English: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm very pleased to be able to make this statement today, on behalf of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, to recognise the importance of the UN Universal Children's Day. The United Nations Universal Children's Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide and improving children's welfare. Since its establishment, 20 November has become an important date in relation to the progress of children's rights across the world. On 20 November 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted the declaration on the rights of the child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the convention on the rights of the child. Since 1990, Universal Children's Day has been used to celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of both the declaration and the convention on children's rights. More importantly, it is a day on which, across the world, children are honoured and time is taken to reflect on progress that has been made in promoting their rights. The National Assembly for Wales has a great story to tell on its scrutiny of children's rights. In 2011, Wales became the first country in the UK to make the UNCRC part of its domestic law when we passed the Rights of Children and Young People (Wales) Measure 2011. The Measure aimed to strengthen and build on the approach the Welsh Government was taking to making policy for children and young people. It placed a duty on Welsh Ministers to have due regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and required Ministers to publish a children's rights scheme, setting out the arrangements in place to have that due regard. These duties must be the cornerstone of how Welsh Government creates its policies for children. Welsh Government actions under this duty are something that this committee has and will continually monitor and scrutinise in order to ensure our children and young people are safe, well, happy and have their legal rights respected. The work of the committee has made a significant impact and has directly influenced change and improvement in service delivery for children and young people in many areas. I'm pleased by the progress we've made in scrutinising key areas of policy and legislation during the first half of this Assembly. At the outset of the Assembly, we set clear principles and ambitions for our work. One of those principles was that engagement with children and young people should underpin all the work we do, ensuring that their views and experiences are captured in a useful, sensitive and constructive way. We are now at the halfway point of the fifth Assembly, so this provides a perfect opportunity for me to update Members on the work the committee has undertaken on children's matters and how we have engaged with children and young people along the way. I, sadly, won't be able to cover all of these areas during the statement. Instead, I will concentrate on the ones where I believe we have made the biggest impact and have had the most engagement with children. In our snapshot inquiry into youth services in Wales, more than 1,500 young people gave us their views. The feedback from young people was incredibly clear: when youth work provision disappears from a young person's life, the impact is considerable. This formed an essential part of our findings and recommendations. We were pleased to note the Welsh Government's renewed focus on these services following our report and the direction of travel appears promising, with the recent appointment of an interim youth work board. Despite a number of high-profile previous reports relating to advocacy services, the committee remained concerned that the most vulnerable children in Wales were still not being supported to have their voices heard about issues that affected them. This was despite the need for independent advocacy being a key recommendation in the Waterhouse report in the year 2000. The importance of ensuring vulnerable children have an independent advocate cannot be underestimated. So, in October 2016, we undertook a short, focused inquiry into statutory advocacy provision in Wales. We are pleased that, since our report, progress has been made and the committee's scrutiny is widely credited with ensuring that the national model for advocacy has been fully implemented and funded across Wales.
Welsh: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Rwy'n falch iawn o allu gwneud y datganiad hwn heddiw, ar ran y Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg, i gydnabod pwysigrwydd Diwrnod Byd-eang y Plant y Cenhedloedd Unedig. Sefydlwyd Diwrnod Byd-eang y Plant gan y Cenhedloedd Unedig ym 1954 a chaiff ei ddathlu ar 20 Tachwedd bob blwyddyn i hybu undod rhyngwladol, ymwybyddiaeth ymhlith plant ledled y byd ac er mwyn gwella lles plant. Ers ei sefydlu, mae 20 Tachwedd wedi dod yn ddyddiad pwysig o ran cynyddu hawliau plant ledled y byd. Ar 20 Tachwedd 1959, mabwysiadodd Cynulliad Cyffredinol y Cenhedloedd Unedig y datganiad ar hawliau'r plentyn. Ar y dyddiad hwn hefyd ym 1989, mabwysiadodd Cynulliad Cyffredinol y Cenhedloedd Unedig y confensiwn ar hawliau'r plentyn. Ers 1990, mae Diwrnod Byd-eang y Plant wedi bod yn gyfle i ddathlu pen-blwydd mabwysiadu'r confensiwn a'r datganiad ar hawliau'r plentyn. Yn bwysicach, mae'n ddiwrnod pan gaiff plant ledled y byd eu hanrhydeddu a ble treulir amser i fyfyrio ar y cynnydd a wnaed o ran hyrwyddo eu hawliau. Mae gan Gynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru stori wych i'w hadrodd ynglŷn â'i waith yn craffu ar hawliau plant. Yn 2011, Cymru oedd y wlad gyntaf yn y DU i wneud Confensiwn y Cenhedloedd Unedig ar Hawliau'r Plentyn yn rhan o'i chyfraith ddomestig pan gafodd Mesur Hawliau Plant a Phobl Ifanc (Cymru) 2011 ei basio. Nod y Mesur oedd atgyfnerthu a datblygu dull Llywodraeth Cymru o lunio polisïau ar gyfer plant a phobl ifanc. Roedd yn gosod dyletswydd ar Weinidogion Cymru i roi sylw dyledus i Gonfensiwn y Cenhedloedd Unedig ar Hawliau'r Plentyn ac fe'i gwnaeth hi'n ofynnol i Weinidogion gyhoeddi cynllun hawliau plant, yn nodi'r trefniadau sydd ar waith i roi'r sylw dyledus hwnnw. Mae'n rhaid i'r dyletswyddau hyn fod yn gonglfaen i ddull Llywodraeth Cymru o lunio'i pholisïau ar gyfer plant. Mae'r pwyllgor hwn wedi monitro a chraffu ar gamau gweithredu Llywodraeth Cymru o dan y ddyletswydd hon, a bydd yn parhau i wneud hynny er mwyn sicrhau bod ein plant a'n pobl ifanc yn ddiogel, yn iach, yn hapus ac y caiff eu hawliau cyfreithiol eu parchu. Mae gwaith y pwyllgor wedi cael effaith sylweddol ac mae wedi dylanwadu'n uniongyrchol ar newid a gwelliannau wrth ddarparu gwasanaethau ar gyfer plant a phobl ifanc mewn sawl maes. Rwy'n falch o'r cynnydd yr ydym ni wedi'i wneud wrth graffu ar feysydd polisi a deddfwriaeth allweddol yn hanner cyntaf y Cynulliad hwn. Ar ddechrau'r Cynulliad, fe wnaethom ni bennu egwyddorion ac uchelgeisiau clir ar gyfer ein gwaith. Un o'r egwyddorion hynny oedd y dylai ymgysylltu â phlant a phobl ifanc fod yn sylfaen i'r holl waith a wnawn, gan sicrhau bod eu safbwyntiau a'u profiadau yn cael eu cofnodi mewn ffordd ddefnyddiol, sensitif ac adeiladol. Rydym ni bellach hanner ffordd drwy'r pumed Cynulliad, felly mae hyn yn gyfle perffaith imi roi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i'r Aelodau am waith y pwyllgor ar faterion plant a sut yr ydym ni wedi ymgysylltu â phlant a phobl ifanc dros y cyfnod hwn. Yn anffodus, ni fyddaf i'n gallu trafod pob un o'r meysydd hyn yn y datganiad. Yn hytrach, byddaf yn canolbwyntio ar y rhai yr ydym ni wedi cael yr effaith fwyaf arnyn nhw, ac wedi ymgysylltu mwyaf â phlant, yn fy marn i. Yn ein hymchwiliad cipolwg i wasanaethau ieuenctid yng Nghymru, rhoddodd mwy na 1,500 o bobl ifanc eu barn i ni. Roedd yr adborth gan bobl ifanc yn hynod o glir: pan fydd darpariaeth gwaith ieuenctid yn diflannu o fywyd person ifanc, mae'r effaith yn sylweddol. Ffurfiodd hyn ran hanfodol o'n canfyddiadau a'n hargymhellion. Roeddem yn falch o nodi bod Llywodraeth Cymru wedi adnewyddu'r pwyslais ar y gwasanaethau hyn yn dilyn ein hadroddiad ac ymddengys fod y cynnydd yn addawol, gyda bwrdd gwaith ieuenctid dros dro wedi ei benodi yn ddiweddar. Er gwaethaf nifer o adroddiadau blaenllaw blaenorol yn ymwneud â gwasanaethau eiriolaeth, roedd y pwyllgor yn pryderu o hyd nad oedd y plant mwyaf agored i niwed yng Nghymru yn cael cefnogaeth i fynegi eu barn ynglŷn â materion sy'n effeithio arnyn nhw. Roedd hyn er gwaethaf y ffaith bod yr angen am eiriolaeth annibynnol yn argymhelliad allweddol yn adroddiad Waterhouse yn y flwyddyn 2000. Ni ellir tanbrisio pwysigrwydd sicrhau bod gan blant agored i niwed eiriolwr annibynnol. Felly, ym mis Hydref 2016, cynhaliwyd ymchwiliad byr, penodol i ddarpariaeth eiriolaeth statudol yng Nghymru. Rydym ni'n falch, ers ein hadroddiad, bod cynnydd wedi'i wneud a nodir yn eang bod prosesau craffu y pwyllgor yn gyfrifol am sicrhau bod y model cenedlaethol ar gyfer eiriolaeth wedi'i weithredu a'i ariannu'n llawn ledled Cymru.