Turning to the advice element of the duty, the Bill is already clear that it must be impartial. Section 6, together with section 7, requires the local authority, in making arrangements to provide information and advice, to have regard to the importance of children, their parents, and young people being provided with the information and support necessary to enable them to have full participation in decisions. I'm satisfied that the approach the Government has taken in amendment 28 is more appropriate, and I would urge Members to support this amendment rather than amendment 4 in the name of Darren Millar.

Turning to Darren's other amendments, I cannot support amendment 1, which proposes that the code must be accessible to children. Let me be absolutely clear: the code is a legal document intended for practitioners. Its audience is not and should not be children and young people. The Bill is clear that the code will provide guidance to and impose requirements on persons exercising functions under the Bill. By its nature, it will be a technical document setting out much of the detail of the statutory ALN system. It will also be a form of subordinate legislation requiring approval by this Assembly. It's not appropriate, therefore, for it to be written in child-friendly language as the amendment seems to be suggesting.

However, nevertheless, local authorities, as part of their duty to make arrangements to provide information and advice about ALN, will ensure that children and young people are provided with information about the ALN system covered by the code. This information must be provided in ways that are appropriate to the age and the level of understanding of that audience. Furthermore, as part of the transformation programme, the Welsh Government will ensure that information to assist children to understand the system, as outlined by the code, will be reproduced in an accessible and child-friendly way.

I'm afraid I can also not support Darren's amendment 5. I agree that children and young people should be provided with information and advice about advocacy services on each occasion that they might need access to these services. Section 7 of the Bill already requires local authorities and governing bodies to make arrangements to provide information and advice about the ALN system. As part of this, a local authority must take reasonable steps to make known its arrangements about avoidance and resolution of disagreements and independent advocacy services.

Section 4(5) of the Bill allows the code to include mandatory requirements on these issues, and the code will be used to set out the various points at which information about advocacy services must—and I repeat, must—be provided to children and young people. This will apply especially when notifications of decisions are being made. The draft code already includes material on this, including template notification letters to be used following key decisions. This will be considered further as we continue to develop the code—a full consultation on which will happen in the new year. Therefore, the Bill and code already deal comprehensively with the point that is proposed in the amendment. So, amendment 5 is not required, and I would urge Members to reject it.

Finally, whilst I fully appreciate and agree that we need to make sure that young people are able to make informed decisions, I'm afraid I cannot support Darren's amendments 6, 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15. The Bill, together with the code provisions, already provides for this. Post-16 education is not compulsory. At the end of compulsory schooling, young people take decisions about their education: where they study, what they study, and how they study. That is why the Bill enables young people, where they have the capacity to do so, to decide whether they want decisions to be taken about whether or not they have ALN and whether or not they have an IDP.

I fully agree with Darren that young people who may be entitled to an IDP should be provided with all the appropriate information and support to enable them to fully comprehend the implications if they decide to withhold consent in this process. Section 6 of the Bill already covers the point. It requires those exercising functions under the Bill to have regard to the importance of the young person participating as fully as possible in decisions, and to the importance of young people being provided with the information and support necessary to enable participation in those decisions. The Bill also requires local authorities to make arrangements for providing information and advice about ALN, and it enables the code to impose requirements in respect of such arrangements and in relation to decisions about ALN and the preparation of IDPs. These existing provisions make Darren's amendments 6, 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15 unnecessary, and I would urge Members to oppose them on that basis.