Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. High-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting many young people to achieve their full potential. Youth workers are educators, whether this takes place in a community youth club, on the streets, or supporting formal education in schools. Youth work practice provides young people with access to a diverse range of learning opportunities that can broaden their horizons, challenge their thinking, develop their skills, and enhance their life chances.

The evidence provided to the recent Children, Young People and Education Committee inquiry into youth work highlighted the need to bring about greater clarity in the relationship between national priorities, the deployment of associated funding, and local action to meet national expectations. In order to provide greater clarity, I have committed to reviewing ‘Extending Entitlement’, our statutory direction and guidance for youth support services. The importance of ‘Extending Entitlement’ as a lever for change cannot be underestimated. When it was first published 17 years ago, it was, and remains, regarded as a flagship policy for improving the opportunities and choices for all young people. ‘Extending Entitlement’ was comprehensive in the sense that it embraced all national and local organisations whose work impacted on the opportunities and choices of young people in Wales.

The review of the statutory direction and guidance needs to reflect today’s legislative, policy, and financial landscape and to set realistic expectations for what can be achieved. Presiding Officer, I am pleased to inform Members that Margaret Jervis MBE has agreed to lead on this review. Margaret has a wealth of experience and knowledge from her work supporting young people. She also played a key role in developing ‘Extending Entitlement’. It’s vital that young people inform the revised ‘Extending Entitlement’ and let us know their thoughts on the Wales youth work charter. I have asked Children in Wales, therefore, to gather the views of young people from across Wales, including ensuring the voices of those who are hardest to reach are heard. They will share their findings with me in July. A new ‘Extending Entitlement’, fit for today, will be put out to formal consultation in the autumn. Feedback from this consultation will inform the final guidance, which will be formally launched next summer.

Recognising the need for clear strategic leadership, I am establishing an independently chaired national youth support service board. We know that support for young people is likely to be most effective when it is part of a wider network. This is why I want this board to focus on the spectrum of youth support services, and not just youth work. The board’s role will be to provide constructive challenge and scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s policies and proposals for youth support services. Through consultation and collaboration with the statutory and voluntary sector, I want the board to advise on the review of ‘Extending Entitlement’ and the implementation of the recommendations from the Children, Young People and Education Committee inquiry into youth work.