10. Statement by the Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee: United Nations Universal Children's Day

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:15 pm on 20 November 2018.

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Photo of Lynne Neagle Lynne Neagle Labour 7:15, 20 November 2018

Thank you, Janet Finch-Saunders, for those remarks and for the kind words, which are much appreciated. A number of the issues that you raised were in relation to the children's commissioner's report. As you know, the children's commissioner will be before us on Thursday, and we'll have the opportunity to directly question plus follow up those issues then, and they are all very important issues that she's raised.

I agree with you on the children's rights impact assessments. This has been an ongoing concern for the committee, and you'll be aware that, last week, we held the concurrent meeting with the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Finance Committee, and I'm hoping that, as a group of committees, we can take forward those recommendations to make those impact assessments more meaningful. But what I would say is that there's a reason why children are singled out for a particular impact assessment, and that is because they don't have a vote, they don't have that kind of democratic say, so I think it is particularly important that we ensure that their rights are at the heart of what we do. Thank you for the comments, and I agree with you on the Youth Parliament.