I'd like to support those Members who've mentioned education as a priority for Welsh Government expenditure, and I'd very much like to applaud the report by the Children, Young People and Education Committee on school funding. I know the Welsh Government has accepted all of the recommendations, but I think it does set out a very strong case for prioritisation for school funding to a greater extent than has happened up to now.

To me, if we are to be about preventative spend, we must put more money into education and our schools. I very much agree with what Mike Hedges said about further education as well, which I think has been rather overlooked in terms of adequate funding and should be better provided for. But the essential case, I think, is for schools funding because of the importance to so many of our young people, and, of course, early years educational funding and early years in general. Because if we are to be preventative, I do believe that education does just about everything for us. Education is a good in its own right. It's extremely important in terms of personal development. I think there are lots of studies worldwide that show that if you prioritise educational spending, then you will have a much stronger economy, and it's actually the most effective thing you can do. If you want to build your economy, put money into education.

Also, of course, it's very important for health. Better educated people enjoy better health throughout their lives and better well-being, and better general quality of life. They have more opportunities, better careers; it's just a win-win-win. It's also very important for culture and, indeed, the environment. So, I think if we look at things in the round and we look at prevention, we would be driven to put more money into education, and there's a very strong evidence base for that. That's why I very much agree with the committee's report.

I think part of that should be—and I've mentioned this many times in the past—more effective funding for community-focused schools, because it's an existing resource, isn't it, our schools, the buildings, the grounds, the facilities, and too often they're not well enough used in school holidays, at weekends, during evenings. That's an awful waste of existing resource, isn't it? There is some good practice, but not nearly enough, and I think we need to provide an effective funding mechanism that ensures community-focused schools are operating effectively right across Wales.

That brings more opportunities, because a lot of children do not get the mum's taxi or dad's taxi—or even grandma or grandad's taxi—experience when it comes to wider opportunities to develop their abilities and talents. They don't go to the activities and the clubs as they might. If it's provided on the school grounds as a part of an extension of the school day, very many more families, particularly families from deprived circumstances, will have those wider opportunities, and community-focused schools are essential to that.

One other thing I would mention—and again, I think it's very much on the preventative front—is youth services. Sadly, because of the pressure that local government and others are under, we've seen far too many cuts to youth clubs, youth activities and youth services generally, and that really is preventative. The police understand that. Local government understands that. The voluntary sector understands that. People, when you go around door-knocking, they understand that, but because of the pressures that 10 or more years of austerity have brought, we've seen far too many cuts to that incredibly valuable provision. I think Welsh Government really needs to look at how we can not just shore up the provision that remains, but get back and beyond the levels of provision that we had in years gone by.