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: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for children and young people learning at home? OQ56340
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: 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: 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, 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: 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. 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: 9. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of Brexit on the NHS in Wales? OQ56200
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: 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: 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, 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: 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: 2. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health in Wales? OQ56142
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, I very much welcome the findings of the Education Policy Institute, which said that digital devices in Wales had been rolled out much more quickly than in other UK nations, a finding of course that they also made in relation to school meal provision, which has certainly been brought into very sharp relief this week. As you know, though, the situation, as we...
Lynne Neagle: 4. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that learners in Wales are not digitally excluded? OQ56113
Lynne Neagle: Will the Minister make a statement on additional financial support provided to the Welsh Government by the UK Treasury in response to the coronavirus pandemic?
Lynne Neagle: I'd like to ask for a statement, please, on the operation of the childcare offer for Wales during these tier 4 arrangements. Parents in my constituency have been told that if they decide not to send their children into nursery, because they're trying to follow the Welsh Government's advice to stay home, they will either have to pay the money themselves or lose their place. And further to...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Minister, and I very much welcome the action that you took before Christmas to take us into alert level 4, and I also wanted to pay my heartfelt thanks to our NHS and social care staff, who are dealing with an unprecedented public health emergency. You referred in your earlier comments to the importance of keeping children and young people in school, which I entirely concur with,...
