Thank you very much, Llywydd. May I also echo the thanks expressed to the chief inspector and his team in Estyn for the work that they have done, and for the way in which they engaged with the children and young people committee here in the Assembly by providing evidence and being so willing—in this context anyway—to bring their annual report before us?

I also want to focus on variability, and I’m grateful that the Amendment has been tabled by the Conservatives. It is certainly something we would have done if you hadn’t got in there first. I raised this directly with the chief inspector when they did come to provide evidence to us, and he was concerned, too, that not enough has been done over the years to tackle this issue. Of course, we can take action on individual school level—indeed, we need to take action at an individual school level, on the education authority and consortia level, and the national level to tackle it. So, there are a number of levels of activity that are needed to tackle this, and it relates to leadership, of course, in terms of tackling the quality of the teaching and learning, and it relates to continuous professional development of staff. In schools, we need to do more to create the culture and the conditions where teachers can share and discuss their practice with colleagues in an open way so that they can learn from each other within institutions, as well as sharing practice between institutions, too.

On a longer term basis, on a national level, as we have seen, there is some work now looking at improving initial teacher training and improving leadership through the academy and so on. Therefore, variability between schools and variability within schools, and that was one of the messages conveyed by the chief inspector—the same is the problem, essentially. When Estyn says that a school is performing well, what they are saying is that that school is consistently performing well. But when a school is adequate, well, perhaps that consistency isn’t in place; there are pockets of good practice, but there are also pockets of bad practice, and that’s where we get the variability, if truth be told.

The consortia were inspected last year, and Estyn said at that time that not enough had been done to tackle variability, particularly at the secondary level. That message is endorsed in this annual report. It is a feature of our best schools, of course, that they do create broad networks and that they are very proactive in learning from others, who will also have a positive experience from doing that—it works both ways. A consistent characteristic of the poorest providers is they are isolated, looking inward, rather than looking externally for good practice. That is something that we can change. I think we can tackle that relatively easily—well, ‘easily’ is a strong word, perhaps, but one of the issues is releasing staff to leave the classroom so that they can share their experiences, but the value of that is so great, I think, that it is something that we must emphasise more.

Another aspect of variability—and this touches upon the need to meet the needs of all learners, as is outlined in the second amendment—is the gap in performance between boys and girls, and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and other pupils. That gap tends to widen as they move through their school career, and I know, certainly in terms of disadvantage, and I’m sure in terms of the gap between girls and boys, that the Cabinet Secretary is eager to tackle this. But, as that gap does tend to widen, what does that tell us about our success in tackling this variability that exists within the education system? It may be a challenge for wider society, but there is a central role for schools here, too, and that is one of the major challenges, moving forward.

In terms of the Plaid Cymru amendment, not a single pupil referral unit inspected was identified as excellent by Estyn in this current year. Significant deficiencies were identified in terms of provision, leadership and management in all four. The performance of these units has been an area of concern for a number of years. Their relatively poor performance was raised in amendments to debates on Estyn reports by the Liberal Democrats in 2012-13, and again in 2013-14 by the Conservatives, and therefore I suppose that it’s our turn this time, unfortunately. Therefore, this is something that should have been tackled with greater urgency over the years. The most recent report as well as the previous annual reports, including the thematic reports, have shown that there is a need for urgent action in this area.

The Cabinet Secretary has mentioned her intention to improve the experiences of pupils in the pupil referral units, noting that she would use some of the additional resources available to her following the budget to that end. I also recognise that she is working with the former chief inspector to look at this situation, but the problem is old history by now. There was a reference in July last year in terms of the task and finish group on education other than in school, and that would formulate part of the emerging framework for action. That was the reference back in July, and I haven’t been able to find much more detail on that, and I would be grateful, in responding to the debate, if the Cabinet Secretary could give us a better idea of what the proposals are, what the timetables are, and where exactly we are in this area. Thank you.