In light of the unprecedented circumstances surrounding Coronavirus, the Committee has taken the difficult – but necessary – decision to postpone the publication of its report on children’s rights in Wales.

This is to ensure that all necessary public resources can be focused on the immediate public health situation.

The Committee will return to this work as soon as it is able. Updates will be provided on this webpage when available.

The Children, Young People and Education Committee is undertaking a short inquiry on children’s rights in Wales to review the impact of the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. It will consider:

• the extent to which the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 has influenced the Welsh Government’s decision making, including its financial allocations and whether it has fulfilled the Convention’s ‘general measures’ of implementation;
• evidence of whether the Measure has led to improved outcomes for children and young people;
• whether the duties within the Measure have been embedded effectively across Welsh Government cabinet portfolios and policy;
• the extent to which the Welsh Government has sought to ensure that its duties within the Measure are translated into the work of the public bodies it provides funding to, including local authorities and NHS bodies;
• the extent to which the Welsh Government has implemented its duty to promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC amongst the public, including children and young people;
• how the duty to have ‘due regard’ to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is being implemented in practice and whether Child Rights Impact Assessments are being used as a meaningful tool;
• the effectiveness of the Children’s Right’s Scheme and the most recent Welsh Government compliance report, and the extent to which they evidence sufficient action on the part of Welsh Government to ensure full implementation of the Measure;
• how effectively the Welsh Government responds on a strategic basis to the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.