English: Thank you, Minister, but I must confess that I was a bit surprised by the lack of substance in this report. It is very heavy on the statistics of the office of the commissioner and contains some irrelevant details, such as discussions around podcasts bringing magic and laughter to the office. I, and I think many here, would have hoped that this annual report, particularly since it was the last of the preceding commissioner, would have provided a comprehensive overview of the work that remains to be done and some seriously challenging recommendations to the Welsh Government. Whilst the recommendations offered are certainly worthy, I think the commissioner has missed an opportunity here to have pushed much harder and to have reported what evidence they have provided and what challenges they have made to the Welsh Government. For instance, in the 'how we influence' part of the tackling child poverty section, the commissioner reports that they have written letters to various Secretaries of State asking for meetings, but obtained no acknowledgement letters that their letters had been received. This begs us to ask why the commissioner's office has never chased these meetings further, has never chased the acknowledgement of these letters, and has never hammered on the doors of Government to be heard. The commissioner also describes that they are observers of the income maximisation group, which interestingly doesn't have a specific focus or work stream related to tackling child poverty, and there is no current strategy or action plan on tackling child poverty, despite repeated calls for specific focus on this important area. I think this is quite a worrying lack of progress, given that Wales has the highest levels of child poverty out of every UK nation, with one in three children now living in poverty, and particularly shows that the office of the children's commissioner is either completely powerless to provide significant impact in this area, or it's not seriously challenging the Welsh and UK Governments in this regard. The commissioner's office has simply completed the tick-box exercise of appearing to help deal with child poverty by sending letters and asking for meetings, which ultimately then they have never chased or pursued further. I therefore ask the Minister: going forward, what expectations do you have that the new children's commissioner will actually tackle this problem? Writing letters without even getting a response is not going to cut it. Welsh workers have the lowest take-home pay in the UK in every single industry, which means that households do not necessarily have the same financial resilience as their UK counterparts. The benefit payments that some people are entitled to are worth more than the wage that they can receive from working full time, even if they are paid above the national living wage. And this is ultimately one of the root causes of widespread child poverty. With this in mind, the Welsh children's commissioner has to push a lot harder and have a better understanding of the ultimate causes of child poverty in Wales. Turning to community ambassadors, which are mentioned in the report, the scheme is clearly one that has great potential for wider engagement, especially with normally hard-to-reach groups. However, with the exception of one online event held with young carers in north Wales, the furthest north the commissioner's managed to visit is Merthyr Tydfil, and I'm wondering why this is. Surely there are community groups further north who would have welcomed some engagement with the children's commissioner and her office. There is no mention in either 'Amplify!' or the ambassador schools programme about the geographical distribution of participants, and I would therefore like to emphasise to the Minister that there needs to be some commitment by the commissioner that her office is actively engaging with all parts of Wales and not just going to areas that are easily commutable from head office. This point also rings true with the level of investigations and support that has been offered as well. Of the 604 cases this year, a third of them have been recorded as coming from Cardiff, Bridgend and Swansea, and it would have been useful to know the full distribution across Wales, because it would help identify areas where more visibility of the commissioner is needed. In terms of the comments made by the commissioner in relation to care leavers, the commissioner has identified a need for all care leavers to have an allocated personal adviser, and reported that whilst funds have been made available, the statutory change to embed this provision has not come into force, and the legislative change to make this happen, timetabled for 2022-23, will not now happen until 2024 at the earliest. Given that the Welsh Government is spending £20 million on a universal basic income trial for care leavers, why is this Government unable to ensure that every care leaver has access to a personal adviser? I would like to challenge the Welsh Government further and ask whether or not those opting into the UBI trial are going to have a dedicated personal adviser, because it's going to be a support mechanism that will be vital for some, especially as they're given £20,000 a year to spend. Finally, I want to pick up a point on the high levels of fixed-term exclusions of three to seven-year-old children in the foundation phase. I appreciate that the data is from 2017-18, but it seems to me that there are almost 80,000 days of learning lost to exclusions in Wales, and this seems excessively high, especially given that it is likely that some of the same children are being repeatedly excluded. With this in mind, I would like to challenge the Government and the commissioner on this point. The fact that this came as a surprise to the commissioner, and that they are reporting it some five years later, shows clearly that the commissioner's office is not keeping a close enough eye on these types of statistics.
Welsh: Diolch, Gweinidog, ond rhaid i mi gyfaddef fy mod i wedi fy synnu braidd gan y diffyg sylwedd yn yr adroddiad hwn. Mae'n drwm iawn ar ystadegau swyddfa'r comisiynydd ac yn cynnwys rhai manylion amherthnasol, fel trafodaethau ynghylch podlediadau sy'n dod â hud a chwerthin i'r swyddfa. Byddwn i, a llawer yma rydw i'n credu, wedi gobeithio y byddai'r adroddiad blynyddol hwn, yn enwedig gan mai hwn oedd yr olaf o gyfnod y comisiynydd blaenorol, wedi rhoi trosolwg cynhwysfawr o'r gwaith sydd i'w wneud o hyd a rhai argymhellion wirioneddol heriol i Lywodraeth Cymru. Er bod yr argymhellion a gynigir yn sicr yn deilwng, rwy'n credu bod y comisiynydd wedi colli cyfle yma i fod wedi gwthio llawer caletach ac i adrodd pa dystiolaeth maen nhw wedi'i darparu a pha heriau maen nhw wedi'u gosod i Lywodraeth Cymru. Er enghraifft, yn y rhan 'sut rydyn ni'n dylanwadu' yn yr adran mynd i'r afael â thlodi plant, mae'r comisiynydd yn dweud eu bod wedi ysgrifennu llythyrau at wahanol Ysgrifenyddion Gwladol yn gofyn am gyfarfodydd, ond heb gael unrhyw lythyrau cydnabyddiaeth bod eu llythyrau wedi cael eu derbyn. Mae hyn yn ein harwain i ofyn pam nad yw swyddfa'r comisiynydd erioed wedi mynd ar ôl y cyfarfodydd hyn ymhellach, erioed wedi olrhain cydnabyddiaeth y llythyrau hyn, ac erioed wedi taro ar ddrysau'r Llywodraeth i gael eu clywed. Mae'r comisiynydd hefyd yn disgrifio eu bod yn arsylwyr y grŵp pwyslais ar incwm, nad oes ganddo, yn ddiddorol, bwyslais na ffrwd waith penodol sy'n gysylltiedig â mynd i'r afael â thlodi plant, ac nid oes strategaeth na chynllun gweithredu cyfredol ar fynd i'r afael â thlodi plant, er gwaethaf galwadau dros ar ôl tro am bwyslais penodol ar y maes pwysig hwn. Rwy'n credu bod hyn yn ddiffyg cynnydd eithaf pryderus, o ystyried mai Cymru sydd â'r lefelau uchaf o dlodi plant o bob cenedl yn y DU, ac un o bob tri o blant bellach yn byw mewn tlodi, ac mae'n dangos yn benodol fod swyddfa'r comisiynydd plant naill ai'n gwbl ddi-rym i roi effaith sylweddol yn y maes hwn, neu nad yw'n herio Llywodraeth Cymru a'r DU o ddifrif yn hyn o beth. Yn syml, mae swyddfa'r comisiynydd wedi cwblhau'r ymarfer ticio blychau o ymddangos fel pe bai'n helpu i ddelio â thlodi plant drwy anfon llythyrau a gofyn am gyfarfodydd, ond yn y pen draw wedyn dydyn nhw heb fynd ar drywydd nac olrhain hyn ymhellach. Felly, rwy'n gofyn i'r Gweinidog: wrth symud ymlaen, pa ddisgwyliadau sydd gennych chi y bydd y comisiynydd plant newydd wir yn mynd i'r afael â'r broblem hon? Nid yw ysgrifennu llythyrau heb hyd yn oed gael ymateb yn mynd i fod yn ddigon da. Gweithwyr o Gymru sydd â'r cyflogau isaf yn y DU ym mhob un diwydiant, sy'n golygu nad oes gan gartrefi o reidrwydd yr un cydnerthedd ariannol â'u cymheiriaid yn y DU. Mae'r taliadau budd-dal mae gan rai pobl yr hawl iddyn nhw werth mwy na'r cyflog y gallan nhw ei dderbyn o weithio'n llawn amser, hyd yn oed os ydyn nhw'n cael eu talu'n uwch na'r cyflog byw cenedlaethol. Ac yn y pen draw, dyma un o achosion sylfaenol tlodi plant ar raddfa eang. Gyda hyn mewn golwg, mae'n rhaid i gomisiynydd plant Cymru wthio llawer yn galetach a chael gwell dealltwriaeth o'r achosion pennaf o dlodi plant yng Nghymru. Gan droi at lysgenhadon cymunedol, sy'n cael eu crybwyll yn yr adroddiad, mae'r cynllun yn amlwg yn un sydd â photensial mawr o ran ymgysylltu ehangach, yn enwedig gyda grwpiau sy'n anodd eu cyrraedd fel arfer. Ond heblaw am un digwyddiad ar-lein a gynhaliwyd gyda gofalwyr ifanc yn y gogledd, y pellaf i'r gogledd mae'r comisiynydd wedi llwyddo i ymweld yw Merthyr Tudful, a meddwl ydw i tybed pam. Siawns nad oes grwpiau cymunedol ymhellach i'r gogledd a fyddai wedi croesawu rhywfaint o ymgysylltu â'r comisiynydd plant a'i swyddfa. Nid oes sôn naill ai yn 'Gyda'n Gilydd!' na'r rhaglen llysgenhadon ysgolion am ddosbarthiad daearyddol y cyfranogwyr, ac felly hoffwn bwysleisio i'r Gweinidog fod angen peth ymrwymiad gan y comisiynydd bod ei swyddfa yn mynd ati i ymgysylltu â phob rhan o Gymru yn weithredol ac nid mynd i ardaloedd sy'n hawdd eu cyrraedd o'r brif swyddfa yn unig. Mae'r pwynt hwn hefyd yn seinio'n glir gyda lefel yr ymchwiliadau a'r gefnogaeth sydd wedi'i gynnig hefyd. O'r 604 o achosion eleni, cofnodwyd fod traean ohonynt yn dod o Gaerdydd, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr ac Abertawe, a byddai wedi bod yn ddefnyddiol gwybod beth oedd y dosbarthiad llawn ledled Cymru, oherwydd byddai'n helpu i nodi ardaloedd lle mae angen mwy o amlygrwydd i'r comisiynydd. O ran sylwadau'r comisiynydd mewn perthynas â'r rhai oedd wedi gadael gofal, mae'r comisiynydd wedi nodi bod angen i bob person sy'n gadael gofal fod â chynghorydd personol penodedig, a dywedodd er bod cyllid ar gael, nad yw'r newid statudol i wreiddio'r ddarpariaeth hon wedi dod i rym, ac na fydd y newid deddfwriaethol i wneud i hyn ddigwydd, wedi'i amserlennu'n wreiddiol ar gyfer 2022-23, yn digwydd tan 2024 ar y cynharaf bellach. O ystyried bod Llywodraeth Cymru'n gwario £20 miliwn ar dreialu incwm sylfaenol cyffredinol ar gyfer y rhai sy'n gadael gofal, pam nad yw'r Llywodraeth hon yn gallu sicrhau bod gan bob person sy'n gadael gofal fynediad at gynghorydd personol? Hoffwn herio Llywodraeth Cymru ymhellach a gofyn p'un a yw'r rhai sy'n optio mewn i'r treial incwm sylfaenol cyffredinol yn mynd i gael cynghorydd personol penodol ai peidio, oherwydd mae'n mynd i fod yn ddull cefnogi a fydd yn hanfodol i rai, yn enwedig gan eu bod nhw'n cael £20,000 y flwyddyn i'w wario. Yn olaf, rwyf i am godi pwynt ar y lefelau uchel o waharddiadau tymor penodol ar gyfer plant tair i saith mlwydd oed yn y cyfnod sylfaen. Rwy'n gwerthfawrogi bod y data rhwng 2017-18, ond mae'n ymddangos i mi fod bron i 80,000 diwrnod o ddysgu yn cael eu colli i waharddiadau yng Nghymru, ac mae hyn yn ymddangos yn rhy uchel, yn enwedig o ystyried ei bod yn debygol bod rhai o'r un plant yn cael eu gwahardd dro ar ôl tro. Gyda hyn mewn golwg, hoffwn herio'r Llywodraeth a'r comisiynydd ar y pwynt hwn. Mae'r ffaith i hyn fod yn syndod i'r comisiynydd, a'u bod yn adrodd amdano bum mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, yn dangos yn glir nad yw swyddfa'r comisiynydd yn cadw llygad digon agos ar y mathau hyn o ystadegau.