I want to begin by thanking all those who participated in this very important and far-reaching inquiry and take this opportunity to thank all who supported my work as a member of this committee just over the past year. I'm very grateful to the Chair and to my fellow Members, but most of all, to the committee staff. This was a very new field to me. They absolutely enabled me to hit the ground running and I'm extremely grateful for that.

As has been said, we face an unprecedented economic shock that is coming as Government support comes to an end as we come out of the health crisis. And that's the reason, of course, for our hugely wide-ranging report. We don't often see a Senedd committee report with 53 recommendations. All of these recommendations are extremely important and I personally believe that the Welsh Government should treat them as a package—they work together. But I want to comment on three particular groups of recommendations in my brief contribution to this debate. 

I'd first like to refer to recommendation 5, which sets out the urgent need for the Welsh Government to set measurable targets, monitor progress and evaluate the effectiveness of all recovery work and investment. It seems obvious, but evidence over the last year on a range of issues in this portfolio is that this does not always happen by any means. With the size of the task so huge and the resources inevitably limited, we will not be able to afford to waste a single penny. And if we really take an innovative approach, we will try some things that won't work, and we will need to stop doing them. Monitoring and evaluation is key and the next Welsh Government must ensure that robust systems are in place. These systems must monitor impacts by region, by sector and by equality characteristics. Our build back from COVID must work for everyone, everywhere in Wales.

Which brings me to recommendations 30 to 41. These highlight a whole range of actions needed to ensure that, in rebuilding our economy, we address the structural inequalities and injustices that were baked into our economy before the COVID crisis. We heard such clear evidence that black people and people of colour were hit harder by COVID, both in terms of health and economic harm. We heard how women were impacted more seriously than men, and while there were some positive impacts for disabled people, with opportunities opened up by homeworking, there were concerns for this group, too. It is imperative that, as the next Welsh Government leads efforts to rebuild our economy, the opportunity to act to remove these historical structural inequalities that have done so much damage is taken. Change will not be achieved overnight, and that brings me back, of course, to the point about measurable targets. But what must be avoided at all costs is building back to where we were before. That would be an unforgivable waste of an opportunity. 

Finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, I want to refer to recommendations 42 to 48, focusing on actions needed to ensure that young people are not left behind. As the Chair has already said, we know that in this economic crisis, as in others, young people have been very hard hit. They tend to work in the sectors like hospitality that have been badly hit, their education has been disrupted, and with more experienced workers losing their jobs and re-entering the job market, their opportunities will be restricted. Previous economic crises have seen whole generations left behind. I was a young person in the 1980s, and I have friends who are my age, coming up to retirement now, whose lifetime economic prosperity was affected by being out of work for two or three years right at the beginning of their careers. As they go into their pensions, they are poorer than they would have been. Our recommendations make practical suggestions to avoid this happening this time, and the next Welsh Government must act on all these recommendations.

On this agenda, a Plaid Cymru Government will go further, even, than recommended by the committee. Committee recommendation 43 asks the next Welsh Government to assess the introduction of a youth opportunity guarantee for 16 to 24-year-olds. We will commit in Government to that guarantee—a good-quality, decently paid job for every 16 to 24-year-old not in education, training or employment. Plaid Cymru will not leave our young people behind; our next Government must not leave our young people behind. As our recommendations make clear, while the economic aftermath of COVID presents grave challenges, it also presents some real opportunities. This is our chance not just to build back better, but to build back well. I commend this report to the Senedd and to Welsh Governments current and future.