Thank you, Llywydd. It is a genuine honour to close today's momentous debate and to have the opportunity to thank everybody who’s been involved, over many months and years, to help us reach this important point in the history of our democracy here in Wales. It’s impossible to pay tribute to everyone individually, but our gratitude is significant nonetheless. Our particular thanks must go to the Welsh Youth Parliament Members. Having you here today with us is a genuine privilege for the Assembly. And can I say, from one inaugural Member of the Assembly in 1999 to all of you as inaugural Members of your Youth Parliament 20 years later, it’s great to be amongst the first?

Today marks a significant milestone in our work as a National Assembly and a Youth Parliament. Our commitment to working together as representatives of the people of Wales, across their ages, is one I warmly welcome as Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee. It’s clear from today’s discussions that, as two elected bodies, we share the same ambition. Our aim is to enable our people, whether young, old or anything in between, to live happy and healthy lives. I firmly believe that working together will provide us with a better opportunity of realising that ambition for the people of Wales. There is great truth in the old saying that the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts. It is apt that as we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in the year that the office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales celebrates an eighteenth birthday, our Youth Parliament begins its work.

The three priority areas you have identified have the potential to transform lives for the better. As many people know, the emotional and mental health of children and young people is an area particularly close to my heart, and I thank the Members who have made reference to the committee’s ‘Mind over matter’ work today.

I know I speak for all of us when I say that we are looking forward with great excitement and hope to watching your progress and seeing the outcomes of your hard work. But it is my firm belief that we shouldn’t only sit on the sidelines and watch your progress. Our committee has already benefited greatly from engaging with the Welsh Youth Parliament on proposals to remove the defence of reasonable punishment. Hearing the views of children and young people has been important to us in all elements of our committee’s work, and we look forward to building on this during the Youth Parliament's two-year term and beyond. I would encourage all other committees and the Youth Parliament to continue this mutually beneficial interaction. We have lots to learn from and share with each other.

I’d like to close today’s joint proceedings by re-emphasising article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, already referred to by Maisy Evans, Welsh Youth Parliament Member for Torfaen, so eloquently in her opening address. Article 12 states that young people have the right to express their views freely and have their opinion listened to in all matters affecting them. The establishment of the Welsh Youth Parliament and the signing today of the joint declaration, setting out the principles of how we will work together, is a huge milestone in our journey towards achieving that ambition. So, I will close by wishing all of us well in our joint endeavours.