Thank you, Llywydd. I'm pleased to contribute to this Stage 1 debate to outline the Children, Young People and Education Committee's main recommendations and conclusions in relation to the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill.

Members will see from our report that the majority of our committee supports the general principles of this Bill. Suzy Davies and Janet Finch-Saunders do not support the Bill progressing beyond Stage 1, and I'm sure they'll outline the reasons underpinning their position later this afternoon.

Before I get to the detail of why the majority of our committee supports the Bill, I want to thank all those who submitted evidence setting out their views. I would also like to thank those parents and representatives of organisations who spoke directly with us. It takes time and effort for people to do this. In the case of those not familiar with this place, it can also take courage. As a committee, we would like to place on record our thanks to everyone who contributed. I would also like to place on record the committee's thanks to our committee team, who as always have provided exceptional support to the committee as we undertake our scrutiny.

From the outset, I want to emphasise that we fully recognise the strongly held views on both sides of the debate about whether this Bill should become law. I hope the length of our report and the detail contained within it demonstrate the importance we attached to considering views from across the spectrum of opinion. We know that a proportion of the population will not agree with our conclusions. However, we hope that the approach we have taken demonstrates to both the Bill's supporters and opponents the committee's commitment to fair and robust scrutiny and consideration of the evidence and views we heard.

To this end, we invited the data science campus at the Office of National Statistics to undertake an impartial analysis of the views expressed in our public consultation on the Bill. I would like to put on record our thanks to them for their work. We received a wide range of information, heard a wide range of opinions, and gave detailed consideration to the breadth of evidence available to us.

An important part of our work was to hear from those working on the front line, delivering services and having a statutory responsibility to protect children and act in their best interest. This included the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, social services, teacher representatives and a wide range of health professionals, including GPs, nurses, health visitors, paediatricians and psychiatrists. Without exception, they told us that this Bill will improve their ability to protect children living in Wales because it will make the law clear.

We were told that having a clearer law will help those on the front line to better protect children, including those who are most vulnerable. Professionals told us this Bill will make a significant difference because it provides a clear line for them, and importantly a clear boundary that parents, children and the wider public can clearly understand.

We acknowledge that the majority of individuals who responded to our consultation in a personal capacity did not support the general principles of this Bill. We heard a wide range of reasons for their opposition and we have reflected on these views in detail in our report. The majority of responses from individuals focused on how removing the defence will impact on parents. We were very clear that our primary concern as a committee must be to weigh up what the evidence tells us about the impact this Bill could or will have on children, and whether it will improve the protection the law provides for them.

We also considered the wealth of academic evidence that exists in this area. This covers a range of issues, including consideration of the evidence about the short and long-term impacts of physical punishment on children, and the impact on child outcomes in countries that have already prohibited it.

On balance, the majority of our committee believes there is a strong argument that this Bill will reduce the risk of potential harm to children and young people. We are not convinced that there is a potential for high numbers of prosecutions as a result of its passing. There is simply no evidence for that, and that is not the view of the police or the Crown Prosecution Service either.

Wales was seen to lead the way for children and young people and received international recognition when it introduced the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure in 2011. This was the first legislation of its kind in the UK, embedding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. We, and our predecessor committees, have consistently told the Welsh Government that this legislative commitment to rights must be made a reality in children’s lives.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has been very explicit that it wants the law on physical punishment changed in the UK. Most recently, in 2016, it said we should

'Prohibit as a matter of priority all corporal punishment in the family, including through the repeal of all legal defences, such as "reasonable chastisement" '.

The majority of our committee believes that, as a country, we cannot pick and choose the articles of the convention with which we comply. For us, passing this legislation will be a clear example of how these existing legislative duties can be translated into a meaningful reality for children in Wales.

In the time remaining, I'd like to turn to the things the majority of our committee thinks are needed to ensure that this Bill delivers its stated aims. In recommending that the Bill should progress, we are very clear that it is crucial that two things are in place to ensure that this legislation works for the benefit of children and their families. Firstly, we believe a wide-ranging awareness-raising campaign is essential. This is fundamental to the success of this legislation. We do not doubt the current Government’s intention to deliver this public awareness campaign. However, while future administrations will inherit the laws we pass, they may not share the same level of commitment to the mechanisms that are key to their effective implementation. As such, we welcome the Deputy Minister’s acceptance of our recommendation that the Bill be amended to place a duty on the Welsh Government to provide information and increase awareness about the effect of the legislation.

Secondly, we recommend that universal support be made available to parents across Wales. There is much more that must be done to help families with the inevitable challenges that parenting brings. We believe that providing support to parents to learn about and use alternatives to physical punishment when disciplining their children is essential to ensuring the Bill achieves the Government’s stated aims. This will require a step change and a strategic investment.

Given the importance the committee attached to the provision of adequate universal support for parents, I would like to probe the Deputy Minister a little further on her response to recommendations 7 and 18. We welcomed the Deputy Minister’s assurances during the scrutiny that an exercise was under way to map the support available to parents in Wales. We are therefore disappointed that the outcomes of the mapping exercise will not be available to us in time to inform the amending stages of this Bill. This is of particular concern to us given that the Deputy Minister’s desire not to pre-empt the mapping exercise is the reason cited for being unable to fully accept our recommendation 18, which calls for that step change in universal positive parenting support. I would be grateful if the Deputy Minister could indicate why this mapping exercise was not started earlier to ensure the Assembly had the maximum amount of information available to it. To assure both supporters and opponents of this Bill that sufficient support will be available to parents alongside this change in the law, I would urge the Deputy Minister to reconsider the current timetable for the mapping exercise.

I would like to close by thanking the Deputy Minister and her officials for the detailed response provided in advance of the debate, and to repeat my thanks to all those who contributed to our Stage 1 scrutiny. Diolch yn fawr.