Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:25 pm on 20 November 2018.
Thank you to Siân Gwenllian for her comments. I'm very pleased to have her as a member of the committee as well. I completely agree with you on the children's rights issue. It has been a constant theme in the Assembly—that we are concerned that, despite this wonderful start back in 2011, there has been a dilution of that commitment in recent years for what seem like very worthy reasons, with things like the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. But, as I said earlier, there is a reason why we've singled children out, and we have to stick to that really. I hope that we can progress this, working with the other committees.
Another very positive suggestion that came out last week was to look back at the excellent work that was done, when Jane Hutt was Cabinet Secretary for Finance, around children's budgeting, because it isn't enough to just talk about these things; we have to make sure that they happen. I think that it would be wonderful if we, as an Assembly, could make sure that we do continue to lead the way in this area. I would be very, very enthusiastic about that.