I am speaking today on behalf of the Children, Young People and Education Committee. Budget allocations are one of the most important ways the Welsh Government can evidence its stated commitments to policy areas and population groups. Allocations made to support our children and young people are no exception. One of our jobs as a committee is to scrutinise the priority the Welsh Government attaches to funding services for our children and young people. This is not a one-off annual exercise for us. We seek to build financial scrutiny into all our work throughout the year. We do this to make sure we are as clear as we can be about how much money is being given to support our children and young people, for what purpose, and whether it delivers value for money.

It is no secret that, as a committee, we have some concerns about how money is allocated for children and young people in Wales. We recognise that funding for children and young people cuts across numerous policy areas and portfolios. We understand the challenges this can present when outlining a draft budget. Nevertheless, we believe significant work remains to be done if the information presented by Welsh Government is to be as transparent as it needs to be to enable this legislature to hold Welsh Ministers to account for their decisions.

On this basis, we were very pleased to engage in a new innovation this year. As the Chair of Finance Committee has already said, we met concurrently with members of both the Finance and Equality, Local Government and Communities Committees to scrutinise the Government’s strategic integrated impact assessment. We intend to report jointly on our findings in the new year, to help inform the budget next year, so I won't pre-empt that.

However, at this stage, I will flag that our committee believes firmly that being able to demonstrate how children’s rights have shaped policy and financial decisions from their inception is key. Despite our best efforts in recent years, we remain disappointed that we have not observed more tangible progress in this regard.

I’ll turn now to some detailed areas of scrutiny, starting with our thoughts on education. We welcome the Welsh Government’s reversal of its original intention to cut education resource spending in 2019-20. We further welcome the more recent announcement that additional funding will be given to local authorities to meet the cost pressures of implementing school teachers’ pay. However, we would welcome more detailed information about this additional money, and would seek reassurance from Welsh Government that it is confident that the final budget will be sufficient to fund our schools sufficiently.

In terms of funding for further and higher education, much of the narrative in this area has been shaped by the recent Diamond and Reid reviews. The delivery of the recommendations of both of these flagship reviews relies heavily on the realisation of the so-called 'Diamond dividend'. In 2016, we were told that Diamond would deliver a future dividend for the sector. This year, we heard simply that the sector will not be disadvantaged. While we recognise the Cabinet Secretary’s description of the dividend as a'moveable feast', this apparent change in tone was of concern to us. As a result, we believe projections ought to be made available for scrutiny. We also believe adequate resource ought to be made available in the final budget to enable the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to fully fund its strategic priorities and begin funding the recommendations of the Reid review. After all, research and innovation are afforded a fundamental place in 'Prosperity for All', and require adequate funding if they are to become realistic prospects for our further and higher education sectors.

Turning now to health, social care and children’s services, it will not surprise this Chamber to hear that the emotional and mental health of our children and young people is a key priority for us. Our 'Mind over matter' report presented the evidence underpinning our calls for adequate resources in this area. While we welcome the steps taken recently by the Welsh Government to begin implementing our recommendations, we were concerned to learn that much-needed ring-fenced funding to deliver transformation in specialist child and adolescent mental health Services will be transferred to the all-age mental health ring fence. We believe this funding should be protected for CAMHS until support reaches the levels required and outcomes for children and young people have demonstrably improved.

Finally, Llywydd, I’ll turn to looked-after children, who are some of our most vulnerable young people. We repeat the calls made in our report on targeted funding to improve educational outcomes to ensure that the pupil development grant is funded sufficiently to support both adopted and looked-after children adequately. We also seek assurances from the Welsh Government that the funding available to Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service is sufficient to deliver its important work. Thank you.