Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:02 pm on 2 April 2019.
Trefnydd, I would like to support David Rees's request for a Government statement on the very problematic inspection report on youth offending services in Western Bay, and I would ask you and the Government to reconsider your decision not to bring forward a statement. I won't reiterate the points that David Rees has already raised about the seriousness, but I would point out to you and to others that out of the 14 recommendations that the inspectorate made, six of those are for devolved organisations—they're for local authorities, they're for the health authority, they are for children's services. Now, as David Rees has rightly pointed out, these are some of our most vulnerable children and young people. I think we have all, actually, probably most of us across this Chamber, been glad to see Wales taking a slightly different approach, despite the fact that this isn't a formally devolved matter. It must, therefore, be a concern of us all—and I very much hope it would be a concern of the Welsh Government—that this report is telling us, for example,
'The service and partner agencies do not always undertake actions to reduce vulnerability. Some children and young people are not safe.'
Now, that is surely something that we cannot dismiss as a non-devolved matter, when six of the actions are for devolved organisations, and I would ask you and the Government to reconsider whether it would be possible to bring forward a statement in Government time to reassure us all that these very serious matters will be adequately addressed. I'm aware, of course, and you will be aware, that there is a planned reorganisation that may help to alleviate matters, but this inspection report makes it clear that there is actually no plan for that planned reorganisation that was supposed to begin yesterday in terms of the services being taken back under direct local authority control. I would submit, Trefnydd, that this is not a matter, even though it is not a formally devolved matter, where the Welsh Government would want to simply pass the buck back to Westminster, and so I'd ask you to have further discussions with your colleagues and consider, given that both David Rees and I, and, I'm sure, others in this Chamber, would wish to ask questions about this—I would ask you to reconsider and consider a Government statement.