7. Debate: The Children's Commissioner for Wales's Annual Report 2016-17 — Postponed from 7 November

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:02 pm on 14 November 2017.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 4:02, 14 November 2017

If I could turn to the issues in, probably, the minute or so remaining, Hefin raised the issue of whether we'd continue to have dialogue with the children's commissioner on issues such as universal childcare, flexibility of Flying Start, ACEs and so on—absolutely right in saying that ACEs are not the be-all and end-all, some sort of hard-nosed, crude analytical tool: they need to be used to help the diagnosis of where the best early interventions can be made, that will insist the outcomes that we want to see for children and young people. If they're applied in a very crude way, frankly, they are unhelpful. So, they need to be used as an aid to what we do in terms of interventions, not as the be-all and end-all. But they are a useful analysis, I have to say, of where we could perhaps best exercise some of our early interventions.

He mentioned the aspect of Flying Start and flexibility that the children's commissioner and others have raised. Interestingly, in my area of Bridgend where Flying Start has been quite a success—and it's in many areas—one of the things I'm aware of is that there is some flexibility within the scheme, but it requires the local ability of those providing Flying Start to allow some slack within the Flying Start provision, so that when they have some slack they can actually extend it beyond the geographic boundaries as well into other areas, and we need to look at how we can do more.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I'm looking at the time and I think I'm probably within the last 30 seconds or so. [Inaudible.] Right, well can I just thank colleagues for very detailed—? You've probably covered every area of the children commissioner's report. Let me just finish by saying: we do need to ensure in all of this that we listen and take into account the views of children and young people about the issues that matter to them as well when making decisions that will impact upon them. And I know that I, and my Cabinet and ministerial colleagues right across the Cabinet welcome the opportunity to engage with children and young people, to hear the views expressed today and to take these ideas on board.

Now, I know this Assembly also values the participation of young people. We look forward to the development of the youth parliament, which is mentioned in the children commissioner's report and the introduction of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 on 1 April deepens the Welsh Government's commitment to children's rights. It requires us, and all other public bodies, to show we've thought through the effects of the decisions on life in the future as well as in this generation. So, going forward, we continue to work to improve outcomes for all children and young people in Wales, working across Government to achieve our priorities set out in 'Prosperity for All'. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd.