Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:18 pm on 28 June 2022.
Thank you, Minister, for the statement. I'm not trying to make any political points here. I have some grave concerns about this. As a corporate parent for 25 years through the local government sector, I do believe there is far more that local authorities can do. I know you described the packages of support that you were expecting from local authorities, but I genuinely believe local authorities should extend their parental responsibilities over the age of 18 and use the resources that you're looking to spend in this way to focus on real career paths and learning opportunities, with the creation of jobs—actual long-term jobs and careers. I'm really anxious about the drop-off at the end of the two years. There will be some people who manage this very well; there'll be others who are real casualties. And I'm really worried that there will be a lot of casualties as a result of this experiment. I hope it proves me wrong, because these are a very vulnerable, precious young group of people, and we should be treading very carefully in how we do this. But I think it should fall to local authorities to put in those packages of support as corporate parents and an extended corporate parental role. Thank you.