Thank you, acting Presiding Officer, and I too would like to start by thanking you for all the work that you and your task group have done in helping children. That sort of focus on them and their issues will do a power of good for them and I'm sure they are very, very thankful for all the work that you have done.

I too welcomed the publication of this report and would like to thank Sally Holland and her team for all the work that they have done to change lives for children and young people in Wales. The conversations that I've had with her to date, since arriving in the Senedd just a few months ago, have been open, honest and reassuring. This report acknowledges the effects the current pandemic is having on the children's commissioner's work and the need to respond to critical issues affecting the lives of our children under lockdown. Never has their work been so vital and it will be critical going forward now, due to the impact of this crisis. 

The report acknowledges that key new pieces of work will have to be undertaken in the next programme as the result of the changes experienced by children and the impacts that will be felt for years to come. It is some of these issues that I'd like to address in my remarks this afternoon.

The report states that public services in Wales still do not meet the needs of our children and young people effectively. Children and their families have to navigate complex systems and are often not helped because they do not fit neat categories or are not helped at all even though they are in crisis. This is a particular problem in our mental health services and disabled children's services. This was before the children's committee said that children's mental health had suffered the collateral damage of COVID-19.

More than two years ago, an inquiry called for the tackling of emotional and mental health issues in children to be made a national priority. There have been improvements in services since then, but they are happening too slowly and some young people still struggle to get the help that they need. The children's committee concluded that the Welsh Government's reassurances about out-of-hours and crisis care are disappointingly thin. There are too many reports of limited options for children who need help, but do not reach the threshold for specialist services. Although progress is happening in education, it was far less confident that the pace of change in health and local government, including social services, is sufficient.

I know that the mental health and well-being of children and young people is the key priority for our commissioner and I've had many conversations with her about that. The pandemic has put this into sharp focus for everybody. The Welsh Government has recognised this by appointing a Minister with specific responsibility for mental health and we welcome that. I look forward to seeing positive results in building a system that responds to the needs of the child rather than trying to fit them into existing services.

Even before the outbreak of coronavirus, young carers were all too often spending significant amounts of time caring for a relative—this, in addition to the time they need to spend on work, education and relaxation—but coronavirus has significantly increased those pressures. The Carers Trust recently carried out a survey that found that 58 per cent of young carers who are caring for longer since coronavirus are spending on average 10 hours a week more on their caring responsibilities. The survey shows how worries relating to coronavirus and increased isolation caused by the lockdown have affected the mental health and well-being of young people with caring responsibilities.

Young carers provide a huge amount of support to vulnerable people in Wales. The children's commissioner calls for greater prioritisation of mental health support for young carers and greater support from education providers and employers to help carers to juggle their caring roles alongside school, college, university or work. I look forward to the progress being made to reduce the unacceptable pressures young carers are under and to improve their well-being and life chances. We need to work with our young carers, working with them and involving them in formulating policy. I'm sure we all agree too that young carers should be encouraged and have support to go into higher education or find apprenticeships, if this is what they want to do.

And I'd like the commissioner and the Government to note that Monmouthshire County Council actively encourages apprenticeships for young carers leavers within its own organisation and those carers are included in any information going out with job vacancies, where appropriate. They also include them on their corporate parenting panel. Monmouthshire County Council are always setting the bar high when it comes to a local authority and an employer in its practices, and it's this sort of good practice that needs to be rolled out across Wales in all authorities.

This pandemic has highlighted just how important it is to support and protect our young people from the immense challenges they have faced and continue to face. As this report says, we know what the challenges are; it is time for decisive, brave actions.