Fine, I will do. I'll ignore them.

The report itself makes some valid proposals as far as selling the Welsh bac is concerned, but it would appear to be trying to sell a product for which there is no demand. The Confederation of British Industry and the Federation of Small Businesses were asked for an input but refused to do so, as did Universities Wales. All of these organisations have a huge interest in the qualification of young people, and the deliberate disengagement from the discussion speaks volumes about their opinion of the Welsh bac.

I would therefore be very concerned if I thought that steps had been taken to make the Welsh bac a compulsory part of our young people's education. All the available evidence shows that there are serious problems with the qualification that are nothing to do with a lack of awareness of it, but, in fact, the contrary. That's not to say that it couldn't be a useful qualification in the future, especially if the Government went to Russell Group universities and asked for their help in putting it together, but it isn't there yet, and as such should not be sold to pupils as an equivalent to an A-level and certainly not forced upon them. We should be in the business of achieving the best for our learners so that as many doors open for them as possible. Pushing the Welsh bac on them or exaggerating its merits just to increase the uptake of it seems to be aimed at pursuing a different agenda than that of giving our learners the best future we can. It's effectively selling them a pig in a poke. Having said that, I do think that credit should be given to the Minister for accepting and taking up the recommendations of the committee. Thank you.