2. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the Welsh Government's powers to advance children’s rights? OAQ52458

I thank the Member for the question and for her commitment and her work in this area generally. Members will know that the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 requires Ministers to have due regard to the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child when exercising their functions. This requirement rightly continues to influence the Government’s policies, legislation and decisions.

Thank you. I recently attended the children, young people and democracy event here in the Senedd, where I was shown what seemed to me to be a really innovative Street Law project that is designed to give children a good understanding of the law and their rights. It was actually highlighted when Hillary Clinton visited Wales recently. Given our commitment to children's rights and given that information is power, what more can the Welsh Government do to ensure that our children and young people do have sufficient understanding to uphold their rights?

This is a really vital issue. I think, as I've said before, legislating for rights is important, but unless you know how to find your rights and how to enforce your rights, they will always have a limited impact. In terms of the accessibility of the law to children and young people, there are particular challenges and particular strategies that we need to use in order to ensure that young people and children have the full effect of the rights that we legislate for on their behalf. The Welsh Government has a number of strategies for raising awareness, actually, amongst children and young people of their rights. I, too, was at the event in the Senedd, and I thought it was really illuminating—the range of organisations there working to increase advocacy on behalf of children and young people, but actually, more importantly, participation by them in the democratic process. I thought the Street Law initiative, which is based in Swansea University, is a really good example of that.

I was at the same event that she was at when the Llywydd was interviewing Hillary Clinton, and I thought it was marked how former Secretary Clinton was emphatic about the progress that Wales is making in this area and the emphasis that Wales is placing on this important issue. I'd commend to her as well a paper issued by the Children's Legal Centre in Wales, which is the first research paper they've issued, which is about this very issue of public legal education for children and young people in Wales. There are some very interesting ideas about what can be done on a Government level, but across Wales, to enhance public legal education, in particular in the context of children and young people.

You referred, Counsel General, to the UNCRC and the protection that has under the children's rights Measure. I don't think it's just Government that looks at children's rights when it's developing its legislation, but I think it's fair to say that we as an Assembly consider that very strongly as well, when we decide to pass those laws. The operation of those laws lies in the hands of many of our public services, and I wonder what your view is on whether public services—whether that's local authorities or hospitals, health boards and so forth—should also pay due regard to the way that they implement those laws. Do we need statute for that to happen, or does your obligation to have due regard pass down to local authorities, for example, when they're doing that? It's a particular issue when it comes to the decisions about closing schools, and there's one in my area at the moment that I'm thinking of particularly. Thank you.

I thank you for that question. I didn't mean to suggest that the Assembly wasn't also engaged in that work. Obviously it is, and it has passed legislation to that very end, so I'm obviously very happy to acknowledge that. She will know of the report that my friend the Minister for children and social services, as he was at the time, launched in March, which indicated where we are in terms of compliance with the Measure generally and included some very useful analysis of the next steps that we need to take in order to ensure that the children's rights agenda is embedded much more broadly across the Welsh public sphere. I'm sure he will be giving that attention in the coming weeks and months.

I'm sure you will be aware of questions that have been asked by the children and young people committee and by the children's commissioner on the Government's budgeting process, where we more and more receive integrated impact assessments, rather than, for example, specific impact assessments on the rights of children. So, can I ask you as a Government to look at that again, and for you, as Counsel General, to confirm for yourself that you are meeting the legislative requirements both domestically and internationally by not holding specific impact assessments in relation to the rights of children, to ensure, for example, that we won't see decisions such as the abolition of the school uniform grant, as we saw recently, without there having been a thorough assessment?

May I thank the Member for that supplementary question? As I said to Suzy Davies, the Government has carried out an analysis of what we will need to do following the Bill, to ensure that we will actually attain the aim. I will take into consideration the comments that he has just made.