Certainly, the publication of the draft Bill is an important milestone and, as the children's commissioner said this week, we must look at the new curriculum as a pledge to every child in Wales, and, in making that pledge, each and every one of us in this Senedd is duty bound to scrutinise this new legislation very carefully indeed in order to avoid unintended consequences and to ensure that the aim encapsulated within the curriculum will be delivered.

Now, in terms of implementation and the timetable for implementation, I can see your case that there are certain elements of the curriculum, elements that are already taking root in our schools, that are particularly pertinent in the context of the COVID crisis.

I am pleased to see a prominent place for health and well-being as an area of learning and experience, but it won't be a mandatory or required element within the legislation. The children's commissioner has argued this week that this Bill does need to go further than it goes at present in terms of safeguarding the well-being of children by ensuring that the legislation does make a whole-school approach to well-being and mental health a requirement under the legislation.

You have already published another statement today on the consultation on the guidance framework on rooting the whole-school approach to mental health and well-being, and you say in that statement that the purpose of the framework is to promote consistency and equality. So, why won't you take that extra step that the children's commissioner and others have called for, namely making mental health and well-being a requirement within the legislation?

And there is this element of making certain things mandatory, and others that also deserve the same level of legislative requirement are excluded from the legislation. We started this debate last week during the Plaid Cymru debate, and I think this will be a recurring theme during the Bill's journey through the Senedd over the next weeks.

There are some topics that are mandatory, and there are other cross-curricular elements that are also mandatory. So, I would like to ask: what are the criteria that you have applied before making these decisions, before deciding? What criteria actually underpin these decisions to include some things on a statutory basis and to exclude others?

And, finally, I am sure that you would agree that we need to evidence the need for new legislation before bringing it forward. This is a theme of our work in the Senedd in terms of bringing forward any new legislation: we need to demonstrate why it's required and necessary. And I agree with you: this legislation is required in order to develop a new curriculum within our schools. But, if I could just turn to one aspect, what pedagogical evidence do you have that you need to make English a mandatory element of the curriculum—what evidence do you have—and has any body or any educational expert or any other expert recommended that you should include this on the face of the Bill?