can't talk about raising standards without talking about funding and resources. According to the Government itself, there is a deficit in the budget of two out of five schools inspected. We need to deal with the situation and the Government needs to hold an urgent review of funding the schools. Are the funding levels sufficient? And what about the slice of the cake that goes towards education? Does enough of it go to our schools? I hope that the debate tomorrow will point to some of these problems and that the work of the Children, Young People and Education Committee will feed into that discussion.

I conclude on this: the work of this Government is to look long and hard at the evidence and to come to conclusions and take action according to that evidence.