Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’m grateful to all the Members who’ve contributed to the inquiry and to the debate this afternoon. In many ways, Deputy Presiding Officer, I felt the inquiry was a great example of the Assembly and Government: the correct tension that needs to exist between the two institutions, as referred to—an occasional tussle between us all—but also the committee putting very firmly on the Government’s agenda some issues that are of clear national importance, and the committee reporting in a robust fashion and compelling Government and the Minister to consider the approach that has been taken. And I will say that the response of this committee—Members have generally been quite kind about the response of the Government, but the response, actually, isn’t simply what was written and published in the documentation that we’ve seen and discussed today; the response in many ways was the fact that we were compelled to actually have a debate that probably wouldn’t have taken place without the committee’s investigation, without the committee’s report, without the evidence that the committee took and without the conclusions that the committee made on the basis of that evidence. And compelling Government to actually look hard at its priorities, to look hard at its programme, the way we seek to move forward, has ensured that the words that have been described by Members this afternoon and used by witnesses to the inquiry over the last few months have actually had an impact on changing in policy and in changing the approach and direction of Government. I think it’s right to begin my contribution this afternoon by acknowledging that, and acknowledging the work that the committee’s done over the last few months.

I think there’s broad agreement that high-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting many people to achieve their full potential, and makes a very real difference to the lives of young people, whether it is through different experiences that are opened up to people or the support it offers. It does underpin many of our priorities, from education, health to community regeneration. I’ll decline Dawn’s kind offer to discuss Communities First this afternoon, but we are absolutely clear in our minds that the work of community regeneration and community development is aided and supported by the wider youth work agenda. We recognise that, and we recognise the points that have been made.

I’m pleased to be able to accept or accept in principle all 10 recommendations. I approached the committee report in a way that sought to look at how we can enable these things to happen, not looking for reasons not to accept recommendations, but looking for reasons and ways of accepting those recommendations. I will say to Hefin that that’s not always been the case, I think it’s fair to say, over the years, and I hope that he’s enjoyed his first inquiry, as a member of the committee here. And I certainly hope that he’s found the experience of scrutinising Government in this way as one that’s both been enjoyable and also critical in changing the direction of policy.

Can I respond to some of the concerns that have been raised about the need for a clearer strategic direction? I was very taken by Darren Millar’s contribution in terms of describing the way that the Government does need to establish a far clearer direction of travel. I think that was clear during the evidence session that we had together, and I think I have already committed to refreshing ‘Extending Entitlement’, the statutory guidance that underpins the provision and delivery of youth support services in Wales. A detailed action plan will be developed and published by the end of March 2017. My officials are working with the subgroup of the youth work reference group to develop a plan for the refresh of ‘Extending Entitlement’ and they will meet for the first time in two weeks. This work will cross a number of different ministerial portfolios, and it also includes youth support services more broadly and not simply youth work.

We will also need to review the current national youth work strategy to inform the work of refreshing the statutory guidance. My officials have already begun discussions with members of the youth work reference group on how we will develop this piece of work. I would invite the committee to continue its work and to continue its scrutiny of this refresh, and to play a part and a role in doing so, and that’s something I’d very much welcome if committee members were to do so.

A number of Members have discussed the concerns raised about the lack of engagement with the sector and young people. I recognise the description that Julie Morgan gave in her contribution. I recognise very much the points that you made, Julie, and I think you’re absolutely right to make those points. I met with the youth work reference group on 8 December, and I and my officials will continue to work with the group to shape the future of youth work delivery in Wales. I hope that young people’s participation will always remain central to the work that we undertake, and we will certainly seek to utilise the expertise of stakeholders, including Young Wales, to ensure that we are able to reach some people who are not always a part of these processes. I will certainly be looking at how we can do that and if the committee has further contributions to make as to how we would do that, then I would very much welcome hearing those views.

I understand what is said about a national model, and I know that Llyr Gruffydd has spoken widely on this, in terms of the need to have a national model and the way that we take that forward. I want to give this some further consideration, and I do not, today, wish to pre-empt that consideration. But let me say this: I recognise the comments that have been made. I think Darren made a comment in the debate today about the Government rushing on, taking decisions and implementing decisions whilst the committee is undertaking its inquiry, and I think Llyr has made that point on other occasions as well. There are times when I feel that, as a Minister, I cannot sit back and wait, I have to take decisions and move forward, and there are other occasions—and we’ve discussed the Welsh language in education strategic plans this afternoon—when I feel that it is more important for me to sit back and wait until I am in a position to take a reasoned decision on these matters. This is another example where, at the moment, I wish to take a more reasoned approach and an approach where I would wish to give myself more time to listen to what is said and to understand what the refresh of ‘Extending Entitlement’ and the review of the national strategy tell us before taking a decision on this matter. I hope that Members and the committee will appreciate the reasoning behind that.

But I do listen to and hear the concerns raised by all Members on the closure of open-access provision. Julie Morgan gave us an example in her own constituency, but we’re all familiar with that. It is difficult for local authorities—we know that, and Dawn Bowden has given examples of that, and we’re all familiar with the difficult decisions facing local authorities.

It has a strategic role to play in offering a mechanism to identify potentially vulnerable young people and providing early intervention support. It is clear also that the youth work landscape is changing and open-access provision is also changing. I want to be able to work with local government in order to ensure that we are able to have the sort of provision that we wish to see. Llyr described it, I think, as being overly optimistic, possibly—‘ambitious’ was your word. Very ambitious, yes. I hope that we are able to achieve that, and certainly, what we want to explore is whether sufficiency assessments might be a suitable vehicle to assist local authorities to assess the needs of their local populations and then be able to meet those needs.

There will be a number of different issues regarding funding and the revenue support grant. We know that the RSG is an unhypothecated funding stream, and it is, therefore, a decision for local authorities as to how this funding is utilised. Hefin has discussed that himself and, as somebody who’s served on a local authority, he knows better than most the difficulties that local authorities face in taking these decisions.

I hope that we will be able to undertake a review of all of our youth work funding streams including the revenue support grant, to identify the true impact and to support future thinking for supporting youth work in Wales. I can see that time is against me, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I won’t test your patience any further. What I would like to say in conclusion is that this is a report that has changed the way that we’re thinking. It’s forced us to think twice, think three times about what we’re doing. We will continue to work with the committee to take these matters forward, and I hope that I’ll be in a position to come to this place to make an oral statement on these matters in the near future. Thank you.