Diolch, Llywydd. Through the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and its seven well-being goals, we have a framework for Wales's future: a Wales that is economically, socially and environmentally just, and a Wales we would want our children and grandchildren to inherit from us.

Each one of us has a role to play in protecting and improving our nation. An important element of that is considering how we collectively lay the foundations now for the better Wales we want in the future. For the Welsh Government, our shaping Wales's future programme of work is about moving us closer to a better Wales for everyone. We are setting national milestones against the backdrop of our ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the commitment by the Welsh Government to deliver a stronger, fairer and greener Wales.

In February, we committed to a road map for setting Wales's first national milestones, updating the national indicators and the publication of the 'Future Trends' report. I am delighted to be speaking today as we deliver all three and publish our consultation response and independent analysis.

The Government’s ambition is for the national milestones to drive collaborative action and act as a key measure of the pace and scale of change needed in a number of key areas. At their heart they are geared towards driving significant progress in tackling poverty and inequality, and they reflect our determination to do this. Following our programme of engagement with stakeholders and as a result of the responses to our formal consultation process, we have refined our national milestones and national indicator set, which we have laid today.

Dirprwy Lywydd, we are committing to an elimination of the pay gap for gender, disability and ethnicity by 2050. Fair work and social justice are at the heart of our vision of a Wales that recognises that equality, diversity and inclusion at work are vital to a society that enables people to fulfil their potential no matter what their background or circumstances. We are setting a target for 75 per cent of working age adults in Wales to be qualified to level 3 or higher by 2050. We know that people with higher level qualifications and skills are more likely to be in sustained employment, with larger earning and wage gains, particularly for those individuals from disadvantaged areas. Because of this we are also aiming to decrease the percentage of working age adults with no qualifications to 5 per cent or below in every local authority in Wales by 2050.

Tackling significant inequalities of this kind between different areas of Wales is a fundamental ambition of this Government and we will measure long-term progress through the national milestones. Our national milestone focused on ensuring that at least 90 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds will be in education, employment or training by 2050 will measure the actions taken to support young people during a critical time in their lives. We know that periods of economic inactivity early in a person's working life has a detrimental impact, and that young people have been especially vulnerable to employment changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We want everyone in Wales to have the opportunity to participate in good-quality, sustainable work regardless of their age or where they live. This is why we are committing to eradicate the gap between the employment rate in Wales and the UK by 2050, with a focus on fair work and raising labour market participation of under-represented groups.

As a Government, we must always act to safeguard the health and well-being of the people of Wales and our ambition is to remove barriers to children having the healthiest possible start to their lives. We also know that good habits as children often develop into making better healthy choices as adults. This is why we are setting a target to increase the percentage of children with two or more healthy behaviours to 94 per cent by 2035 and more than 99 per cent by 2050.

Thinking of our wider global responsibility, we are committing to Wales using only its fair share of the world's resources by 2050. This is an important element of our vision of building a sustainable and resilient Wales and of our continuing response to the climate and nature emergency, protecting our most precious and natural resources. We are pledging to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in Wales by 2050 and this national milestone echoes the existing targets in our Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and is aimed at encouraging and empowering everyone in Wales to play their part in driving emissions down, as we know societal and behavioural changes will be crucial to achieving our goals. We will also continue to explore how this important target could potentially be reached even quicker.

We are also reiterating our commitment to the safeguarding and growth of the Welsh language by setting a national milestone to support a million Welsh speakers by 2050. The Welsh language is an integral part of our Welsh identity and culture and we are committed to doing everything we can to see it flourish and to protect it.

Alongside the national milestones, I have also laid before the Senedd an updated set of national indicators that measure Wales's progress towards the well-being goals. As a result of the consultation feedback we received, these include new measures on justice, travel, housing costs and digital inclusion—all matters that we have been told play a larger role in shaping our national well-being than they did before the pandemic. This expanded national indicator set will continue to help us measure progress towards the seven well-being goals and our journey towards becoming a fairer, greener, more successful Wales.

Today also marks the publication of the latest edition of the 'Future Trends' report. The report brings together, in one accessible place, authoritative information on the key social, economic, environmental and cultural trends that are likely to affect Wales's future well-being. The setting of the national milestones, updating our national indicators and a renewed look at the future trends shaping Wales can ensure that the well-being goals remain relevant to people's lives now and the challenges we face today and in the future. We will provide the first update on the progress towards the national milestones in the well-being of Wales report next year, and continue the conversation on national milestones in 2022 with the development of the second set of milestones.

For national milestones to succeed it is crucial that every public body considers how they can best actively contribute to them. They are an important part of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and they lay the foundations for success. Dirprwy Lywydd, I am very pleased to be presenting these national milestones to the Senedd; milestones that place social justice, tackling poverty and tackling inequality at their heart. I am proud that, together, we are creating a more just, equal and prosperous Wales.