Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and may I thank Rhianon Passmore for bringing forward this important debate on music education? As I noted in my recent oral statement on the national music service and the national plan for music education, your passion and your commitment in campaigning on the importance of music education has been second to none. Many believe the plan ought actually to have been called the Rhianon Passmore plan for music education. But I also acknowledge her generous recognition of the contribution of many others to her campaign and lending their creative weight to the arguments that she has so diligently made, including the role of her own sister, which I know carries a particular significance for her. And I'll add my thanks as well to Jayne Bryant, and her words of thanks to the tutors and teachers across Wales who, day in day out, light up the lives of our young people by introducing them to the wonderful world of music.

Dirprwy Lywydd, as Rhianon Passmore mentioned in her opening speech, the theme for the debate links very clearly with the importance of taking active steps to support recovery in the wake of the COVID pandemic. It's certainly the case that the pandemic had a significant effect on music education and that a key focus now needs to be on rebuilding and supporting the well-being of our children and young people, and that this plays a significant role in that. The pandemic also notably, I think, impacted on the opportunities for making music with others as part of an ensemble or a choir or a brass band at school, community, local music service, or indeed at national level. And I think it's really worth noting that one of the key strands in the new plan is the programme on music for lifelong learning, health and well-being, which will focus on ensuring that learners, from an early age, are supported through music activities that we hope will inspire their senses and their imagination and that, through that, we'll banish the silence that Rhianon Passmore spoke about in her opening speech. 

This is one of a wide range of areas that is incorporated in the national music service model, which, as Members will know, has been developed through a co-construction process with our key stakeholders. Our vision for the service is to provide a radical new approach that many have spoken about for a long-term and sustainable future for music education. And, as a fundamental part of this, we want to ensure that all children and young people across Wales, regardless of background, have opportunities to access and engage in musical activities and to learn to play a musical instrument—those opportunities unlimited that Rhianon Passmore spoke about. 

And the foundation for the service I think, Dirprwy Lywydd, will be strengthened through close links with the curriculum to ensure access for all learners, providing enhanced opportunities for tuition and experiences. And with that significant funding investment of £4.5 million a year, a total of £13.5 million up to 2025, the national music service supports provision for schools and settings on a wider basis, music ensembles as well, and music in communities, together with professional learning for practitioners themselves. 

The delivery of the specific strands for primary and secondary schools and settings will start from September. In primary schools, learners will get a minimum of half a term of musical instrument taster sessions delivered by trained and skilled music practitioners, and these sessions will help children to progress in their experiences of taking part in and creating music, and will support each school's individual needs, if you like, in realising the expressive arts area of the curriculum. At a secondary level, schools will receive funding for experiences that will support young people's health and well-being and their progression to GCSE music, providing them with opportunities to develop in playing an instrument or singing, and so nurturing their talents and ambitions and hopefully discovering the new Shirley, the new Tom or new Catrin, as has been referred to already. 

The music service will be underpinned by the new national plan for music education. It sets out the vision that experiencing the joy of music in all its forms should be at the heart of every school and every setting, and it will help provide opportunities for all of our children and young people to play, sing, to take part in and to create music, both in the curriculum and also in the wider community. It will also provide a platform for celebrating that rich culture and national heritage that we have, which speakers in the debate have already referred to. 

And on that wider level of culturally focused support, if you like, in responding to the pandemic, we've provided over £60 million in funding for cultural organisations. Through the Arts Council of Wales, we're supporting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Community Music Wales, Live Music Now Wales, Mid Wales Opera, Welsh National Opera, Trac Cymru and Tŷ Cerdd, and we are committed to seeing a culture sector that is accessible, diverse and inclusive, and the music sector is really leading the way on that. I'm sure we would all agree with that. 

I should add, in conclusion, Dirprwy Lywydd, that well-being has been a key focus of our wider approach to supporting learners with the impacts of the pandemic, and this is pat of that overall picture. Our renew and reform plan, which has been supported by over £270 million in the last financial year, placed learners' physical and mental health and well-being at the heart of its approach. And, whether it's the Summer of Fun or the Winter of Well-being, that has provided opportunities for access for many of our young people to cultural and creative activities as well. And I'm determined that the emphasis on well-being and flexibility that we've seen over the course of the pandemic is built upon in the work that we are talking about here today and closely aligned with the curriculum. And, through the programme of activities, the national music service will work to ensure that lack of money is not a barrier to learning to play an instrument and that every child and young person, no matter their background, no matter their family income, is able to benefit from music education, as many of us have. Diolch yn fawr.