I'd like to begin by placing on record my thanks to the Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Welsh Government officials who provided evidence to us on the Children, Young People, and Education Committee to support our scrutiny of this year's draft budget. As well as appearing before committee, the Welsh Government provided us with extensive and detailed written information. We're grateful for their hard work and co-operation, which enhanced our ability to scrutinise the draft budget. We asked for such detailed information because of the experiences of our predecessor committee, which felt the Welsh Government did not set out clearly enough how its draft budgets complied with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Unfortunately, this was also the case this year. Disappointingly, the Government did not publish children’s rights impact assessments to show how children’s rights shaped budget allocations for children and young people. A glaring omission was that it did not mention children’s rights once in its entire strategic integrated impact assessment.

We're deeply concerned that this is a backward step in its statutory obligations under the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. This law means that Welsh Ministers need to give due regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in everything it does. The financial allocations across the Welsh Government’s portfolios are amongst the most important decisions that Welsh Ministers make. We hope that this year was an unfortunate blip and that the Government accepts our recommendations in this area for future draft budgets.

We made a number of strong recommendations, but I would like to highlight two other recommendations from our final report. The first is about perinatal mental health. At the moment, many families in north and mid Wales have to travel unreasonably long distances to access specialist perinatal mental health support services. We heard from the Deputy Minister that plans to open new provision for those families just over the border, in conjunction with NHS England, were being driven at pace. Unfortunately, our predecessor committee heard similar assurances back in 2017. We have recommended that the Welsh Government clarify what services will be opening for Welsh families, and when those services will be available.

The second relates to the education maintenance allowance. The Welsh Government has not changed the maximum EMA award of £30 since 2004. Neither has it changed the maximum household income threshold since the 2011-12 financial year. We believe that the EMA is an invaluable source of income for children and their families. We have recommended that the Government clarify why it has let the real-terms value of the EMA decline so markedly, and the impact of that decline on the number of learners who are eligible for it.

Our report makes a number of other constructive recommendations across a range of critical policy areas. More generally, the committee welcomes the additional funding that has been made available in 2022-23 for children and young people. In particular, we welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to, and funding for, COVID recovery.

We have agreed that we will pay particular attention throughout the sixth Senedd to policy delivery. This applies to many commitments that the Welsh Government made to us in relation to the draft budget. For the 2022-23 financial year and beyond, my fellow committee members and I will do what we can to ensure that the Welsh Government translates those commitments and funding allocations into real improvements to the day-to-day lives of children and young people. Diolch.