Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:51 pm on 7 December 2021.
Diolch, and diolch, bawb, for your contributions to today's debate on the children's rights scheme. I'm very grateful for your continued support and scrutiny of our work, because, as Members have noted, children's rights are now more important than ever, as we've seen the profound effect the pandemic has had on children and young people, because children are less likely to be visible and less heard than adults, and, unless asked directly, they're unlikely to tell us how policies affect them. So, I'd like to thank the Members who contributed, and thank you, Gareth, very much, for your support for the scheme, and I'm very grateful for that strong support. But I note the points that you make. And, in terms of the pandemic, I'd like to make the point that the Welsh Government, jointly with the children's commissioner, did a huge survey of children and young people's views. I think, with the two surveys, that amounted to about 40,000 young people who responded about how the pandemic was affecting them. And that did directly influence how the Welsh Government acted then in response to the pandemic. So, I think it was a bit unfair, really, to say that we weren't listening to children during the pandemic, because that was a very important part of our work during the pandemic. And I suggest that he does look at the 2021-22 draft budget, to look at what the children's impacts are in relation to that.
Sioned, I'd like to say how much I appreciated your really passionate support for children and for what you said, and I'm absolutely delighted to be working with your party to tackle the scourge of child poverty. And I really feel that free school meals and the extension of childcare to two-year-olds, which come under my portfolio, will have a real impact on the poverty of children in Wales, which I absolutely acknowledge is far too high. I also note what Sioned said about the tide of hate crime and how we have to stand up against that. And I'd like to draw Members' attention to the race equality strategy that is being produced by the Welsh Government, which is challenging, far reaching, and will make a really profound difference to children in Wales.
And then finally, Sarah. Thank you very much, Sarah, for your comments. I'm very pleased for your support, particularly for the support to get rid of the reasonable punishment for children, and the words that you said about that. And also the very important points you made about digital, because it is important; there is a real need for young children to understand their rights online, and I'd certainly like to take up the proposals she made at the end of her speech, and perhaps that's something we can look at again.
So, thank you very much. I know I'm running out of time. I'm very grateful for the contributions today. The rights of children are at the heart of the Welsh Government and they influence everything we do and we intend to carry on doing that in all the policies we bring in, and I'd like to thank all Members across the Chamber for their support. Diolch.