Thank you. Am I okay to speak now, Deputy Presiding Officer?  I can't hear you. Sorry, if I'm—. Can everyone hear me? Yes, good. Okay. I take it that's for me to speak. Okay, thank you.

I'd like to start by thanking Lynne Neagle and the committee and all who have inputted into this important work for all the hard work they've put into it. I welcome this report and its aim of measuring progress in Wales towards the principles set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report was agreed before lockdown and before the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the lives, health and well-being of children and young people were known. We now know that the consequences have been severe. So, this report is timely and is a relevant milestone in enhancing children's rights in Wales.

The committee makes 16 recommendations to the Welsh Government and I wish to address some of those in my remarks today. The first three recommendations relate directly to the Welsh Government. In her report to the committee, the children's commissioner said that there is no training for Ministers on how to exercise due regard to children's rights through their role. The commissioner called for compulsory training for Ministers—a point repeated by Save the Children UK, which said that

'without a strong body of knowledge about children’s rights amongst all officials and Ministers, it will be difficult to ensure that the due regard duty will be effective across Welsh Government cabinet portfolios and policy.'

We also believe that a ministerial role should be created at the earliest opportunity, with clear and defined responsibilities for children and young people.

The committee was also concerned about the gaps in knowledge of children's rights that exist amongst both adults and children. Efforts to promote awareness and understanding of their rights are not reaching all children, including those who may be disadvantaged or less engaged. Significant improvements are needed in letting those children most in need know about their rights. We call upon the Welsh Government to develop and publish a strategy to raise national awareness with measurable outcomes to promote wider knowledge and understanding amongst the public. By widening knowledge of their rights, it also follows that there could be an increase in complaints by children who feel that the Welsh Government has not complied with its requirements under the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. As such, we need to ensure that the complaints mechanism is fit for purpose.

At present, the complaints system outlined in the children's rights scheme is being underused and needs to be improved. Criticism was also made that it is geared towards an adult audience and that it is neither accessible nor suitable for children. The Welsh Government must address this and include a strengthened and child-friendly complaints mechanism in its revised children's rights scheme to ensure that our children and young people can seek to protect their rights.

In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child gave its verdict on progress to deliver and enhance children's rights in Wales. Although they recognise that progress has been made, concerns were expressed about whether the Welsh Government's response to the concluding observations is strategic and systematic. The children's commissioner said that the concluding observations were a really useful guide for the Government as to what they should be doing and that the lack of a detailed response from the Welsh Government was a missed opportunity. We call on the Welsh Government to publish a detailed strategic response in the next six months, detailing progress made and outlining action being taken in addressing the concluding observations, and to update this on an annual basis.

Presiding Officer, I believe the recommendations contained in this report will greatly progress the rights of children and young people in Wales. I would encourage everyone to look at the good practice that I've seen since joining the children and young people committee last year and how they're doing things. I think it's been a very welcome move and I've been very impressed with what's going on there. So, if we could repeat that throughout the Parliament, that would be fantastic. I believe that this is a positive move by the Senedd and I look forward to a response by the Minister.