Last week the First Minister said this:

'I want very strongly to endorse today the joint statement made between the Welsh Government and the Welsh Local Government Association, which urges schools to remain open until the last day of term, while recognising that there will be individual sets of circumstances where that will not be possible....The real problem is that we do not have confidence, from the behavioural evidence, that if children are not in school, that they would simply be being kept at home and kept away from the contacts that would otherwise create greater risk. The fear is that children who are not in school will be in even riskier environments.'

'If I thought that those young people would genuinely be at home, genuinely self-isolating, genuinely creating that period before Christmas to keep them safe, I'd be attracted to the idea. I'm afraid the risks are that that simply wouldn't happen, that those children would be doing riskier things than they would in school. Better for them to be in school.'

In saying this, the First Minister and the WLGA support the long-held views of the children's commissioner and, indeed, this Senedd—better for them to be in school. Even in the firebreak, schools were open for children up to year 8. Now, I will recognise that incidence and transmission rates in parts of Wales are very worrying and that figures associated with some secondary schools are also worrying. But 'associated with' and 'responsible for' are different things, and we have not yet seen published evidence that says that they are the same thing. I'm yet to see the evidence that says that the risk within—and I mean within—the confines of secondary schools justifies their blanket closure. Indeed, we've seen the introduction of mandatory face coverings on every part of the estate, except classrooms, to minimise that risk further. The health board briefings refer to behaviour outside the school gate, and, as we've heard in this Chamber, and, indeed, the Minister's opening remarks, that it's between households that presents more of a problem.

And now secondary pupils will be at a greater temptation to do, as the First Minister said, those riskier things than they would have in school, not least because many of them will be old enough to be unsupervised at home. But, for those younger secondary school pupils who really shouldn't be at home alone, the chances that their working parents won't be able to take time off to provide that care is real, because they are no longer considered key workers, and I'd be keen to understand, from the Minister, why that's the case.

I'm also unhappy about these regulations because they fail to compel primary schools to stay open. I understand that the legal default position, if you like, is that they should stay open anyway, but the regulations are quite plain as to the consequences of secondary schools disobeying the law. So, why not the same for primary schools in regulations? Because instead, we have local authorities flouting, once again, the education Minister's authority. Now, I absolutely understand the need for the teaching unions to consider the safety and the working conditions for their members—of course I do—but I hope they understand that they have overplayed their hands on this one.

The local authorities themselves also need to be in the spotlight, because where's their backbone on this? Rolling over the Minister yet again, what do they think this does to her authority, especially when they, through the WLGA, just a week ago, urged the very opposite of what they're doing now? Minister, we have different views on a lot of things, but this lack of respect for your office should concern all of us, because this has now happened twice on the issue of school closures, and it's almost as if the local authorities are goading us into taking away their responsibility for education.

In the meantime, I really would like to thank pupils, parents and school staff for their continued hard work in all this confusion, and wish them a merry and hopefully peaceful Christmas. Thank you.