1. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on human rights in Wales? OQ55380

The Welsh Government is committed to upholding human rights, a responsibility that it takes very seriously. The COVID crisis has not diminished that commitment. Those rights are as important now as at any time in the past. The Welsh Government continues to ensure the protection of those rights throughout the management of the COVID-19 crisis.

I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his response and for his reassurances. He will, of course, as I'm sure we all are, be aware that this crisis has impacted more seriously on some sections of the population than others. We know, for example, about the economic impact on women and the longer term impact of having to do increased domestic duties at the same time as working from home, and, of course, the impact of the virus on black people and people of colour.

Is the Counsel General confident that the advice that he's been able to provide has ensured that the Welsh Government has exercised its public sector equality duty in how it has responded? Anecdotally, it would be my impression that certainly efforts have been done to do so, but it is, I'm sure he would agree with me, very important that as we move out of the crisis we ensure that these disproportionate impacts on already vulnerable sections of our community are built into our plans to rebuild and to develop particularly the economy.

Well, I couldn't agree more with the Member than in her point acknowledging the disproportionate impact on certain groups in our community of COVID. She identified a number of communities that have been particularly adversely affected. And I just want to associate myself with the point that the First Minister made in answers to his questions earlier, which is to say that our focus very much is on ensuring that groups that have been disproportionately adversely affected are given additional support in the process of recovery from COVID.

Just on the point in relation specifically to the public sector equality duty, those assessments have been made. She will perhaps have noted, and if she hasn't, I'll draw her attention to, the document that we published on Monday of this week that describes the impact assessments that have been undertaken across the piece in relation to the various judgments that we've had to make as a Government in relation to COVID-19. She will understand, and I hope Members generally will understand, that the circumstances at the outset of the process in which decisions were being made at very great urgency will have meant that we had to take a slightly different approach to the immediate judgments at the start. But I refer her and other Members to that document, which I hope gives a clear explanation of the approach we've taken throughout to assessing impact, mindful of the fact that, as the First Minister has said himself, the equality lens is essential to the steps we are taking, in particular at the moment, in coming out of lockdown.

Counsel General, you'll be aware that one of the groups most affected by the lockdown has been children, and in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, articles 28 and 29, I just wondered what advice you're giving on how we're going to ensure that all children are going to be able to get an education going forward in September.

I thank Jenny Rathbone for that question. The decision to increase operations in schools from 29 June was guided, really, by an approach based on equality of access. All learners have a right to education and to be supported in that learning, as is clear from the question that she puts to me, and the phased approach aims to mitigate the adverse impact on learners caused by COVID-19. As a Government, we remain completely committed to protecting the rights of children as set out in the convention to which she refers, and we're obviously mindful of our obligations in relation to children under the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 as well. So, I want to reassure the Member that those considerations remain at the forefront of our thinking in terms of the return of operations to school and more broadly, and also to remind her and others of the work that we did to consult with children and young people in relation to the impact of coronavirus on their lives, which was itself a reflection of the obligations on us under article 12, I think it is, of the convention, which gives the right to a voice, as it were, to children and young people. 

Jenny Rathbone makes a very important point about children's right to an education, which is enshrined not just in the UNCRC, but in our own children's rights Measure. I know, Minister, that you've met with the UNCRC monitoring group during the pandemic, and one of the concerns I've had is that, whenever I've tabled questions asking how children's rights are being considered in the decisions taken in lockdown, there is very little evidence of Government being able to show their workings in this area. What assurances can you give that, going forward, you will ensure that the appropriate child rights impact assessment and other considerations relating to children's rights are actually prioritised, so that we can genuinely put children who have suffered so much in this pandemic at the centre of our decision making? Diolch.

I thank Lynne Neagle for that question. I can give her that assurance, that those priorities and principles remain fundamental to our approach. I know that Julie Morgan wrote to Lynne Neagle in her capacity as the Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee earlier last month, and described the work in relation to education and childcare settings around impact assessments to understand fully the impact on children of the decisions being taken in that area. I hope that she will also have been able to see the document published on Monday, which gives a little more information about some of those considerations, but I absolutely want to give her the reassurance that those considerations are fundamental to the decisions that we are taking, and, again, were one of the key issues relating to our prioritising the ability of children to start returning to school at the start of this week.