4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Thank you very much.
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
That is absolutely right, and one of the things that I said when I saw this report and I read what had happened was that, but for the grace of God, this could have been anywhere, because these people—. The point I made right at the outset—Neil Foden was…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Thank you for that very important question. I'll place on record again that my thoughts always remain with Neil Foden's victims in all of this and with the bravery of those children that came forward to expose what was happening in plain sight for a number of…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Sure.
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Okay. Thank you for that question. Well, the number of children that are reached by the end of this financial year depends on take-up. So, we can put the offer out there; what we can't determine is how many people actually decide to take it up. We expected to…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
To be clear, my statement was not focused on adult social care; it was about the whole of the social care workforce. I don't know why the committee or you have the impression that I was only focusing on adult social care. If I gave that impression, I…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
We certainly wouldn't rule it out, but I think we need to get a robust, evidence-based framework in place first.
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Okay, diolch. Can I start by saying that we absolutely recognise the importance of parental advocacy, helping families to navigate the child protection system? It's absolutely vitally important. Parental advocacy is available nationally across Wales. We've…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Diolch for that question, Cefin. I think it's important to say at the outset that the Act is being implemented in a phased way. That was always the intention. It was never the intention that we would start from April 2026 with an immediate move to…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Well, I think that's a matter of opinion. I don't think that is substantiated by the facts. I think the facts are that over 40,000 Flying Start children and families can access an enhanced level of visiting support from the dedicated Flying Start health…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Yes, absolutely. And as I said, I think in my initial answer to you, there is a wider skill‑mix team around Flying Start; it’s not just health visitors. The Cabinet Secretary referred earlier on to the Healthy Child Wales programme, and there’s a minimum set…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
No, no.
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Yes.
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
What I was trying to probe with the Cabinet Secretary was: how many other people are in the team around the health visitor?
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I mean, no system is perfect; we absolutely accept that. We are very clear about what the expectation is. When there are staff shortages, that obviously creates difficulties, it creates challenges, and we have sought to address that through the recruitment of…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
It's fairly straightforward. As part of previous expansions of Flying Start, that was something that was brought to our attention—and I think it wasn’t news to any of us, because we all have casework around this—that there were families that were in need of…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Potentially—and we don't know for a fact—but only because the recording of outreach is quite inconsistent by local authorities. It's relatively small in number, shouldn't be difficult to record, and it is one of those areas that I think we probably do need to…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Absolutely. You will know from your constituency work, as I do, I'm sure, that there are a number of families that sit outside of those postcode areas that also have those needs. So, the outreach facility is for the local authority to be able to identify…
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Yes, so it was initially set up—. It's important to say this so that you understand what the outreach does. It was targeted in particular postcode areas, those areas with the greatest need. You will know, I'm sure, from your constituency work—
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
So, outreach, with Flying Start—. So, Flying Start was initially set up—
4 March 2026 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I'll deal with this, Chair, if that's okay. So, you're right, Jenny, in 2024-25, we did see the contact rate be lower than in previous years and that was due to a general shortage of health visitors. We did have a shortage during that period, the immediate…
3 March 2026 , Plenary
The Annual Returns (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. And can I thank the Chair of the LJC and James Evans for his contribution? I respect James's view on the position of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 as it relates to the elimination of profit from the care of looked-after…
3 March 2026 , Plenary
The Annual Returns (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
The statutory instrument before you introduces amendments to existing regulations on provider annual returns and associated penalty notices. Although technical, these changes are essential to delivering one of the Government's major reforms in children's…
3 March 2026 , Plenary
The Annual Returns (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the motion.
24 February 2026 , Plenary
The Regulated Adoption Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) and Adoption Support Services (Local Authorities) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Before I respond to the points that Mabon has raised, I just wanted to reflect on what the amendments represent for adoption support in Wales and, most importantly, the people who rely on it. At their core, these reforms are about…
