6. What discussions has the Counsel General had with other law officers regarding the devolution of youth justice to Wales? OQ58819

Thank you. I have regular meetings with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Lord Bellamy. I have made, and will continue to make, the case for the devolution of youth justice to Wales during these discussions.

Counsel General, thank you for your update on this. I recently met with Professor Kevin Haines and Professor Jonathan Wynne Evans, two pioneering experts for youth justice, who talked to me about how, in Wales, our approach is children first and offenders second, and they actually called this way back in 2013 the 'dragonisation' of youth justice. And this is all about making sure that the child is first and then the offence is focused on second. Evidence shows that promoting the welfare of children and young people reduces the risk of offending and reoffending, and doing so protects the public as well. So, it's incredibly timely to see that the devolution of justice was one of the recommendations of the recent Gordon Brown report. I'm aware that this is a matter that the Counsel General is also in discussions with UK Government on, and could we have an update on those discussions and their significance for the devolution of youth justice and probation to Wales, please?

Thank you for the question, and it is a really important area, and I'm as pleased as you are about the very specific focus on youth justice, because that is the most glaring area where there is such a jagged edge. Youth justice, whilst it remains non-devolved, devolved services, nevertheless, such as housing, education and healthcare, do play such a fundamental role in diverting young people away from the criminal justice system in Wales, and, as you say, they are key to enabling prevention and early intervention.

Of course, we have the youth justice blueprint for Wales that was published in July 2009. That sets out our vision for youth justice in Wales as agreed with the UK Government, which does take a children first approach, and this means working in a sort of child-centred rather than a service-focused way with, I think, a focus on trauma-informed practices, preventing children coming into contact with the justice system and meeting the individual needs of children within the justice system. That is why it is so important to us.

I know the Minister, my colleague the Minister for Social Justice, raises this on every occasion at every ministerial opportunity they have. I also raise it, and in the context of the devolution of justice, and as we did jointly within the 'Delivering Justice for Wales' paper. So, I raised it, as I said, with Lord Bellamy yesterday. I'm meeting tomorrow with the president of the Law Society for the whole of the United Kingdom, and I'll be raising that again, because having that support from the legal profession, from those who practice within that area who are experts, is, I think, vitally important and important in people's understanding of why this is so important to us, and why it must happen, and why I'm convinced that it actually will happen.