Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. We are all familiar with the challenges the pandemic has presented to our education community. One of which has been the increase in learner absence, across all year groups and across all characteristics of learners. We know there are a range of reasons or underlying causes for learner absence, and this has been further exacerbated over the last two years. This is a key finding to emerge from the review of attendance patterns, which I commissioned at the end of 2021.

To respond to this growing challenge, we will need a whole-system approach. Today, I will be outlining a number of actions that we as a Government will be taking to support the education community in supporting their learners.

There is a well-established link between attendance, attainment and well-being. My priority, above all else, is to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to reach their potential, regardless of their background. Tackling learner absence is key to this. Even before the pandemic, 10.5 per cent of secondary pupils eligible for free school meals were absent, compared to 4.7 per cent of those who aren't eligible. These figures are stark and require a national response.

The high levels of pupil absence have been a UK-wide trend, but we must be cautious about making comparisons. England's figures are based on a survey of schools with a daily response rate of only 50 to 60 per cent, whereas Wales regularly achieves close to 100 per cent of returns from its schools.

Additionally, for most of the pandemic, our data have measured 'not present'. So, every pupil is counted as absent, even if they were learning from home. This is for safeguarding reasons. So, being absent from school is not the same as being absent from learning.

First, I would like to outline a step up in our national communication to families on the importance of their child attending school. The last two years have been incredibly difficult for many families, and it's understandable why this has caused so many of them a degree of anxiety. We have remained mindful of these anxieties, but the balance of harms is now clear.

Young people need to be attending school. They need to be seeing their friends and they need to be learning in the classroom. This is vital for their well-being and for their education. We will therefore be increasing communication with parents and carers to address any concerns that they still have, and emphasise the importance of going to school.