Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I'm pleased to speak in this Plenary debate for the first time in my capacity as Chair of the Children, Young People, and Education Committee. I hope to build on the work of the predecessor committee and Chair, who, throughout their five-year term, demonstrated the value of effective committee scrutiny in driving through important changes to improve the lives of children and young people in Wales. As a committee, we have not yet had the opportunity to scrutinise the children's commissioner on her annual report. We will hold that session on 18 November.

As this is the current commissioner's last annual report, I'd like to thank her and her team for all their work over the past six and a half years in advocating for the rights of children and young people in Wales. I'd also like to echo the words of the children's commissioner, in her foreword to the report, to thank all those front-line workers who've supported, nurtured, cared for and educated children and young people throughout this pandemic, and, of course, to pay tribute to the nearly 700,000 children and young people in Wales who have shown resilience way beyond their years over the past 18 months.

We're all aware that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child underpins all the work that the commissioner does. The right for children to express their views about things that affect them, and have their opinions taken into account when decisions are made, is well understood. And, as the Minister mentioned, a very rare example of this in practice has been the 'Coronavirus and Me' surveys that the commissioner has run over the pandemic, with 44,000 children and young people contributing to them over the reporting period. And we will certainly be taking into account some of these findings as we look to devise and refine our strategic plan as a committee.

It's also very reassuring to see the commissioner state that, despite the pandemic, her office were able to deliver all the pre-pandemic objectives, whilst also doing additional work that arose because of the pandemic. The report also sets out a number of recommendations across a wide range of policy areas. I'm sure that, as a committee, some of these will be areas we will explore in more detail over the coming months and years.

Today, I'd like to seek some further detail from the Welsh Government on how they intend to respond to those recommendations as they relate to children in care. I'm highlighting these as they relate to clear programme for government commitments. The programme for government commits to eliminate private profit from the care of looked-after children. The commissioner calls for a road map to be brought forward by April next year to set out the timescale and action for delivering on this. Can the Minister indicate whether such a road map will be published within the timescale, and if not, why not? In the annual report, the commissioner calls for the Government to bring forward swiftly statutory entitlements and policy for care leavers as a coherent package. I welcome the commitment from the Deputy Minister in our committee last week that the Government intends to legislate in this Senedd term to ensure that every care leaver is entitled to a personal adviser up to the age of 25. Can the Minister outline today what other elements of the package of support they intend to make available to care leavers?

Once again, I'd like to thank the commissioner and her team for all their hard work, detailed in the annual report. The commissioner's role as an independent champion, advocating for children's rights and well-being, has been crucial. I look forward to exploring the report in more detail with the commissioner and the committee members on 18 November. Diolch yn fawr.