Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:14 pm on 30 November 2016.
I agree that it’s important that we applaud the courage of the people who speak out in these cases, and the Waterhouse inquiry demonstrated in the year 2000 that children at that time hadn’t been believed, and that people hadn’t listened to them. And what that did, of course, was to place the spotlight on advocacy services here in Wales, which are a hugely important part of the provision in this context. Since then, of course, we have seen a whole host of reports—three by Assembly committees and four by previous children’s commissioners—expressing concerns about advocacy services in Wales. But we’re now, as I know the Cabinet Secretary will agree, looking forward and hoping that the national approach to statutory advocacy services will be put in place next year. But would you recognise, however, that we haven’t had the necessary strategic leadership from successive Governments here in Wales on this? Because waiting over 10 years to reach the point that we have reached—and we’re still not in a position where this national approach is in place—is unacceptable.