Annual reports are always retrospective, but this annual report is even more retrospective than usual, because, of course, this year, the current commissioner is reporting on the work of her predecessor. With that in mind, I'd like to thank Sally Holland, once again, for everything that she did for children and young people in Wales throughout her tenure, and congratulations, once again, to Rocio Cifuentes on her appointment. I hope you've settled in well, commissioner.

Back in December 2021, the Children, Young People and Education Committee held a pre-appointment hearing with Ms Cifuentes. We urged her and her office to reflect on a few things as they plan and deliver their work, including how they ensure that they engage with children and young people across the whole of Wales, and how they evaluate the impact of their work so that it's clear how it is making a real difference to the day-to-day lives of children and young people. We will come back to those themes when we scrutinise the commissioner on her annual report on 17 November.

Outside annual report scrutiny, we draw upon the commissioner's expertise to inform our scrutiny work. So, I pay particular interest to the commissioner's report card in her annual report. The report card sets out the commissioner's view of the Welsh Government's progress against key policy issues. The following policy issues resonate particularly strongly with our work.

The first is tackling child poverty. I agree, we are entering a cost-of-living crisis and, as a committee, we have agreed to focus on the negative impact of disadvantage on outcomes for children and young people. It's been little over a year since our committee was formed, but it is already painfully clear just how many of the challenges our children face stem from poverty. As the commissioner advises, we will pay close attention to the Welsh Government's child poverty strategy, due to be published by the end of the year.

The second is care-experienced young people. Like the commissioner, we were encouraged by the programme for government's commitment to:

'Explore radical reform of current services for children looked after and care leavers.'

Unfortunately, we also agree with the commissioner that progress on this important work has been too slow. We need transparency about what this commitment means in practice. We have recently launched a consultation asking care-experienced children and young people, birth parents, stakeholders and academics what they think radical reform should look like. What will make the biggest difference to care-experienced young people's lives? We hope that this inquiry will support the Government's welcome commitment to explore and implement the radical reform that children and young people need.

And finally, whole-school mental health: we have heard concerns about the mental health of our learners time and time again throughout our work, as an impact of sexual harassment among learners, as a cause of pupil absence, and beyond statutory education into higher education. We agree with the commissioner that schools are an ideal setting to support children with their mental health, and welcome Welsh Government's progress that the commissioner has recognised in her report. We will continue to do what we can to ensure that the Government builds on that progress to provide the mental health support that our children deserve.

There are many more critically important policy areas in this report, and not enough time to discuss them all. But I urge all Members of the Senedd, both those in and outside Government, to read this report and use the commissioner's findings to inform their work. Whether or not children are an explicit part of your committee's remit or ministerial portfolio, the Welsh Government has a legal duty to consider their rights in all decisions it makes. This report is relevant to all of us.

And to the commissioner herself, I look forward to discussing her report in more detail on 17 November, and to building on the positive relationship between her predecessor commissioners and our predecessor committees in pursuit of our common purpose: to improve the lives of children and young people in Wales. Diolch.