7. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Rebalancing Care and Support White Paper — Next steps

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:16 pm on 6 July 2021.

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Photo of Julie Morgan Julie Morgan Labour 6:16, 6 July 2021

I thank Jane Dodds for that very important question. Yes, I've had many discussions with the children's commissioner about this particular issue and I know she feels very passionately about it. I've talked to young people and children about this issue, and I've been struck by how deeply they feel that the circumstances of their lives have enabled some people to make a profit from it, and they feel that very deeply. Speaking to the young people that I've spoken to, I felt that it was really wrong that they felt in this position, and many of them do feel very strongly about it. So, it is as a result of discussions with young people and with the children's commissioner that we have given a commitment in our manifesto that we will move towards ending profit-making services for children and young people. That is the commitment in our manifesto. We would aim to do this over the five years of this term. I don't anticipate that this will be easy to do, because a lot of the work is in the profit-making sector, and we certainly would want to do it in a way that didn't disrupt anybody's placements if they were happy and settled, but I think we must move towards greater non-profit-making provision, greater local authority provision. That is the commitment in our manifesto, and we are starting to scope the way ahead as to how we will achieve that.