Thank you very much, Mr Melding. I would like to begin by thanking the CYPE committee for bringing the debate forward today. And I would also like to thank all the staff in our education settings, as well as our local authorities and other partners, for helping us to ensure the safety and well-being of our children and young people during the crisis. That has been, and will continue to be, my priority. The decisions that we made, and have continued to make, have not been taken lightly.

Closing schools and the disruption that caused for the education of our children and young people was the most difficult decision that I have ever had to make, but I believe that it was absolutely the right one, given the medical and scientific evidence that we had at the time of the risks of COVID-19 and the transmission of the virus at that point in our communities. But thanks to the efforts of our education settings and local authorities, despite those challenges we were able to move at pace to continue to provide school-based provision for vulnerable young people and the children of key workers, and that was established within a matter of days.