Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to speak in this debate about the committee’s report. Previous speakers have stressed how important it is that we have a fully developed advocacy scheme that covers the whole of Wales and that covers every local authority because it is the most vulnerable children who need it. We are letting them down if we don’t actually deliver this. I suppose, really, the main message from the committee is to get on with it. We heard a lot about the preparations that have been made, the discussions that had been had and commitments that had been given, but now I think it’s just got to be delivered because we owe it to the children of Wales. I know that during the course of the committee the Minister Carl Sargeant did give his personal commitment to seeing this through.

I was reminded of the vulnerability of children when I had a short debate very recently on the alleged abuse in the 1950s in the Llandrindod Wells schools for the deaf because research by my constituent, Cedric Moon, revealed that young deaf boys had been abused by a housemaster. But this abuse was never brought to the attention of the schools’ authorities until one of the boys, who had some speech, was abused and he then let the authorities know. The other boys had been unable to communicate what was happening to them and, of course, there were no advocates. To me that is an absolute prime example of where you needed an advocate to speak up for those vulnerable young boys. They couldn’t speak and there was no-one to speak for them. I’m pleased, as a result of the publicity for that debate, that there is now an inquiry going on into what happened, but it does illustrate how urgently we need advocacy.

I think there are particular groups of children who do specifically need advocacy. During the course of our report, the children’s commissioner highlighted those, and other people have referred to them today. But I do think there are very big issues with children who are in care, children who have mental health problems and, I think particularly as well, children with communication problems. The National Deaf Children’s Society gave evidence to the committee. They suggested the Welsh Government should issue minimum standards for advocacy services that take into account the distinct needs of deaf children and young people: the very children who cannot take part in debate and discussion. There were recommendations that they made about a basic level of deaf awareness and an understanding of the barriers deaf children and young people encounter. They did consult with deaf children on what was needed. They sent a list of the sorts of things that young people said they wanted:

My dream advocate is going to be nice, not interfering how I present my work, helpful, one of my best friend’ and ‘trust’, ‘young’, ‘to make you confident’, and ‘I want to be involved’. Many of the young people also said that they would like to be able to communicate with an advocacy service that could be done through text, e-mail or other social media, and also talked of the need for an interpreter for those who use sign language.

Obviously, a lot of progress has been made and I hope we’re nearly there. I think the committee report is giving an impetus for, we hope, the very last stage. But, obviously, there are still some concerns. The All Wales Children and Young People’s Advocacy Providers Group, who’ve given evidence to the committee and who have worked closely with us, have stressed the importance of external monitoring. They feel that a stakeholder advisory group should be re-established, so that work can be done with people who are actually working in the field. What I feel very strongly about is that as this is rolled out there should be engagement with young people as part of the implementation plan, because we are committed to children’s rights in this Assembly and I think it’s absolutely essential that young people are drawn into the debate and drawn into the discussion about how this is actually implemented. So, I hope this report will give the final stimulus to make this happen.