Can I make it clear I'm speaking at the moment in my role as chair of the ministerial advisory group? Deputy Presiding Officer, this is the first chance I've had to pay tribute to Carl Sargeant, so I will take that opportunity, because Carl showed great vision and leadership in this area. To convene the group as a ministerial advisory group under the chairmanship of an opposition Member, I think emphasised both the non-partisan nature of this political challenge, but also that we do need the rigour and accountability of ministerial action, and, with that combination, we can really drive up standards. So, we've got a lot to thank Carl for, and we will do so as the work emerges in the next number of years.

Can I also put on record my thanks to the Minister that I have his confidence to continue as the chair of the ministerial advisory group, not least because of the excellence of its members and the many contributions they have already made? I'm pleased to say that the ministerial advisory group fully shares your vision, Minister, and that of the former Cabinet Secretary, that the heart of that is timely, effective, early intervention that ensures we take into care only those children who really need to be looked after and we support those children on the edge of care in their family settings. I think that really has to be at the heart of reform, and the ministerial advisory group was heartened by the £8 million that's been invested in driving this sort of change, with £5 million of that in the edge-of-care service development.

I'd also like to say that some things have emerged from the group that are now clearly reflected in Government statements. The link between deprivation and the numbers being taken into care was something that we specifically looked at in the ministerial advisory group, and I'm sure that the Minister will want to join me in commending in particular the work of one of our members, Professor Jonathan Scourfield of Cardiff University who has done so much in the statistical analysis of this issue, and has been vigilant in ensuring that the role of poverty and inequality is emphasised in any approach to developing policy in these areas.

I'd also like to say that work on educational attainment has progressed quite significantly. The attainment gap is still wide, and we need that ambition to close it. It needs to be connected up, clearly, to things like where foster carers are in providing that support at home for looked-after children. So, there are many loose ends, as it were, that need to be joined up to have this integrated approach. But we have had the first intimations of developing educational strategies that really do start to draw out the full potential of looked-after children and aim for that explicitly.

I think, when we look at care leavers, probably housing is the most important thing for them. For looked-after children, it is usually educational attainment in terms of what their life chances will be, and that feeds back into the stability of their care placement, because, if that's unstable and they're moving around, that's very disruptive. Often, it means they move school, for instance. But, for care leavers, housing and ensuring—through innovative methods like Housing First, where we absolutely preserve that tenancy and support it and ensure that that stability is provided to care leavers.

Can I end by just saying that I think the role of us all, and particularly our colleagues in local government, as politicians—corporate parenting is essential in this area? The great advantage we have is that it's non-partisan. There is no division politically on how we need to progress and the importance all parties place on this, but we need to give political leadership, as well, because it's not always been the case that, in the political arena, this issue has had the emphasis that it should, nor in the wider community or media, sometimes. So, we really need to be first, and, when we are talking about corporate parenting, I think that applies to the Minister, it applies to Assembly Members here, even though it sits more directly with our colleagues and friends in local government. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.