The next item is item 4, a statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services on the children and young people's plan. I call on the Deputy Minister, Julie Morgan. 

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Today is an important day in the history of Wales, a day when we celebrate this incredible nation and show how excellent it is to grow up, live and work in Wales.

I am delighted, on this important day, to be announcing the publication of the children and young people’s plan, which sets out our ambition for children and young people in Wales, both now and in the future. In Wales, we want the best for our children—all of our children, no matter what their backgrounds are, where they come from, or where they live. We want them all to have the best start in life, to go on to lead the kinds of lives they want to live, and to know that they are valued.

As a Government, we are passionate about children’s rights. We were the first UK nation to write children’s rights into our laws, and today we are reaffirming our commitment to making children’s rights a lived reality. The plan I am publishing today brings coherence to the work we are doing across Government on behalf of children and young people, and puts them at the heart of our decision making. In this plan, we have set out our ambition, and identified seven cross-Government priorities where we've agreed to work collaboratively across our ministerial portfolios, to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children and young people, both now and in the future. These include ensuring all children and young people have the best start in life, are treated fairly, have the support they need to progress through education, training and into employment, are supported to help them feel mentally and emotionally strong, to have a fair chance in life, a good and secure home to live in, and receive the support they need to stay together or come back together with their family, if possible.

The plan is focused on what we will do to make our programme for government commitments a reality for children and young people. It provides a snapshot of some of the activities we've achieved previously and sets out some of the activities we'll take forward over the next 12 months. As a Government, we have achieved a great deal, but we know it's important to go further, and we're determined to go further throughout this Senedd term. In the coming year, there are some exciting projects that we plan to take forward. For example, we will give baby bundles to more new families, start our new curriculum for Wales, create more apprenticeships, improve youth work so that more young people can access a safe space, build residential homes for children with complex needs, and start creating a national forest for Wales, to name but a few. This plan is underpinned by significant investment, as our final budget for 2022-23, published today, demonstrates, with more than £1.3 billion of investment specific to early years and education, and almost £0.75 billion provided to local authorities to deliver essential services such as schools.

Listening, talking and responding to children and young people is key to understanding how the decisions we make as a Government affect and impact on their lives. We talked with 173 children and young people aged up to 25 about the priorities in this plan. They told us about the things that are important to them, including having places where they can play, have fun and learn, being able to fulfil their aspirations regardless of their family income, ability or ethnic background, receiving support when transitioning between life stages and when making life choices, and having decisions about them made with them and not for them.

Diprwy Lywydd, I would like to thank the children and young people who have helped shape this plan, along with Children in Wales and the organisations they worked with to gain these important views. I am determined to maintain this conversation. The plan outlines how we will continue to engage with children and young people as we deliver on our commitments. This includes reporting on progress and the contributions we are making towards reaching our national milestones. But of course, we understand we cannot do this alone. The success of the plan is dependent on us working together with our partners in the public, private and third sectors, and across society as a whole, to improve local services and achieve our wider ambitions for children and young people in Wales.

Let’s make this a St David’s Day to remember, and convey a strong message to children and young people that this is a Government that is working for them and that their voices are heard and represented consistently at all levels within Welsh Government.

I look forward to working with you all to deliver the children and young people's plan and to achieve our ambition to make Wales a wonderful place to grow up, live and work. Thank you.

On behalf of the Conservatives, Gareth Davies.

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Deputy Llywydd. Thank you for your statement this afternoon, Deputy Minister. I of course wish you a very happy St David's Day.

I'm sure there'll be no dissent to your stated aim of creating a Wales that is a wonderful place to grow up, live and, indeed, work. It's an aim that all of us share, but it's one that will need more than just warm words to deliver. Children and young people have been badly affected by the pandemic and Government actions to curb the spread of COVID-19, and we can't underline enough the impact this has had on their education, their emotional development, their mental well-being, as well as their future prospects.

It is our children's generation that will be saddled with the crippling debt that has been built up during the pandemic. They've also had to contend with the impact of climate change, which, according to the United Nation's inter-governmental panel on climate change, is way worse than we previously thought. Not only that, they will also be feeling the fall-out from Russia's despotic tendencies, whether it's from the impact of the justified sanctions or the continuing aggressions of the Russian leadership. It is therefore disappointing that the children and young people's plan doesn't really plan to support our younger generations to deal with the current and future challenges.

Deputy Minister, why is there nothing new in your plan? Do you believe it's sufficient to just restate existing policy? Why did the Welsh Government settle upon 2050 as its target date? Do you believe that's ambitious enough with regard to individual milestones? Do you feel they are sufficient to deliver a Wales that children and young people ideally want? Previous Governments wanted to eliminate NEETs, yet your plan now states that over the next three decades you will reduce them by 90 per cent. Why not commit to 100 per cent? Deputy Minister, why does this plan not contain any actions or commitments to tackle adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs? What will the plan do about access to CAMHS services? 

Deputy Minister, while I share your overall ambitions, I don't belive your plan is ambitious enough. If we truly want to create a Wales that is a wonderful place to grow up, live and work, then we need to do more than just what you have outlined in this so-called plan this afternoon.

I thank Gareth Davies for those comments. I'm glad that he agrees with me that Wales is a wonderful place to live, to grow up. I belive that this plan is ambitious. I do belive that if we're able to succeed in doing the things we are putting in this plan, then Wales will be an even better place for young people and children to grow up. It's certainly not just warm words. What is in this plan is an attempt to make a coherence of all the things that we are doing, so that we have put down some of things that we have done and what we plan to do. We want to have it there in one document so that we can be accountable. We want to be accountable to children and young people.

That's why, last week, I went with the First Minister to discuss this with children and young people—what they thought about this plan. They were absolutely thrilled that we had taken the time and effort to prepare a plan and to discuss this plan with them. They were most enthusiastic about it and brought up to us all the things that are happening in their lives that are causing them anxiety. They were really pleased that there was now something that they could look at and that each year could be measured. Because what we plan to do is meet with children each year to try to gauge what's happened to them in that year and what are the issues that they want us to improve. 

You say there's nothing new in the plan, but it's new that we're having a children's plan, it's new that as a Government we're going to be accountable to children, and it's new that we are going to go back to children every year. I think it is an ambitious plan. Certainly, all the issues that we address here are addressing the issues that are caused by adverse childhood experiences. You mention that there's nothing in this that is going to try and support children. If you look at what we've already done in terms of having—. Well, just look at the Summer of Fun we had, which was a huge effort to reach children, and the Winter of Wellbeing, and the plans we have for this summer that's coming up, and the plans we have to improve the opportunity for youth work, the youth provision for children, where we're putting in over £11 million to try to improve the opportunities for children to have safe places to go. So, I think, on St David's Day, that's a very dispiriting response. 

The Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Heledd Fychan. 

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for the statement, Deputy Minister. Yes, Wales is an excellent place to grow up, to live and to work, but, of course, there is huge inequality at the moment, and that isn't true for all children. We share the ambition that this should be the case for everyone, wherever they may be in Wales. 

I'm glad to note that, through the co-operation agreement between my party and your Government, we will be able to start delivering for children and young people across Wales, whether that's through the expanded provision of free school meals and childcare to tackling climate change, or through education. Wales and the world face a myriad of crises, and the effect of these crises will weigh most heavily on the youngest members of our society and the generations to come. Our children and young people will bear the full brunt of climate change, of nature decline, the numerous and devastating long-term effects of the pandemic on our economy and on their education. As we speak, the housing crisis and the growing issue of second homes is impacting communities, effectively eroding communities before the children and young people born there can even experience them and live and work there. Children are also the most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, and I'm sure we can all agree that we need targeted measures to ensure the effects of the crisis on children and young people are prevented, stopped or minimised where possible through targeted action. 

I was struck, even last night, when my eight-year-old son asked me to switch off the television because he was fed up of hearing the news, that he was feeling sad and feeling helpless as well on top of everything that our children and young people have been through through the pandemic to now find out what's happening in Ukraine and the impact that's having as well. It's a scary time for our children and young people—it's terrifying—and there's so much that we have a responsibility to do. So, it's only right that we are listening to them, that we are working according to those targets, but also that we are accountable to children and young people. And I fully agree, it's not about talking at young people and children, it's about working with them, with their solutions and voice equally important.

One area where we can indeed offer the most targeted and helpful support is in the realm of housing, and much of the worst effects of the pandemic on the quality of life and, indeed, education of children and young people are rooted in and have been exacerbated by the housing crisis. So, can I ask, Deputy Minister—? When we look now in terms of fuel poverty—and we know that this is a real issue affecting children and families in Wales, with one in 10 households with two children having to cut back on food for children, and they're also having to cut back on fuel—we know that low temperatures can cause myriad health problems whilst also increasing the risk of damp mould, which further increases the risk of respiratory diseases in children. We need to provide safe and warm homes for every child in Wales. So, what is the Welsh Government doing to proactively identify children who are in, or are at risk of being in, fuel poverty to ensure our support will benefit the most vulnerable children? When can we expect the Government to put an end to fuel poverty in households with children? 

As was also referenced by Gareth Davies, we know that CAMHS specialist services—. We saw the data in February that confirmed that the percentage of patients who receive a first appointment within four weeks had fallen to an all-time low of 22 per cent. The statistics are staggering and indicate a failure to get to grips with the mental health crisis affecting children and young people in Wales. Let's be clear, nearly four in five young people are waiting over a month for a first mental health appointment, and this is not good enough. We all receive heartbreaking stories from families and directly from young people who are desperate to be seen. We must have robust provision in place so that patients can receive the best possible treatment at the earliest opportunity, before their situation worsens, as we have seen all too often. So, can I ask the Deputy Minister what the Welsh Government is doing to provide the necessary increase in CAMHS services, and what is the Welsh Government doing to allow young people to access support earlier, before they reach the point where they require this specialist care? 

Thank you, Heledd, for those very important points, and I absolutely agree with her that there are inequalities in Wales that we have to address. And it was very touching to hear your comments about your son listening to the television, and a lot of people have said that to me about the misery that is coming over, and when you think of what's happening to the children, it's just overwhelming, really. So, I absolutely understand how her son needed to put the television off, and I think it's very important that we remember we're talking about the children in Wales here who are in a much better position than many children throughout the world, particularly at this present time. 

It's absolutely right that the pandemic has been very hard for children, and we know that children have suffered from the isolation of having long periods of not being in touch with their friends, and that we've had to make efforts to reintroduce school, almost, to them. And so it's been a very difficult time, so I absolutely acknowledge everything that she says. This has been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis, again, which the Government is doing all it can to tackle, led by the Minister for Social Justice in terms of looking for ways that we can help alleviate some of the very distressing situations that arise with people with not enough money to have food. Again, you mentioned the fuel crisis, and, again, that is something that we are trying to tackle in terms of the money, the grant that the Minister for Social Justice has been able to arrange.

But it is absolutely crucial, as the Member says, that we identify those children who are most at risk, and that's why I think it is so important that we have got our early years service, that we've got places like Flying Start that are aimed and are placed at the moment in the most deprived areas, where we will be able to identify where children are particularly at risk. And also, through the co-operation agreement, we are planning to extend Flying Start to two-year-olds throughout Wales, and that again will give us the opportunity that we will be able to identify those children, because we need the eyes and ears on the ground in order to be able to do that. 

And, of course, the housing issue is a huge issue, and we are committed to building more houses that are available at a fair rent, and also for tackling the long-standing issues of houses that have been built without any consideration to the climate change that is there and that need retrofitting. So, we have an ambitious programme for that. 

And then, what are we doing about the children who are suffering from mental health problems as a result of everything that's happened? I accept that there is a waiting list for CAMHS. We are trying to give more help lower down so that children don't reach the stage where they need the CAMHS service. For example, we put counselling services in schools, and the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being is trying to ensure that the treatment opportunities are available much earlier in the system. So, we want to reach children before they reach the need for CAMHS. I think that is where we've got to put the effort in.

But finally, I suppose, really, when we've had this exchange, it sounds very gloomy, the situation throughout the world. Everything that's happening does seem gloomy at the moment, so I'd really like to respond as well to say that I think there are lots of good things happening as well, and we are moving ahead with lots of policies where we're working together to ensure that children, with all these awful things happening, can have the best lives that they can, and that they can enjoy themselves and have the sort of childhood that we want them to have. 

Thank you for your statement, Deputy Minister. I wholeheartedly welcome this plan, setting out a range of steps that we are taking here in Wales to ensure that every child has the best start in life, now and in future. But there are four elements of the plan I wanted to just touch base on, and I would appreciate a response on those four areas in brief from you.

First, I welcome the fact that advocacy for children and young people in care, or involved with care services, is included. The 2019 Tros Gynnal Plant research highlighted significant concerns with the provision of independent residential visiting advocacy services by private providers. Could I ask you, therefore, first, what steps will be taken to ensure that every child in care, no matter the provider, has access to independent advocacy?

Secondly, following on from what Heledd said, I very much welcome the focus given to mental health and well-being in this plan. But, as we've heard, with 78 per cent of patients referred to CAMHS services, we do need to improve. I do accept what you said: that we need to ensure that children don't reach CAMHS services. But for those who do, they need a faster response. Therefore, I would like to hear specifically what targets the Welsh Government have in reducing the CAMHS waiting lists.

Thirdly, there is an absence of any commitment with regard to the role that for-profit providers play in residential care for children and young people—a key issue repeatedly raised, as you and I have talked about, by care-experienced young people, and one that I know plays a significant role in financing children's services. Could I just seek your reassurance that this proposal remains a priority for the Government?

And finally—

You've asked three questions and you've gone well over your time, so we'll leave it at those three. Deputy Minister. 

Okay, thank you very much, and thank you very much, Jane, for welcoming this plan with such wholeheartedness. Advocacy for children in care I think is absolutely crucial. As you know, one of our main aims in the Government is to improve the lot of children in care, and that really links with your third question as well, about the not-for-profit providers, because we do want to transform the care system. We want to keep as many children as possible in their own homes and in their own families. We want them to stay at home with their families, if that's possible; if it's not possible, and they have to come into care, we want them to be placed near their families and we don't want children, if it's at all possible, to be placed a long way away from their home areas.

This does bring in the issue of advocacy, because, obviously, it's really important that children are able to speak up. We are in the process of looking at ensuring that independent residential advocacy services in independent residential services can also have advocacy for the children in those services.

In terms of the for-profit providers, this is something that, as you say, has been raised repeatedly by care-experienced young people, who do resent very much that the bad luck in their lives has resulted in other people getting a profit. So, this is one of the absolute top priorities of the Government, but it is part of the whole system of transforming the care system so that fewer children come into care and then that the children who do have to come into care—that as many children as possible who do have to be placed in care will be placed where there is no profit in the organisations that provide for them. So, I can absolutely assure her that it is one of our top priorities.

In terms of mental health and the issue about CAMHS, I will repeat that I do think it's important that we concentrate our efforts in trying to reduce the number of applications to CAMHS, which will then bring down the waiting lists, if we can get more children dealt with in the community.

And finally, Sam Rowlands.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Deputy Minister, for bringing forward today's important statement—one in which I, of course, have a keen interest, having three of the best children in Wales, of whom I am the father. As you mentioned, Deputy Minister, in your statement, the Welsh Government, of course, wants what's best for the children of Wales. Members across the Chamber would certainly agree that we all want what's best for the children of Wales. I am concerned, though, that we are moving away from a premise that it's parents who know what's best for their children, and parents who ultimately are responsible for their children, and parents who are the best role models for their children as well. And it's the role of Government, in my view—. And I think we'd all agree that Government should be there to support parents in undertaking this great responsibility in bringing their children up. In light of this, I was concerned to note in your statement today that the words 'parent', 'parents', 'mother' or 'father' were not mentioned at all. I'm not sure if this was an oversight or if this is an avenue that Welsh Government is going down, because it's crucial that proper support is given to parents and the role of parents is championed by Government and the voice of parents is at the forefront of Government here—

You need to ask your question now.

—so you can hear the voice of parents. So—. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'll ask a question. How will you ensure that, in your plan, the role of parents is not disregarded, and what specific action will you take to ensure that the voice of parents is at the forefront of your plans?

Thank you very much, Sam Rowlands, for that important point, and, absolutely, we want to give support to parents. As I said in my response to Jane Dodds, we want to move to a system where we give as much support as we possibly can to parents in order for children to thrive and remain with them, and that's why we have put a lot of investment into parenting classes, why we have help offered to parents through 'Parenting. Give it time', where we give tips about how you can manage the difficult times that you do have as parents—how you deal with the terrible twos and the tantrums and the children who won't eat, and all the things that most of us have been through, where, from my own personal point of view, I was so pleased to have any help or advice coming from Government or from anybody, really. I think that's the way to look at it, that most parents are really looking for advice and help, and I don't think we should ever look at it as the Government coming in and taking the role away from parents. They are there to offer the advice, and, in most cases, people are oh so glad to receive advice and guidance and talk, from health visitors, from GPs, from teachers, from all the voluntary sectors, from all the groups who are there to help and support families. So, I don't think we should ever think of Government trying to take away the role of parents. We're there to help parents, and I think the amount of money and commitment that the Government puts into ensuring that those services are there is a sign of our commitment to parents as well as children.

Thank you, Deputy Minister.