I thank the Conservative spokesperson for her questions, and I'm pleased that she welcomes the flexibility that my statement describes, which I think is a proportionate response to the variability in parts of the sector in terms of preparedness. The decisions have been taken, obviously, having listened to practitioners for many weeks since I became education Minister, and I detected a very clear commitment to the principles and the reality of the curriculum, an enthusiasm for moving forward with the curriculum, but also a sense in some quarters that perhaps a little bit more time to focus and a little bit more flexibility to do that was welcome, and I have listened to that. I want to be very clear, though: what this is not is a wholesale delay to the curriculum. The curriculum will begin to be rolled out in 2022 and it will end being rolled out in accordance with the original schedule. What it provides is an element of flexibility in relation to the introduction of year 7 next year, and that will become mandatory in 2023. Schools are very well able to decide for themselves whether they are ready to progress with introducing curriculum reforms in 2022 or the following year, and so we will trust schools' judgment in relation to that, as her question asks.

With regard to the national network, I think this is a really important forum, which will bring together teaching professionals, experts, stakeholders and policymakers, and the aim, really, is to identify and address the barriers and opportunities around curriculum implementation, and it'll be open to all schools and settings, and I really want the forum to have a sense of national co-construction, if you like. It will help develop, I think, at a national level, a range of approaches and ideas that practitioners can take back to inform curriculum design and implementation in their schools and settings, and recommendations for how to commission and develop specific resources and support around professional learning as well.

She mentions working on this throughout the summer months; I want teachers to be as far as possible in a position to take an opportunity to rest and to reflect, if you like, on the experience of the last year over the summer months. I know that she feels that as well.

In relation to schools' readiness, I'm anxious not to be in a situation where I'm looking for new reporting obligations to place on schools themselves, but I think she can take from me that we will take our lead from schools as to whether they feel that they are ready to begin reforms in 2022 or to follow the mandatory provision in 2023.

On curriculum implementation more broadly, I will be providing an annual report on the state of play, if you like, with regard to that, which I hope that she will find helpful, as I hope will other Members.

In relation to the sum of money of £7.24 million which I mentioned, the guidance, really, is to support schools to make best use of that, really. It's intended to allow schools to make decisions around how they work collaboratively with others to free up time and space to design and plan approaches to the curriculum, and I hope that schools will find that helpful.