Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to move the motion laid before us in the name of Darren Millar. Moving to the amendments, amendment 1 we will not be supporting as it sets out to delete all after point 1 in our motion. This is a motion that puts forward a constructive plan that seeks to address the teacher recruitment and staff shortage crisis that we're currently facing in Wales. Of course, we would agree with the sentiments outlined in points 2, 3 and 4 of amendment 1, which are similar to the tone in our own motion, and I will go on to recognise some of the positive steps that the Welsh Government has taken. But point 5, Minister—I would certainly like some clarification from the Minister as to why this was even included. It's slightly confusing, and from my understanding—correct me if I'm wrong—education is fully devolved here in Wales. Teachers' pay is fully devolved here in Wales from 2018, as set out in the explanatory memorandum to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Order 2020.

As we're discussing teachers' pay in Wales, apart from trying to shift the blame to the UK Government and attempt to have another pop at them—which I know you enjoy doing as a Government, which is both draining and baffling in this case, and which, considering the point, is completely irrelevant to this motion—I can only think it's an attempt to hide the fact that you have no concrete plan in place to address the concerns that we, the unions and teaching staff at schools have raised time and time again,which are laid out in our motion today. I can't see that point 5, apart from being churlish, is offering any constructive comment to this Welsh Conservative motion and debate today, which is actually trying to make a difference to the lives of children and teaching staff here in Wales. 

As for amendment 2, we'll also not be supporting this. It's a great shame that Plaid's amendment offers nothing new or constructive to add to our motion. It suggests deleting point 4, which is the main point in our motion and offers a constructive plan to support teacher recruitment and address staff shortages here in Wales. I can't disagree with any content within it, but by deleting our point 4, it would water down any positive suggestions that we are putting forward to the Government here today and, as such, we will not be supporting it. 

I'll debate a point that needs to be made in this Chamber until I'm blue in the face, but I also give credit where credit is due, and this Government has made some efforts, as you've outlined, to improve teacher recruitment and staff shortages, but it's just not good enough—it's really not. In terms of teacher recruitment, if I was a teacher marking this Government's effort on teacher recruitment and staff shortages, I would add these comments: not a bad effort, but there is much room for improvement. You, the Welsh Government, make some aggressive amendments to our motion, but the facts are there. Wales is currently facing a teacher shortage crisis, and it is for this reason that we, the Welsh Conservatives, have brought this debate to the Chamber today to highlight this, and to ask you on behalf of the children and teaching staff in Wales, to make a plan to safeguard their education by improving teacher recruitment in Wales, and to do so as a matter of urgency due to the urgent need to do so. 

I would like to at this point take this opportunity to pay tribute, Deputy Presiding Officer, to recognise the hard work and dedication of teachers and school staff across Wales, particularly during this COVID pandemic. It has been an exceptionally difficult time for them and pupils, and all teaching staff are continuing to do an exceptional job whilst facing continuing and increasing pressures. These pressures were apparent and prevalent well before the pandemic began, because of the chronic underfunding by successive Labour-led Welsh Governments. We acknowledge that teachers in Wales continue to face unprecedented pressures as we move out of the pandemic and implement the new curriculum. Through increased workloads, staff and pupil absences increasing due to COVID, and a significant impact on teachers' well-being, they are all hampering the roll-out of the new curriculum, as well as having an impact, of course, on staff recruitment. 

I commend the work that you outlined last week in this Chamber that you're doing on mental health and supporting staff mental health, as a result of reacting to the crisis in schools that teaching staff are facing in terms of mental health: 82 per cent of school staff responding to a survey saying that it has a negative impact on their mental health. Teachers' workloads substantially increasing also raised concerns about staff burn-out. Schools have suffered people leaving the profession for some of these reasons that I've outlined already, and they are struggling to recruit new teachers, and thus have become overly dependent on supply teachers, as well as substantially and disproportionately increasing the workload of teaching assistants, as outlined by my colleague, Peter Fox, yesterday. It is clear that this Government need to bring forward a plan to boost teacher recruitment in Wales for a variety of different reasons. After two decades of Welsh Labour-led Governments, they have managed to oversee a decline in teachers' numbers of 10.3 per cent between 2011 and 2021, including a drop in numbers of teachers able to teach through the medium of Welsh—something my colleague will clarify later.

A clear plan is what we need from this Government: a clear plan to set targets to deliver 5,000 teachers across Wales in the next five years, to refund tuition fees for those that go on to work as teachers for at least five years in Welsh schools, and to guarantee all newly qualified teachers at least one year of employment in a Welsh school or college. Ambitious, but it's forward thinking, and we want that teacher recruitment and retainment in Wales. Are you wanting a—? No.

To achieve this, the Education Workforce Council could be given powers to accredit different roles into the profession, including allowing teachers from other countries to convert their qualifications to those permitting them to work in Wales. A lack of funding from this Welsh Government has hampered the ability of schools to employ sufficient numbers of staff. The National Association of Head Teachers have raised this as a very real concern, and it's just not good enough. We need fundamental reform of teacher recruitment, which is why we are calling on this Welsh Government to establish a Welsh education advisory service to improve access to employment opportunities and establish more pathways into the teaching profession. This will allow a new route for teacher recruitment by creating a new database of qualified teachers, allowing schools to more easily search for teachers and schools to fill vacancies, operated using data from the Education Workforce Council in Wales. Teachers could capitalise on this, then, by providing in-house continuous professional development, upskilling and reskilling, which would be a great opportunity.

I look forward to the Government's response to our debate today, and hearing the plans that they have to tackle this ongoing crisis and the legitimate concerns of our schools, and I hope Members across the Chamber can support our motion today.