Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 28 November 2017.
I thank David for his comments, not least in respect of our former colleague, Carl, and his work in this area, and many other areas as well. It's right to remark that, often, this area, in the past, has not received the attention it was probably due. It was easily overlooked. The whole issue of children and young people in care settings is so easily overlooked, because it only makes the headlines when something goes wrong, as opposed to a collaborative approach, as we're now trying to strive for, which can really have quite a dramatic impact on the outcomes and the life opportunities of young people. And, certainly, Carl saw that very much. He was, indeed, instrumental in establishing the ministerial advisory group and making sure, indeed, that it had that independence and that authority that comes with that independent voice. It is clearly non-partisan. It is very much collaborative in its approach. It's the opposite of finger-pointing. The only pointing that it does is to point at the gaps in provision or knowledge or data or strategy or plans and say, 'Right, now how do we all come together to deal with this?'
I'm delighted that David has taken on the gamut of continuing to chair it, because, having played such a good role already, I think the continuity is very important. As I say, I think the work that the group is doing—the ministerial advisory group—on improving outcomes has reached a point where, already, it has an impressive array of work streams that it's been involved with that have led to tangible outcomes and changes in policy, and it seems to be at that point where it's going to kick on to another step change. I have no doubt, again, it will have direct impacts on the children and young people we're looking at.
Indeed, the work of Jonathan Scourfield I'm aware of and I hope to be meeting soon as well to discuss the work with him and his very much holistic approach on how we tackle these issues, including those wider issues of poverty and the family circumstance, not simply focusing on the child or young person themselves.
So, I trust and have full confidence in the role of David, both in this Assembly, as a Member of this Assembly, but also in chairing that group, to give challenge to the Government, but also to do it in a way that says, 'This is the way in which we can resolve these issues', rather than simply saying, 'Well, hand us a bankroll of money and we can solve it'. We all know it's not as simple as that. It's a number of clever, intelligent interventions on a sustainable way.