Firstly, I would like to start by thanking the children's commissioner for all her hard work and dedication throughout her time in office. I'd also thank her and her staff for preparing this report. Sadly, like many other sections of society, children, particularly vulnerable children whose conditions may have been made worse by the substantial changes they have faced during the COVID pandemic, have suffered disproportionately, and it is certainly recognised that the children's commissioner has genuinely attempted to address many of the issues that they and their families have faced. Indeed, I've read the commissioner's report with much interest, and it is very pleasing to see the care and attention that she has been giving to so many aspects of child welfare.

Personally speaking, I was also pleased to see mentioned the round-table event that was held earlier this year and gave a platform to younger deaf people to voice their concerns. As Members may or may not be aware, I've spoken publicly about the hearing difficulties that I faced growing up and the impact it has had on my learning. As you can tell from what I wear around my neck, it is still something that has an impact on me, and as a result I'm very keen to see improvements delivered within this area. As such, I understand, for many years, that the deaf community have shared with the commissioner's office their frustrations that the needs of the community are not being addressed, and although the report highlighted some engagement, it nonetheless did not make any specific recommendations for deaf children. I believe this to be a shame, given the amount of work and effort that has been put into it by the deaf community to get the Welsh Government to make adequate provision for their needs.

So, with that in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to re-emphasise the need for a national charter in Wales to help with the delivery of services and resources, including education, for deaf children, young people and their families. Such a charter would enable local authorities to plan and resource support within a nationally recognised framework and help to ensure a consistency of provision throughout Wales. Likewise, we need to formally recognise that, in Wales, British Sign Language is the first language of deaf people, and we urgently need to address the concerns that they have raised about the standard and quality of British Sign Language for specialist education professionals.

Towards the end of the fifth Senedd, my colleague Mark Isherwood proposed a Bill that seeks to ensure that the deaf community and people with hearing loss have a voice in the design and delivery of services to ensure that they meet the needs of service users, with actions including the establishment of a BSL national advisory group, for example. The Bill had cross-party support, and I know it was one that many deaf people were eagerly anticipating to be introduced, but, sadly, the Government has yet to bring it forward. On behalf of all those who suffer from hearing loss and their families and supporters, can I now make a call for this Government to commit to introducing the British Sign Language Bill for Wales during this Senedd term? Many deaf people who use BSL lack access to education, health services, employment and other public services, and it's widely reported that a large percentage of deaf people struggle with achieving higher educational attainment, which can affect them throughout their lives. Given the impact of what proper and correct support can achieve in helping deaf children live an active and full life, I believe that it's vital that we put this into place—this legislation.

Finally, I would also like address the issue mentioned in the commissioner's report of how long the Welsh Government is taking to bring forward statutory entitlements and policies for care leavers as a coherent package. The Government agreed with the recommendations of the 'Hidden Ambitions' report in 2017, which is almost five years ago, yet they've still not implemented those amendments to the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 that were proposed. Likewise, the Government was also asked to develop national standards to address concerns of quality, sufficiency and suitability of semi-independent accommodation for care-experienced young people up to the age of 25 by its joint housing and social services group, but progress on these proposals has seemingly stopped.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales commented in her report that there is an implementation gap between the aspirations set out by the Welsh Government in policy and legislation and its commitment to drive and resource delivery on the ground. And it appears that it's the same story here as well. The Minister, I'm sure, should be very conscious as to how disrespectful this is to not only all those who have put in so much time and effort at the behest of this Government, but to all those children and young people who are being failed also in receiving the appropriate care that they need. This Government has agreed to the recommendations that they have asked for, and yet you have done very little in terms of implementing them. I believe the issue of caring for the health and well-being of our children and young people should transcend party-political lines, but the fact that the commissioner still needs to make calls for this legislation to be implemented is obscene. Can the Minister explain to all those young people who would have benefited from the implementation of this recommended legislation why this Government has continually failed to implement it? I'm also wondering whether the Minister would actually be brave enough to make an apology for this and recommit to implement the recommendations that were agreed to so long ago. Thank you.