Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 7 December 2021.
Good afternoon, Trefnydd. I'd like to ask for an urgent statement from the Deputy Minister for Social Services with regard to child protection services across Wales. We will all be absolutely horrified at the very tragic death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes this week, and we must not forget that the people responsible for that are not people working in social services, or, indeed, in any other statutory services. But it is incumbent on us to look at the state of our local authorities, particularly with regard to child protection vacancies. And I know, from my own local authority, how they're struggling to find social workers and team managers at the front line to work in those roles. Just a really quick personal story: my first child protection case was an eight-year-old little girl who had an injury. I thought it was an accidental injury; I was very inexperienced. I went to my team manager and told him the situation. Straight away, he said, 'No. That's not an injury that's been caused accidentally' and he had the experience to be able to guide me and take me through the process. It is absolutely essential that we look at that situation, and that we can confidently say that we have the people in the right places to protect our children in Wales. Thank you.