Can I thank the committee for this report and can I say that we will be supporting the motion? Funding our schools, as with our NHS, has always been a controversial issue, but, as with the NHS, we cannot fail to ensure that our education system receives adequate funding. Whatever financial pressures our local authorities are under, school budgets are not the place to make cuts. Only by funding our schools at a level that ensures our children get the best possible education and, thus, the best start in life, can we ensure not only their futures but the future prosperity of the country as a whole. Education is the bedrock not only of our economy but also the social fabric of our society.

Minister, the world is changing. It is no longer good enough for us to keep up; we need to be ahead of the game, and that, in a modern industrial economy, means the highest quality education system possible. The changes that artificial intelligence will bring as well as many other advances in science and communication systems will put more and more pressure on all those engaged in the education sector. We cannot let them down with inadequate funding.

In a technological world, our education system is open to extreme pressures, and this means that the teaching profession will need to be continually training to meet those pressures. So, the question is how do we meet the challenges ahead and provide the funding levels that should make our children the best educated in the UK, if not the world.

We know the problems we face and we have to accept that resources are finite. Perhaps, then, we have to look to some radical solutions. In this, I mean it is time money allocated in the Welsh Government's education grants goes directly to schools rather than to local authorities who top-slice the money to fund local education departments. It is the schools and the teaching—[Interruption.] Yes, of course.