Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to hear that the programme announced today will ensure that every child and young person in Wales will have a book to keep. I was reminded recently of the pleasure I got from reading a book called Luned Bengoch as a child—a book that has just been re-issued and is now available once again in the shops. I had huge pleasure in re-reading that book just last week, before a meeting of a local book club that I’m a member of. It’s clear that the reading habits you pick up when you’re very young do remain with you. Establishing strong early language skills is a crucial part of literacy and a child’s ability to realise his or her educational potential and life chances, whilst also crucial to the ability to create social relationships with family, friends and peers.

There is research by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists that shows that the COVID period has exacerbated the delay in acquiring speech and language skills among young children, but I’m pleased to hear you mention that there are signs of that improving. There is also research undertaken way before the pandemic. There is evidence available that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be behind their peers in terms of the acquisition of speech and language skills by the time they start in primary school. Research from Save the Children shows that around eight in 10 reception teachers in Wales see clearly that children coming to their schools have difficulty in speaking in full sentences, and that children who have difficulties with speech and language during their early years are often still behind their peers in terms of key literacy skills at the age of 11.

So, there are numerous challenges facing Welsh Government, and I’m very pleased that you have recognised that, and that the plans that you’ve announced today go at least some of the way to addressing some of these major problems that we have. Bearing in mind just how crucial early years education is in developing reading and oracy skills, I’d like to hear more about the toolkit that you mentioned, which is going to be put in place for the early years. What exactly will this entail, how will it look and what will be new about it? Can you also outline what steps will be taken to respond to that attainment gap that I mentioned, bearing in mind that children from a disadvantaged background are more likely to fall behind their peers in their development of oracy and reading skills? You mentioned phonics. Why did you emphasise that particular method? Is that going to help specifically with closing that attainment gap? Are there specific advantages in terms of that aspect that need to be addressed?

And finally, in order to deliver the objectives of 'Cymraeg 2050' and improve the oracy and reading skills of children through the medium of Welsh, it’s clear that we need to train enough teachers to be able to teach through the medium of Welsh. I’m not going to apologise for asking once again about your plans to increase and strengthen the Welsh-medium education workforce specifically. I note that in your statement today you have emphasised the importance of bilingualism and creating materials in both languages, which is to be welcomed, of course, but we do need to see a plan in place that will move us forward in increasing the workforce too that can assist children in improving their oracy and reading skills. Thank you.