As we’ve heard, of course, already, children in care are especially vulnerable, and outcomes are too often much poorer than we would wish, with those in care likely to have fewer qualifications, being at an increased risk of homelessness, mental health problems and the risk of ending up in the criminal justice system. Now, the number of looked-after children in care has steadily risen over the past 15 years, from around 3,500 back in 2000 to over 5,600 last year. Now, this clearly indicates that pressure on the services will continue to rise and that changes are necessary to ensure better outcomes for these children and young people. And, looking at the graph, you could see that there is a clear jump after 2008, after the economic crash—not immediately maybe, but about a year or 18 months later. Some might argue that that might have coincided when the cuts and austerity measures started to bite. There may be evidence out there to prove or disprove that, but I have to say that the jump was quite striking when you looked at the graph. And if there is a correlation between the recession and the number of children in care, then we have to ready ourselves for a potential further increase in demands for services in this post-referendum Wales. So, there is, I think, a huge imperative on the Welsh Government to act now to ensure that we do all we can to meet this challenge. And we all recognise, I’m sure, that a lot has happened in terms of legislation and strategies, but I think the time now is for a more relentless focus on the outcomes that we are looking for.

Education, of course, being one of those that has already been highlighted and how well looked-after children do in school, and whether they go on to further training or employment as well, of course, is often considered to be an important measure of how well this group of children have been supported. There are excellent examples out there of successes, of course there are, but the general statistics tell us quite a grim story. Indeed, there is a wide gap between the attainment of looked-after children and that of pupils generally.

The Member for Llanelli referred to this earlier. At foundation stage, the gap is 23 percentage points; at key stage 2, the gap is 24 percentage points; at key stage 3, it increases to 36 percentage points; and, as we heard earlier, the gap is at its widest at key stage 4, with a 40 per cent difference—up from 30 percentage points in 2004, by the way. The latest statistics show that 45 per cent of care leavers aged 19 were not in education, employment or training last year. Whilst that is the lowest percentage in the past nine years, it’s clearly still unacceptably high.

Looked-after children need stability, of course, as we’ve heard, rather than being continually moved between placements. If children are moving too frequently, then clearly changing schools also has a disruptive effect on their education as well as being more likely to suffer in terms of mental health too. As David said, in Wales, around 9 per cent of looked-after children had three or more placements in the year, and, although this is a gradual decline from 13 per cent in 2004, clearly it’s still too high.

There is too, I have to say, inconsistency within the education system on how adopted or fostered children are dealt with and the possibility that the perception of them being different may result in bullying. Some schools appreciate the issues and offer excellent support, but there are others out there that do not.

Estyn reported today that pupils educated outside the classroom often miss out on the benefits of the wider curriculum and specialist help. I haven’t had time to look at whether the report particularly considers looked-after children in any way, but I do know that the Government set up the task and finish group last year to consider those in education other than at school—something, of course, Keith Towler, the previous children’s commissioner, referred to as a cinderella service back in May 2014. Now, that task and finish group reports in September, and I would ask the Secretary maybe to discuss with the education Secretary whether that task and finish group could actually specifically consider looked-after children as a particular group within this particular context. Another suggestion made earlier today as well was whether Estyn could actually undertake a thematic review maybe of work with looked-after children in schools across Wales to better inform deliberations and strategies in this respect.

Plaid Cymru has been broadly supportive of the approach taken in the last Assembly and, clearly, I would support efforts to strengthen the current arrangements as long, of course, as it has that relentless focus now on improving the outcomes.