Support for Children with Additional Learning Needs

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 5 July 2022.

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Photo of Hefin David Hefin David Labour 2:22, 5 July 2022

And funding the Act—as a member of the committee that took it through the Senedd last term—is really important. Without that funding, then it can't deliver on what it intends to. But my question is about the Together for Children and Young People partnership, which is now coming to a close and hopes to leave a legacy. And one of the things I said in my short debate is that, in order to address issues with additional learning needs effectively, we need to have children's needs addressed more than we have to address their behaviours. In fact, the children and young people partnership told me that they recommend moving away from condition-specific approaches to one that takes strength-based children's need approaches as more important. And I think, in order to that, the whole provision of health and social care needs to be geared to it. The Deputy Minister, Julie Morgan, has agreed to meet with me to discuss these issues, and I'm very, very grateful for that, and I really appreciate her listening to me. But with that in mind, can the First Minister give us that reassurance that health and social care will be geared to addressing need over behaviour in future?