Thank you very much, temporary Presiding Officer. I agree with what the Minister said at the end—Welsh belongs to us all—and that's why it was nice to hear people who I know can speak some Welsh within our group, but we haven't heard it in the Chamber so far. So, could I just start by saying that I was very pleased to hear James Evans and Gareth Davies speaking Welsh in the Chamber today? So, I congratulate both of them. And the Minister is right in terms of what he said: 86 per cent of people believe that the Welsh language is something to be proud of, and he's right that it doesn't matter whether you speak Welsh or English, or if you know some Welsh words; it's important that you develop the language skills that you have, and, as I said at the outset, that was my story as well.

James Evans and Mike Hedges and the Minister talked about confidence, which is the most important thing when it comes to speaking Welsh and everyday Welsh language skills. But it's also important that people in Wales can have Welsh-medium education, and that's why it was nice to hear Sioned Williams and Mike Hedges talking about the importance of Welsh-medium schools and their availability. And Mike is right: both of us represent Swansea, and we've seen developments in the city of Swansea in terms of Welsh-medium schools over recent years. But as Heledd Fychan mentioned, 'Cymraeg 2050' has an ambitious target—nobody is shrinking from that. The only way that we can reach that target is by co-operating and working in partnership. 

And the reason that we've brought this debate forward today is that we want to be a critical friend to the Government. We want to encourage the Minister to redouble his efforts, I hope, particularly if we look back at the 2021 census. I'm sure that we're all very aware of the challenges facing the education sector. We've heard Laura Anne Jones talking about the problems that the education sector faces, particularly in terms of the recruitment of Welsh speakers to teach through the medium of Welsh in first-language and second-language Welsh settings. And a high percentage of teachers are nearing retirement, and a great number of them could choose to retire early, but despite this we're not recruiting enough new teachers who can teach through the medium of Welsh. This will be a barrier in five, 10, 15 years' time, and it will hinder the Welsh Government's ambitions to have a million Welsh speakers, which we all want to see. According to the Welsh Government's own data, in order to reach that target, they should be recruiting 550 teachers per year, but the reality is very different—the true figure is 500 teachers short of the necessary recruitment target. So, in light of this, could I encourage the Minister for the Welsh language to redouble his efforts to ensure that we have enough teachers who can teach through the medium of Welsh in the future?

And let's be clear: these recruitment challenges are very complex. There is no one single answer to this, but that's why we need co-operation between the Welsh Government, higher education, further education and local authorities. Everyone needs to be singing from the same hymn sheet. I know that my fellow Member Samuel Kurtz has raised with the Minister the importance of accreditation of initial teacher education as a possible solution to these challenges. I'd like to hear more from the Minister on this issue after the consultation came to an end at the end of January. I hope that everyone agrees that partnership in initial teacher education can play a key role in developing an education workforce that is bilingual. We have to ensure that the criteria align with the Government's policy by providing practical ways in which the Government can show that 'Cymraeg 2050' is not just a target, but an intention as well.

To close, Llywydd, I'd like to reiterate my initial point. The purpose of this motion is not to apportion blame on the Welsh Government, or whatever. We want you to succeed. We all want to see you succeed. We all want to see a million Welsh speakers in Wales, but for that to become a reality, we have to be ready, to be progressive and ambitious in our decisions. And with that, I encourage all Members to vote in favour of our motion today. Thank you very much.