I think Members across the whole Chamber would want to congratulate and thank Lynne for the way in which she’s not just led the inquiry into youth work, but the way she has not stopped leading it after the committee published its report. Certainly, as a Minister, it’s challenging, shall we say, to sit next to a committee Chair who has such a strong commitment to these matters in this Chamber, and I think we should all congratulate Lynne on the work that she does not just in the committee, but outside of committee as well.

You’re absolutely right in the points that you make in terms of involving young people in ‘Extending Entitlement’, and that ‘Extending Entitlement’ should lead to a new strategy. The reason why I’ve asked Children in Wales to take part in this process is to ensure that young people are represented—that the views of young people across the whole of Wales are included—and I’ll be asking Margaret to ensure that that process takes place to ensure that it’s an informed and knowledgeable process of reform and review, and not something that is simply based in meeting rooms. So, we will seek to actively do that.

I haven’t, I don’t recall, from any of the commitments I made in front of the committee over the last six months—. In terms of our open-access approach to comprehensive youth work support and services being available through the medium of English and Welsh across the whole face of the country, the commitments I made in the committee stand today, and I will repeat today.

In terms of the committee’s report, it did ask for a number of different updates over a number of different timescales—most notably, as has been pointed out, a six-month update. That will be provided to the committee and I would be happy to return to the committee if the committee felt it would help their deliberations to answer questions and to be accountable to the committee in terms of what we’ve done in delivering on the recommendations that the committee made. I would say to Lynne Neagle that the appointment and the establishment of the board will not lead to a delay. What it will do is to help implement those recommendations and implement the Government response to those recommendations. This isn’t a means of preventing, stopping or slowing down work. It’s actually a means of enabling us to do these things and enabling us to be able to deliver on these commitments in a more profound way. I’ve answered questions on how the board will operate and the make-up of the board; what I will say is I would expect and anticipate any board that is active in this field to have the voice, opinions, experience, knowledge and vision of young people as a central part of its means of operation and of the way in which it reaches conclusions on any matter. I would expect whoever is appointed to the board to have that in mind.

In terms of how we take forward funding and resources for these policies, we understand—I think there isn’t a single Member in this Chamber who doesn’t appreciate and understand the significant challenges facing public authorities at the moment in terms of budgets. We understand the difficulties facing the new authorities that will be elected next month, and we understand the challenges facing decision makers when it comes to the allocation of funding. I understand what is being said. It is certainly my intention to ensure that we do have sufficient resources available to deliver on the promises and the commitments that we make, but we do know, at the same time, that these are commitments that are made in the most difficult funding circumstances.