English: Can I thank Darren for his series of questions? Perhaps I can start where he left off. In one breath, Darren says, 'You're spending too much money on PDG, and that is at the expense of non-PDG children in schools,' but then he says, 'Why haven't you introduced an Ever 6?' [ Interruption.] 'Why haven't you introduced an Ever 6?' I would love - and have looked very carefully at the principle of being able to introduce an Ever 6 system here with the Welsh PDG. I simply don't have the resources available to do that. To be able to implement an Ever 6 would do what Darren has just accused me of doing - prioritising the spending on this grant over other children. Now, Darren, I would agree with you that free school meals might not be the perfect proxy for what constitutes disadvantage, but, at this present time and in the absence of anything else, that's the best proxy that we have at the moment. Darren also asked about the issue of best practice. Increasingly, we are aware of what works for our most disadvantaged children, and we have already issued guidance to both schools and to individual regional consortia around the use of an evidence-based approach to spending these resources. One of the most accessible resources is the Sutton Trust toolkit, which I know that Darren and the committee are very, very familiar with, as evidence-based interventions that we know work. Darren will also know, from the evidence I gave to the committee just before the Easter recess, that we are considering looking at a Welsh version of the Sutton Trust toolkit, building on Welsh interventions, Welsh experience, and what we know is working here in our schools. But, as I said in my opening statement, Estyn have themselves said that this is one grant where there is extensive evidence that schools are indeed using the evidence to direct their investments. Darren asked about the issue about the 2016 PLASC data and the use of PLASC data. What's important to understand is that PDG allocations have always been behind - that's how they always have been. Darren asked a very reasonable question - why have we chosen 2016 as the base for the next two years? I have done so for a very simple reason, acting Presiding Officer. We have used that data because it is what allows me to get the most money into the system, because, actually, because of a whole range of factors, free school meal eligibility is dropping. So, 2016 gives me more money than using 2017 data, and we've frozen it for two years in consultation with the profession, because we simply do not know, at this stage, what the effect of the roll-out of universal credit will be on free school meals on Wales. It could present us with changes in behaviour that could see huge fluctuations in free school meal take-up and, therefore, big fluctuations in individual schools' budgets. We have taken the decision that it is better - it is better - to be able to provide certainty of resource for schools for the next two years for planning, rather than take a chance on what the impact of universal credit will be on the free school meal provision, because I simply do not know. Given the fact that I would be first to admit, Darren, that these are challenging financial times for our schools, certainty over that budget is what is important to those practitioners, and the 2016 data gives me more money than the 2017 data would have, and I'm trying to get as much money into the system as I possibly can. And that's the reason for that investment. The figures in 2017 are complex, and, whilst no direct comparisons are able to be made, I was very clear in my statement that those children were less resilient to the changes to the examinations than their better-off peers, and we have to be clear about why that is, and there are a host of reasons - everything from tier 2 vocabulary and oracy levels that are needed now to get a maths qualification, through to people being taken out of other core subjects to get them through their maths and their English. There are a host of reasons, but I'm also exploring this with our independent overseers of our qualification system, Qualifications Wales, to get a better understanding. But let's be clear: there are some schools where their free-school-meal pupils did better than their non-free-school-meal pupils. So, Cefn Hengoed in Swansea: those entitled to free school meals did better in their GCSEs last year than their better-off counterparts. There are certain schools within the city of Cardiff with very similar levels of uptake of free school meals. Some of those schools have got significant numbers of those pupils getting their level 2 plus, and a similar cohort in the same city have not done so well. And that variation in the system, where some schools have been able to insulate their free-school-meal pupils and push them on, and have been successful in doing so, and schools in the very same city have not been able to do so, is of concern to me, and that is why we will be expecting our PDG co-ordinators in our regional consortia to ensure that best practice - where those schools that are bucking the trend and their pupils are doing well, that good practice is shared consistently across all schools. Because if some can do it then all should be able to do it.
Welsh: A gaf i ddiolch i Darren am ei gyfres o gwestiynau? Efallai y gallaf ddechrau lle y gorffennodd ef. Ar y naill llaw, dywed Darren, 'Rydych yn gwario gormod o arian ar y grant datblygu disgyblion, a hynny ar draul plant heb grant datblygu disgyblion yn yr ysgolion,' ac ar y llaw arall, mae'n dweud, 'Pam nad ydych wedi cyflwyno Ever 6 erioed?' [ Torri ar draws.] 'Pam nad ydych wedi cyflwyno Ever 6 erioed?' Byddwn wrth fy modd - ac rwyf wedi edrych yn ofalus iawn ar yr egwyddor o allu cyflwyno system Ever 6 yma gyda grant datblygu disgyblion Cymru. Yn syml, nid yw'r adnoddau ar gael imi wneud hynny. I weithredu Ever 6 byddwn yn gwneud beth oedd Darren yn fy nghyhuddo o'i wneud - sef blaenoriaethu gwario ar y grant hwn ar draul plant eraill. Nawr, Darren, byddwn yn cytuno â chi nad prydau ysgol am ddim yw'r procsi perffaith ar gyfer diffinio anfantais, ond, ar yr adeg hon ac yn absenoldeb unrhyw beth arall, hwn yw'r procsi gorau sydd gennym ar hyn o bryd. Gofynnodd Darren hefyd am y mater o arfer gorau. Yn gynyddol, rydym yn ymwybodol o'r hyn sy'n gweithio ar gyfer ein plant mwyaf difreintiedig, ac rydym eisoes wedi cyhoeddi canllawiau i ysgolion ac i gonsortia rhanbarthol unigol ynglŷn â defnyddio dull sy'n seiliedig ar dystiolaeth i wario'r adnoddau hyn. Un o'r adnoddau mwyaf hygyrch yw pecyn cymorth Ymddiriedolaeth Sutton, y gwn fod Darren a'r Pwyllgor yn gyfarwydd iawn ag ef, fel ymyriad seiliedig ar dystiolaeth sy'n gyfarwydd i ni yr ydym yn gwybod ei fod yn gweithio. Bydd Darren hefyd yn gwybod, o'r dystiolaeth a roddais i'r Pwyllgor cyn toriad y Pasg, ein bod ni'n ystyried edrych ar fersiwn i Gymru o becyn cymorth Ymddiriedolaeth Sutton, gan adeiladu ar ymyriadau Cymru, profiad Cymreig, ac ar yr hyn y gwyddom ni sy'n gweithio yma yn ein hysgolion. Ond, fel y dywedais yn fy natganiad agoriadol, mae Estyn ei hunan wedi dweud bod hwn yn un grant lle ceir tystiolaeth helaeth bod ysgolion yn defnyddio tystiolaeth i gyfeirio eu buddsoddiadau. Gofynnodd Darren ynghylch y mater yn ymwneud â data CYBLD 2016 a defnyddio data CYBLD. Yr hyn sy'n bwysig i'w ddeall yw bod dyraniadau'r grant datblygu disgyblion o hyd ar ei hôl hi - dyna sut y buont erioed. Gofynnodd Darren gwestiwn rhesymol iawn - pam y dewisom ni 2016 fel y sylfaen ar gyfer y ddwy flynedd nesaf? Fe wnes i hynny am reswm syml iawn, Llywydd dros dro. Fe ddefnyddion ni'r data hwnnw oherwydd y mae'n fy ngalluogi i roi cymaint o arian â phosibl i mewn i'r system, oherwydd, mewn gwirionedd, oherwydd amrywiaeth o ffactorau, mae prydau ysgol am ddim yn lleihau. Felly, mae 2016 yn rhoi mwy o arian imi na defnyddio data 2017, ac rydym wedi ei rewi am ddwy flynedd mewn ymgynghoriad â'r proffesiwn, oherwydd nid ydym yn gwybod, ar hyn o bryd, beth fydd effaith cyflwyno'r credyd cynhwysol ar brydau ysgol am ddim yng Nghymru. Efallai y gwelwn ni newidiadau mewn ymddygiad a fyddai'n arwain at amrywiadau enfawr yn y niferoedd sy'n cymryd prydau ysgol am ddim ac, felly, amrywiadau mawr mewn cyllidebau ysgolion unigol. Rydym wedi penderfynu ei bod yn well - mae'n well - gallu rhoi sicrwydd adnoddau ar gyfer ysgolion ar gyfer y ddwy flynedd nesaf er mwyn iddynt allu cynllunio, yn hytrach na chymryd siawns ar beth fydd effaith y credyd cynhwysol ar y ddarpariaeth o brydau ysgol am ddim, oherwydd nid wyf yn gwybod beth fydd hynny. Fi fyddai'r cyntaf i gyfaddef, Darren, bod ein hysgolion mewn cyfnod heriol iawn yn ariannol, sicrwydd o ran y gyllideb honno sy'n bwysig i'r ymarferwyr hynny, ac mae data 2016 yn rhoi mwy o arian imi na fyddai data 2017, ac rwy'n ceisio cael cymaint o arian ag y gallaf i mewn i'r system. A dyna'r rheswm dros y buddsoddiad hwnnw. Mae'r ffigurau yn 2017 yn gymhleth, ac, er na allwn wneud cymariaethau uniongyrchol, yr oeddwn yn glir iawn yn fy natganiad bod y plant hynny yn llai gwydn i wrthsefyll y newidiadau i'w harholiadau na'u cyfoedion mwy cefnog, ac mae'n rhaid inni fod yn glir ynghylch y rhesymau dros hynny, ac mae llu o resymau - popeth o eirfa haen 2 a lefel llafaredd sydd eu hangen bellach i gael cymhwyster mathemateg, i bobl sy'n cael eu tynnu allan o bynciau craidd eraill er mwyn llwyddo mewn Saesneg a mathemateg. Ceir llu o resymau, ond rwyf hefyd yn ymchwilio i hyn gyda goruchwylwyr annibynnol ein system gymwysterau, Cymwysterau Cymru, i gael gwell dealltwriaeth. Ond gadewch i ni fod yn glir: ceir rhai ysgolion lle gwelir disgyblion sy'n cael prydau ysgol am ddim yn gwneud yn well na'r disgyblion nad ydynt yn cael prydau ysgol am ddim. Felly, Cefn Hengoed yn Abertawe: fe wnaeth y rhai sydd â hawl i brydau ysgol am ddim yn well yn eu harholiadau TGAU y llynedd na'u cymheiriaid mwy cefnog. Ceir rhai ysgolion o fewn Dinas Caerdydd gyda niferoedd tebyg iawn yn cael prydau ysgol am ddim. Mae gan rai o'r ysgolion hynny nifer sylweddol o'r disgyblion hynny yn llwyddo yn eu lefel 2 plws, a charfan debyg yn yr un ddinas heb wneud cystal. Ac mae'r amrywiad yna yn y system, lle mae rhai ysgolion wedi gallu ynysu eu disgyblion sy'n cael prydau ysgol am ddim a'u datblygu'n llwyddiannus, ac ysgolion eraill yn yr un ddinas yn methu â gwneud hyn, yn fy mhryderu. A dyna pam y byddwn ni'n disgwyl i'n cydgysylltwyr grant datblygu disgyblion yn ein consortia rhanbarthol sicrhau bod arferion gorau - lle mae'r ysgolion hynny sy'n mynd yn groes i'r duedd a'r disgyblion yn gwneud yn dda, bod eu harferion da yn cael eu rhannu'n gyson â'r holl ysgolion. Oherwydd os gall rhai wneud hynny, yna dylai pob un fod yn gallu gwneud hynny.