Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. Before I begin my opening remarks, I should warn anybody listening to today’s debate that I will be talking in a general way about peer-on-peer sexual harassment among children and young people. Some people may find some of what I and others say distressing.

I'll begin by making it clear what exactly I mean when I talk about 'sexual harassment'. I mean making sexual comments, remarks, jokes, and nasty comments to cause humiliation, distress or alarm; I mean taking pictures under a person’s clothes without them knowing; I mean sharing nude photos or videos of someone without their consent, or sending unwanted sexually explicit photos or videos to someone. By sexual harassment, I do not mean 'banter'. Sexual harassment is not 'boys being boys', whatever that means. It is not bullying, either. When I talk about sexual harassment, I am talking about a form of sexual violence.

We launched this inquiry because of the shocking findings of Estyn’s thematic report, published in December 2021, alongside concerns raised to me by representatives of police forces in Wales. We took verbal and written evidence from professionals, organisations and the Welsh Government between February and May this year. We also launched a survey aimed at children and young people to ask them what change they wanted to see to reduce peer-on-peer sexual harassment in schools and colleges.

The remarkably consistent evidence we received described a harrowing backdrop to the learning of many children and young people: catcalling, hurtful comments, homophobic and transphobic verbal abuse during the school day. And the problem is worse outside the school day. Those abusive comments continue on messaging apps and social media. Alongside those comments, learners receive such high volumes of unsolicited sexual images that many young people have become desensitised to image-based abuse. The problem is so extensive that many girls and young women see it as a part of normal life.

That should alarm everybody here. Because the impact of sexual harassment is substantial and long-lasting. It affects young people’s mental health and educational attainment. It can drain self-confidence, cause withdrawal from education and society, lead to substance abuse, self-harm and even attempted suicide. These risks are heightened for our most vulnerable learners.

That peer-on-peer sexual harassment among learners is so common in schools and colleges is a reflection of society more widely. Sexism, homophobia and transphobia are stubbornly deep-rooted in schools, just as they are across society at large. Pornography depicting unrealistic, unhealthy or even violent sex is easily accessible, and is the first sex education that many young people get. And although social media and messaging apps provide wonderful opportunities for people to communicate and stay in touch, they can create pressure for young people to look, act or behave in a certain way. They can act as vehicles for sexual harassment by making it easy to share sexual images.