Now, Suzy is right, there are parts of Global Futures that have delivered and there are parts of Global Futures where we have not seen the progress that we would want to. That's why I will be publishing a refreshed approach to the Global Futures programme in April of this year. And we will continue to work with our partners to support our schools as we transition to our new curriculum.

We must not forget that where pupils are choosing to study—and, in fairness to Suzy, she did reference this—those students who are choosing MFL, well, they're doing really, really well. I've been particularly encouraged by the excellent attainment of MFL students, which is a testament not only to their hard work, but also to the excellent MFL teaching that these students receive. I was delighted that, in the German Teacher Awards of 2019, teachers from St Paul's Church in Wales Primary School in Cardiff and Osbaston Church in Wales School in Monmouth were recognised for their outstanding contribution to the teaching of German in the primary sector, which demonstrates that there is excellent practice here in Wales already, but we need to build upon it.

In the longer term, qualifications for Welsh, English and international languages will also change and we need to work closely with Qualifications Wales to consider how qualifications should change in line with the new curriculum to address the more holistic approach to learning languages. And, like you, Suzy, I believe there should be an emphasis on speaking and communication rather than perhaps the emphasis that sometimes happens in the current system, where there is an emphasis on writing and reading, rather than your ability to communicate with another human being and to be able to demonstrate competency in your ability to communicate orally with different people.

We are moving away from an accountability system with a disproportionate and often unhelpful emphasis on a few isolated performance measures to advocate the use of a wider range of information that better captures the progress of all of our learners and the whole of their learning and experience and our ambitions contained within the new curriculum. Alongside this, we've been developing new evaluation and improvement arrangements that will support the implementation of the curriculum for Wales and be based on the following principles—that they be fair, coherent, proportionate and transparent. We're embarking on a strategic three-year plan for piloting, developing and implementing these new arrangements. Through highlighting aspects of the evaluation and improvement arrangements this year, we will be able to test aspects of the new arrangements and this will provide clarity on the respective roles and responsibilities going forward. The new arrangements will support our aim of raising standards, reducing the attainment gap and, like Suzy, I'm concerned that languages are seen to be deemed to be for a certain type of student, rather than being of value to all students, and, as always, Deputy Presiding Officer, concentrating on delivering an education system that is a source of national pride and enjoys public confidence.

In conclusion, I'd like to state that languages are crucial and very important for Wales's future prosperity and for our influence in the rest of the world. I recognise the challenge in the short term, and, as our changes begin to take effect, we will need to redouble our efforts with partners in this agenda, understanding some of the very real reasons why students choose not to take GCSEs—and Mike Hedges is right, sometimes timetabling issues are an issue— promotion of languages, and the perception that language GCSEs are hard. The Member will be aware that there have already been some changes in England with regard to French and German grading at GCSE, although not in Spanish, and Qualifications Wales and the Welsh Joint Education Committee are looking at those systems within our own system, because there is often a perception that doing these GCSEs is difficult and there are easier things and there are easier ways to get your A* grade by choosing other subjects. But, unless we communicate with students about the importance and the wonderful opportunities that can arise out of acquiring these qualifications, then we won't make further progress. And hence we will want to reflect on that, as I said, in our refreshed version of Global Futures, which will be published later this year.

I understand, and indeed I regret my own failure in this regard, but Darren is right, it is never too late, and, like him, I sometimes can be found, when I am at home of an evening, on my Duolingo app practising a little bit of Cymraeg and a little bit of Espagnol. But there is a long way to go. I will raise with the relevant Ministers the issue about access to online learning applications. Certainly the way in which we can help all children acquire languages and the use of apps within the education system is something that we will need to embrace as part of our future going forward.

But, in conclusion, Deputy Presiding Officer, I'm grateful to Suzy Davies for bringing forward the debate. I think there is a consensus here that this is important to the future of Wales and I believe that our new curriculum and the emphasis on bringing language learning much earlier into a child's life can help us overcome some of the problems that, undoubtedly, we have seen and we will continue with determination to tackle. Diolch yn fawr.