I'm also pleased to contribute to this afternoon's important debate—important because what could be more important than discussing education? What could be more important than the future of our young people? The results that we've been talking about this afternoon are not the be-all and end-all of education, but they are a key indicator of where we are as a country in terms of educating our young people, and a measure along the way to where we would like to be. 

Other Members have mentioned many of the things I was going to mention, so I won't go over old ground. Paul Davies has mentioned Pembrokeshire and the results there; in Monmouthshire, I'd like to congratulate the pupils across Monmouthshire, who worked so hard, and their teachers, who worked hard, and gained good results. I know that the Minister, from your previous answer, was in King Henry VIII Comprehensive in Abergavenny, I think, on the day of the results, so you could see first-hand the delight. We all cast our minds back to when we were in that position, opening our results, and it's a time in your life that is never to be repeated later, but I'm pleased that the Minister was in my constituency for that day. 

I do have to say—and this was mentioned by Siân Gwenllian earlier—in terms of the Government amendment, I was disappointed by that amendment. It does highlight some interesting statistics, but it does make things seem as though everything is rosy in the garden, and I don't think it really does reflect the real desire that's out there in schools amongst the pupils, teachers and further afield to reform and to progress and to raise standards. And there's always going to be scope to raise standards, no matter how good the Government might say things are, or how good things might be perceived to be. At the end of the day, particularly as we approach leaving the European Union, Wales and the UK are going to have to compete, increasingly, on the world stage and we'll have to keep up with other countries that are seeing their educational standards rise, and we must make sure that we keep pace with that.

I would echo the earlier words of Paul Davies that, yes, some schools have done very well, but what about those schools that haven't done so well? It's important that good practice is spread from the good schools to the less-well-off schools, and it'd be good to see a restatement, a reappraisal, of the strategy of the Welsh Government on how the Minister sees that panning out and how good practice can be spread, because there's always work that can be done there.

Funding has been mentioned and we know that the recent UK Government's spending round will see an extra amount of money—£1.24 billion—coming to Wales as a result of extra investment in schools in England. I think it was Jenny Rathbone who mentioned where's this money going to come from and let's have a debate about how we divide the cake in Wales. Well, okay, it might not be everything, but it is a very good sum of money that's going to come to Wales, so we do need to have a debate about how that money is spent. And, let's make sure that that money goes to the front line of public services and doesn't get sidetracked or siphoned off into other areas. It must go to the education front line. Of course, money is not the whole answer—the Minister has made this point in the past—and I think too often we can give the impression that if we throw money at something, then that's going to solve it. But, of course, money is only half the answer, and indeed the NASUWT, as my colleague Paul Davies mentioned, has put that funding gap per pupil at £645. I know that's been disputed in some quarters, but that's the NASUWT's verdict and whatever that funding gap is then it's important that we seek to close that funding gap.

We welcome the fact that there's been an improvement in GCSE and A-level results since 2018. I was going to mention the year 2007, but it caused so much anxiety earlier. Suzy Davies explained why 2007 has been used, in that it's the last date at which there is an ability to compare the data sets. So, that's why that date was set. But, if you go back, yes, to last year, then there's been an improvement. If you go back further, then the results are less clear cut. So, I think we need to remember that behind these statistics that have been quoted this afternoon, it's more than about statistics; there are people, young people, human beings behind the statistics. The future is behind those statistics. Because when you're putting money into education and you're planning your education strategy, then what you're actually doing is you're building the future of this country. And we all want to see in this Chamber—. I think we're all united in the view that we want to see an improvement in the standards today so that, in the future, Wales can do even better on the world stage and we can all get on with the job of building a brighter future for our young people and a brighter future for Wales.