Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Government to the committee's report on the teaching of Welsh history, heritage and culture. As has already been noted during the debate, we have accepted all of the recommendations in full or in principle bar one. I can confirm that Estyn will undertake a review of the teaching of Welsh history, and this review will take place over the coming months, and its terms of reference will be informed by the committee's recommendations.

I will now turn to wider issues—those raised in the report and in this afternoon's debate. Clearly, this is a subject that stirs strong passions, perspectives and interpretations. And let me be clear, Deputy Presiding Officer, I am fully committed to the new curriculum's innovative approach to the theme of cynefin as the starting point for study. It will run through each of the areas of learning and experience. Learners will be grounded in an understanding of the identities, landscapes and histories that come together to form their cynefin.

In writing about the ongoing contemporary influence of Christian thought, the historian Tom Holland recently wrote that it was like dust particles—so fine as to be invisible, breathed in equally by everyone. Analysing, understanding and questioning the histories and stories of Wales, our communities and our neighbours should not and cannot be limited to a history lesson—it will be breathed in by everyone across the curriculum. Therefore, it's interesting to note that, although the committee was looking into the teaching of Welsh history, heritage and culture, I couldn't find a single reference to literature, sport, film or drama. And that's a real shame, as it gives the impression that history—or more accurately, histories—is only a matter for one lesson and one subject.

It is my expectation that in the new curriculum, the histories of Wales will be unlocked, discovered and analysed, as learners are encouraged to, for instance, explore Shakespeare or R.S. Thomas and Mererid Hopwood, scrutinise the role of sport as an expression of national identity, or perhaps contrast and compare the histories portrayed in Pride with those in House of America. Now, this is not to dismiss history as a discipline—I'm a student of it myself—but as Sarah Morse, from the Learned Society of Wales has put it:

'History isn't the only subject where narratives and experiences of Wales are reflected'.

And it's unfortunate that the committee didn't have enough time to get this full breadth and depth.

If I can, then, turn to the one recommendation that we rejected—that of listing key events and topics to be studied by all learners. Now, I have some sympathy with the rationale of the committee in making this recommendation, however, at the very heart of the new curriculum is the principle that learners benefit when their teachers are allowed the flexibility to tailor the content of lessons to their needs and to their local context. In order to deliver this flexibility, we need to ensure that the curriculum is not structured as a tick-box list of content to be studied.

And my goodness me, Deputy Presiding Officer, we only have to listen to the contributions from around the room this afternoon to understand what a process it would be to list those very subjects. And can I say, Russell George, there is nothing to stop the primary schools of Newtown talking about your local heroes, and they certainly don't need permission from me to do so. I will give you an example from my own constituency, where the Ystradgynlais History Society has created a number of booklets about people from that community, with financial help from the Welsh Government, actually, which have been distributed to schools. So, they certainly don't need permission in Newtown from the education Minister to engage in those lessons.