Lynne Neagle: We know that the pandemic has meant unprecedented pressure, heightened anxiety, and a greater risk of mental health problems for new parents. We know too that all this is happening at a time that is absolutely critical—those first 1,000 days of a baby's life, which can influence their development throughout their lives. Before Christmas, this Senedd passed a motion, tabled by myself, Bethan...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Llywydd. Ten years ago, a new law, the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011, put children’s rights on a legal footing in Wales. It’s now more than six years since all parts of this legislation have been fully in force. This means that Welsh Ministers must now have regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child when exercising any of...
Lynne Neagle: The Children, Young People and Education Committee has worked hard to ensure that children’s rights have been at the heart of all our work during this fifth Assembly. Children’s rights matter in everything we do. This has been the case whether we are scrutinising Government policy on youth services or mental health, whether we are considering the need for legislation about the physical...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to everybody who has contributed to the debate. I'll try and pick up on some of the points that have been made. Can I thank Laura Jones for her contribution and for her kind words about the committee that she made? I think it was very valuable that Laura highlighted what the committee had said about the importance of having a dedicated...
Lynne Neagle: As Laura said, the complaints mechanism is vitally important, and that was echoed by Helen Mary Jones, who said that rights are meaningless unless you've got a form of redress, and that is absolutely right. That's why we think this needs to be taken forward as a matter of urgency, so that we can ensure that children and young people are able to enact their rights. I'd like to thank Helen Mary...
Lynne Neagle: 9. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of Brexit on the NHS in Wales? OQ56200
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, First Minister. In the House of Commons last week, we saw Tory MPs vote down the Lords amendment to the Trade Bill that excluded NHS data from the scope of any future trade agreements, leaving the door open to the possibility of companies using that data to develop tools and medicines to sell back to the NHS. While Tory Ministers consistently tell us that the NHS is not for sale in...
Lynne Neagle: 5. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of Brexit on young people in Wales? OQ56249
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, First Minister, and, as you know, I've spoken before in the Senedd about how, as a young person from a deprived community who'd never even had a foreign holiday before, I was able to study at the University of Paris thanks to funding and support from the Erasmus programme. There seems to be little doubt that the Turing programme will be a very inferior successor, and there are real...
Lynne Neagle: 8. Will the Minister provide an update on how the Welsh Government is building resilience within public protection services in local government? OQ56235
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Minister, and I'd like to take this opportunity to place on record my heartfelt thanks to the public protection team at Torfaen County Borough Council, who've worked tirelessly in fast-changing circumstances to help keep people in Torfaen safe during the pandemic. The pandemic has definitely brought into sharper relief than ever before the vital role of health protection services...
Lynne Neagle: Each year, our committee considers how the Welsh Government's draft budget provides for the children and young people of Wales. Throughout this Senedd, we've called on the Welsh Government to provide clear information about how it has assessed the impact of its financial decisions on children and young people. This is not because we think Ministers should do this, it's because the duty of due...
Lynne Neagle: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for children and young people learning at home? OQ56340
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, First Minister, and it was absolutely fantastic to see our youngest children going back to school yesterday, and unlike Andrew R.T. Davies and, it seems, Boris Johnson, I think it's really important that Governments should follow their own scientific advice, which means that our children in Wales will be learning at home for a longer period, as we manage that return to school...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Llywydd. One of the highlights of my time as Chair of the Senedd's Children, Young People and Education Committee has been the opportunity to watch the Youth Parliament develop. To work with its Members on the scrutiny we undertake as a committee and as a Senedd has been a genuine privilege, and I'm in no doubt that the establishment of the Youth Parliament has enriched the debate...
Lynne Neagle: 6. What plans does the Minister have to roll out asymptomatic workplace testing in Wales? OQ56326
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Minister. The aerospace sector is worth more than £1.4 billion in Wales and employs over 11,000 workers, including many people from Torfaen. However, it has also been very badly hit by the COVID pandemic, and those workplaces may well not have either the resources or the ability to undertake their own workplace testing. What assurances can you give that the new strategy you...
Lynne Neagle: What discussions has the Minister had with the Children's Commissioner for Wales about the impact of the latest lockdown on the mental health of children and young people in Wales?
Lynne Neagle: I'm proud to speak in a debate today in support of Welsh Government's plans for high-quality, developmentally appropriate, inclusive, equality-based RSE for all children in Wales. Those Members who have read our Stage 1 committee report will know that the Children, Young People and Education Committee gave our unanimous support to the plans, having listened carefully to the evidence we heard....
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to make a brief contribution in this debate, and it is difficult, I think, to do justice to such a wide-ranging report in this debate. There were a few issues I wanted to pick up on; the first was the very clear link made in the report for the continued need to see action on both 'Everybody's Business', the health committee's suicide...
