That led, then, onto questions about the middle tier. The Member suggested that perhaps this was for the longer term. Well, it's certainly not for the longer term as far as I'm concerned. Earlier this year, we set up the middle tier group that is chaired by Dylan Jones of Trinity Saint David, a very experienced and successful ex-headteacher who now leads the school of education in Carmarthen. The purpose of that group is to do exactly what Siân Gwenllian said: to ensure that there is greater alignment between aspects of the middle tier, to ensure that there is no duplication and that the asks that are being placed upon headteachers and teachers are consistent—so no headteacher should ask themselves, 'Whose hoop am I jumping through today? Is it the LEAs, is it the regional consortia, it it Estyn, is it Welsh Government?' and so that there is an alignment and a very clear line of sight about what is being asked of our schools, and, crucially, whose job it is to do what. There is not enough money in the system for us to be falling over ourselves and duplicating the roles of other players in the field. So, that's the purpose of that group—to get clarity for our middle tier about whose job is it to do what, when it is their job to do it, and to ensure that there is clarity for our school leaders about what is being asked of them. That work is ongoing at the moment.

With regard to school business managers, perhaps it is inevitable that people will ask about whether it's right to use resources to employ non-teaching professionals, but as I said, the interim evaluation of the pilot to date has been very much welcomed by the headteachers involved, and in many cases, the savings that those business managers have been able to drive, for instance, in some of their purchasing decisions, has actually paid for the cost of their salaries in some cases. Now, of course, that can't be repeated, necessarily, year on year, but there is real value in those posts. And the Member is quite right; it may not be possible for a single school to employ a business manager because of the size of that school, and in many of the pilot areas, what we have seen is a single business manager working across a cluster of schools, especially small primary schools. And I know from the pilot in my own area, that's what has happened: a single business manager has been working for a number of primary schools that, on their own, cannot afford that resource, but actually, that's the most efficient way of doing it and doing it very, very successfully. Welsh Government places a big emphasis on the contribution school business managers can bring to our education system. So much so that in our Welsh teaching awards, we actually do present an award to the school business manager of the year—the individual who has added so much to their school. And we're never short of nominations for that particular award.

I will certainly update Members on where we are with the individual recommendations of the Waters report. Of course, some of those recommendations that were made are not a matter for me, but they do need to be duly considered by the independent review process that we have set up for teachers' pay and conditions, and they are rightly a matter for that body to consider. This will be the first year that Wales will be responsible for setting teachers' pay and conditions, and the Member, I'm sure, will be cognisant of the content of my remit letter to the board. In this case, we want to establish the system, demonstrate that we are capable of running the system ourselves in Wales. Primarily, in this first year, we are looking at issues around pay. I'm sure, in years to come, the Welsh Government's remit will indeed look to ask the board to consider other aspects of teachers' pay and conditions in the round. This year, the priority is the successful establishment of that system and looking at a potential pay rise—a potential increase for our workforce. But I'm happy to update Members on the work that has been done on other aspects of the Waters report.