Diolch, Llywydd. Well, Gareth Davies, our colleague, obviously, opened this debate by extending his thoughts and condolences—and I know every Member here shares this—to Logan Mwangi's family and friends and community. Such a tragedy, he said, highlights the need for the Welsh Government to ensure this never happens again, with an independent review to ensure that 'never again means never again.' He said that whereas reviews in England prioritise what went wrong, with clear recommendations to the UK Government to go forward, and there are current reviews in Scotland and Northern Ireland, why is only Wales being left out when children's safety is being put at risk? If reviews don't go ahead, he said, the people of Wales will want to know why the Welsh Government appears to be avoiding accountability once again.

Heledd Fychan quite rightly said it's absolutely essential that we have an independent review of children's social care in Wales, because it's not a party political matter. It's about looking at the system as a whole, where facts and figures speak for themselves. As she said,

'Reviews are positive...not things to be feared...to learn lessons as a whole.'

Altaf Hussain pointed out that the failings with Bridgend social services long predated this individual case, with a number of critical reports showing children going missing or being put at risk of exploitation. 

Jane Dodds, speaking with a career in child protection, said she can't see any reason why COVID prevented interventions to save Logan's life. She referred to Care Inspectorate Wales reports—I think she said in Wrexham and Denbighshire—being very hard to interpret, in contrast to equivalent reports from the sister body across the border in England. 

The Minister, our Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan, despite all of that said that she remains of the view that now is not the time for an independent review, regardless of the overwhelming weight of evidence in support of an independent review. Her statement that you shouldn't just do something because other parts of the UK have had reviews, to which Gareth responded, despite all other Governments across the UK recognising the need for these reviews, often recurrently, perhaps exposes an underlying mindset that is creating barriers to delivery within the Welsh Government on points that should have nothing to do with party politics. 

The pandemic has only exacerbated an existing situation, and the safeguarding review into Logan Mwangi's case outlined a number of recommendations aimed at Welsh Government, including that they consider commissioning a pan-Wales review of approaches to undertaking child protection conferences to identify—. They made a series of recommendations I haven't got time to read out. However, the Deputy Minister for social care, Julie Morgan, refused in 2019 to commission a review on the rise in looked-after children in Wales, and her mission to reduce high numbers through setting local authority targets without sound measures underpinning these targets has sadly come to fruition, because we haven't had an independent review to establish the root causes. 

Of course, this isn't just about Bridgend or about a local authority failing to intervene. For example, I have casework involving neurodiverse parents in Flintshire, who wrote to every county councillor with evidence that wasn't included in the documents presented to a judge in family proceedings regarding their children by the council, in consequence of which their children were taken into care and remain undiagnosed, untreated and unsupported for apparent autism, pathalogical demand avoidance and HDE. And none of the councillors responded because they were told not to or asked not to by the council's legal team, despite the vital role they're supposed to play in challenging council officers and holding them to account when presented with such evidence. 

The tragic case of Logan Mwangi, who was let down by so many agencies in Bridgend, should be a tipping point for children's services in Wales. One legacy of this bright, bubbly boy must be that his horrendous murder should never be repeated. Although the Deputy Minister has pledged to accept the findings of the review into Logan's death, this won't sufficiently investigate recurring failures and provide clear solutions to support Welsh children in the future. An independent review of children's social care will achieve this, and the children of Wales deserve our collective support. So, let us vote in favour of a full and frank independent review into children's care and social care in Wales. Diolch yn fawr.