Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Between 2003 and 2014, there have been no fewer than seven reports expressing concerns about the state of advocacy services in Wales. The Children and Young People Committee of the third Assembly published three reports and made a range of recommendations and repeated calls about the provision of advocacy services for looked-after children and other vulnerable groups of children. Between 2012 and 2014, the then children’s commissioner also published three reports with recommendations on statutory advocacy provision. I think it is also sobering to remind ourselves where this advocacy journey we are on actually began, as it almost coincides with the birth of this institution and the publication of the Waterhouse report, ‘Lost in Care’, back in February 2000.

That report, 17 years ago, found that victims of decades of widespread sexual and physical abuse of children in north Wales care homes had not been believed or listened to. It recommended that all looked-after children should have access to an independent advocate. It is, therefore, high time Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales put this issue to bed once and for all.

I think it is important today to remind ourselves why independent advocacy services matter. Simply put, advocacy gives a voice to our most vulnerable children and helps keep them safe. The National Youth Advocacy Service Cymru told our committee that independent advocacy is fundamentally a provision to safeguard and protect the most vulnerable children and young people in Wales. This was a message emphasised by the children’s commissioner who told us clearly that advocacy services are not an optional extra—they are absolutely necessary safeguards for our most vulnerable children. She also reminded our committee that, from Waterhouse and other inquiries to the events that have occurred more recently in Rotherham, children’s voices have not been listened to and have been overshadowed when they have been at their most vulnerable.

There are around 25,000 children who would be eligible for support in Wales. In 2016, 2,936 were on the child protection register, 5,554 were looked-after children, excluding those on the child protection register, and 15,884 were classed as children in need. The committee recognises that progress has been made. I welcome that the existing statutory duty to provide advocacy to looked-after children and other relevant groups was restated in the recent Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. But much more needs to be done to make sure that this is translated into a reality in the lives of our most vulnerable children.

Much of the committee’s inquiry is focused on the need to implement a consistent national approach to advocacy in line with recommendations set out in the reports published by the children’s commissioner—work that began four years ago. Although we recognise that there’s been progress in recent months in this area, the committee now wants to see urgent progress made in delivering this national approach. The committee made eight clear recommendations, which, if implemented appropriately, would go some considerable way to alleviating the problems identified by the multiple reports over the years.

I am pleased to see that the Cabinet Secretary has listened to the committee and responded positively to most of the recommendations we have made. The commitment by Welsh Government to deliver a national approach for statutory advocacy provision is one that is very much welcomed by the committee and across the sector. I cannot stress enough, though, that this needs to be a meaningful and successful transition to a national approach and not one that falls short of expectations. Clear arrangements need to be in place to ensure this approach is implemented, co-ordinated and monitored on an ongoing basis.

Achieving the national approach by June 2017 will be an important milestone, but fully delivering the approach beyond this date will be the measure of success. I know that key stakeholders have valid concerns about the sustainability of the model, especially once the implementation manager finishes post in June and in the absence of a stakeholder advisory group.

I am pleased that Welsh Government has at least accepted in principle the recommendation to provide a detailed update on the move towards a national approach in June. But I would ask the Cabinet Secretary to fully sign up to this and to come back to the committee later in the year to discuss the progress we hope will have been made.

This committee does not intend this report to sit on a shelf. And we plan to monitor progress on the national approach vigorously. It was disappointing to note Welsh Government rejected our recommendation calling for annual monitoring of local authority spending on advocacy services and funding based on population needs. We feel it is imperative that these essential services are funded on the basis of need. That funding, in two years, will go into the rate support grant to be monitored by regional partnership boards, and there are very real concerns, especially in the climate of such pressure on social services, as to how this funding will be monitored and reflect the growing needs of the looked-after, child protection and children in need population.

Before I conclude these opening remarks, I want to thank everyone who gave evidence to our inquiry. I want to place on record special thanks to the All Wales Children and Young People’s Advocacy Providers Group, which is made up of organisations who I know have campaigned tirelessly on this issue for years. Our thanks also to the children’s commissioner and her team for their persistence and commitment on this issue, without which I do not believe we would have made the progress we have to date.

In closing, I want to emphasise to Members that this is an issue that will not go away. Successive Governments and local authorities have so far failed to adopt a model that has met the needs of our most vulnerable young people. We want to see a clear commitment from Welsh Government to end this cycle of reports being published without a great deal of progress being made. This needs to be something we get right. The safety of our most vulnerable children depends on it.