Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to be able to make this statement this afternoon and in doing so I want to start by expressing my own personal gratitude to all of those people who've worked with me to develop and test the blueprints for youth and female offenders over many months.

People in the criminal justice system are some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. Too often people are caught up in the criminal justice system because they themselves have been failed earlier in their lives, suffered multiple adverse childhood experiences or abuse, much of which continues into their adult lives. We must end this cycle. We are letting people down, but we are also creating a demand on public services that we are simply not able to meet. But, Deputy Presiding Officer, it is always the human impact that drives me and my approach to this policy.

Like many others, and like we've heard in the Chamber this afternoon, I want to see the devolution of the criminal justice system as early as possible. I have previously set out to Members my determination to develop a distinct approach to justice in Wales, to focus on preventative action and to break this cycle. Whilst we operate within a complex legal framework, overall control of the justice system at present continues to rest with the United Kingdom Government, so today we will continue to work within the parameters of the current devolution settlement on justice whilst recognising that, in order to deliver the best for our people, we do need the devolution of this system.

To continue to make progress and improvements in all areas of criminal justice, tackling the whole system is crucial. I want us to make quicker progress in certain areas of the system, namely youth offending and female offending. We have developed new ways of working and tested new models of delivery and we have already made progress. Since last year, my officials have been working across the Government, with the United Kingdom Government, the Prison and Probation Service in Wales, police and crime commissioners, and a range of other stakeholders in justice, health and education to develop and deliver new approaches to youth offending and female offending.

On youth offending we believe that early intervention and prevention can help divert young people away from the criminal justice system. We support the trauma-informed enhanced case management approach with these more complex young people, greatly reducing the rate of first-time offending and re-offending rates. However, more young people are becoming involved in violence and more serious organised crime. The growth of county lines is one reason, but I accept that there are many other reasons for this as well.