Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 19 September 2018.

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Photo of Michelle Brown Michelle Brown UKIP 2:00, 19 September 2018

Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. On the point of the principle of whether children are safe with their parents, I would completely agree with you—we shouldn't be approaching this from the point of view that children are inherently at risk with their parents. However, Sally Holland has identified a risk. There is obviously a risk because one child who was being home schooled, who was then anonymous to the authorities, ended up dying. Now, I acknowledge that you've announced the establishment of a database to identify children not on the school register, but this falls well short of what the children's commissioner asked for when she said, and I quote:

'I've been calling for the government to act in a stronger way, so have all the directors of education in Wales, all the directors of social services and the government's own independent safeguarding board.'

She went on to say, and, again, I quote:

'For me the pace of change has been too slow and hasn't been strong enough to ensure every child gets the right to an education to be safe and to have their say.'

Is she right?