I'd just like to congratulate Jane this afternoon for being selected to bring forward this legislative proposal. I, myself, a couple of weeks ago, was in a similar situation where it was me, so I can really appreciate the hard work that goes into it behind the scenes. So, well done on that front. 

I actually support a lot of what you're trying to achieve, really, because any moves to improve the regulation, monitoring and commissioning of children's care is to be welcomed—that's a fact. But it's also a sad fact that we have seen a 26 per cent increase in the numbers of looked-after children in Wales over the term of the last Senedd. Whilst we must do all we can to prevent children entering the care system in the first place, we do have to ensure that those who need to enter residential care are placed within their home county, or at the very least their home country. It's a tragedy that over 365 children were placed outside Wales last year. However, this is the stark reality.

Services for looked-after children are woefully underfunded, and funding shortfalls will be much worse as we emerge out of the pandemic. The WLGA have stated that local authorities are concerned about the demands that will be placed upon services as we emerge from the lockdown. There is also a backlog of court cases, which impacts upon services for looked-after children. Even if I agreed with your main point that profit-making providers should be removed from the sector, Wales could not afford it. I do, however, disagree with Jane. The private sector provides nearly eight in 10, or 80 per cent, of places in residential children's care; without the private sector, we would have hundreds of children without any care at all.

Our entire health and care system relies upon a good public and private partnership. So, without profit-making entities, we would have no GPs, no pharmacies or vaccines and no care homes. Without profits, we have no investment in services. As long as we have high-quality care, free at the point of delivery, it doesn't matter whether it's provided by a private company or local authority. I, therefore, cannot support the legislation proposal as it's currently formulated this afternoon. Thank you very much.