English: Thank you, Presiding Officer. The publication last week of the child practice review into the death in 2011 of Dylan Seabridge once again brought to our attention the circumstances in which a young boy's life was cut needlessly short. Dylan was just eight years old and died of an avoidable and treatable vitamin deficiency. He died invisible to the services and professionals who could possibly have saved him. It is unacceptable that, in a modern society, a child should be invisible in this way. This case highlights the challenges faced when people individually, or as part of families, withdraw from traditional or common patterns of family life, and from the safeguarding and protection provided by and through our universal services. The purpose of the child practice review is to improve our services and help us learn what needs to change. This is exactly what we intend to do in the light of this report: learn lessons and improve services. The landscape has changed since 2011. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, in particular, strengthens the statutory and practice framework for safeguarding children and adults. It introduces a new duty on statutory partners to report to their local authority concerns that a child or adult is experiencing or is at risk of experiencing abuse, neglect or harm. The Act is supported by the revised statutory guidance that has been subject to significant cross-sector engagement. We have invested significantly, through dedicated training, to support practitioners to deliver the strengthened framework and have published those training resources on the care council website. Of course, while the Act provides a stronger base for greater confidence that a case like Dylan's could not happen again, it does not and cannot provide all of the answers. Much is made in the report of the issues of elective home education, and there is no doubt that this is part of the picture here, but it is far from the whole picture. Dylan died because he was invisible to the services and professionals who could have been able to help and protect him. There was a criminal investigation into Dylan's death, and the Crown Prosecution Service took a decision that the prosecution of the parents was not in the best public interest. What is clear to me from the CPR is that no single service or professional let down Dylan but that, as a society, as a system, he was let down and allowed to remain invisible and unreachable. I'm working closely with my colleagues the Cabinet Secretary for Education, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport and the Minister for Social Services and Public Health to consider the lessons from this case. Our response will be inclusive and seek to address the key issues of how services work together, how they pool their information and think family rather than individual in isolation, and about how we can prevent any child or young person from being so hidden from view that we cannot spot and address any risk of harm. 'Think family' is now more prevalent across professionals and agencies as part of approaches such as team around the family. We will now consider how we can encourage and support professionals to act on their professional curiosity and have greater confidence to work effectively with families and be confident to escalate issues when needed, such as where the evidence for cause for concern might be, in fact, the lack of evidence of well-being. And we will consider the guidance and regulation in place for all adult and children's services. Such consideration will, of course, include that around elective home education, but also in relation to the key milestones where parents and children would be anticipated to engage with health and other universal services, for example for vaccinations, the role of the health visitor, primary care teams, school nurses, GPs, and so on. Dylan was not seen by any health, education, social or children's services professionals between the age of 13 months and his death at the age of eight. In the final 18 months of Dylan's life, efforts were made to engage with the family, and with Dylan, but with little success. We'll never know how things may have turned out if those efforts had resulted in direct contact with Dylan. What we do know is that despite a level of concern, professionals were not able to gain access to a young and vulnerable child who died from a treatable condition. This is a highly complex case, and you would not expect me, or my Cabinet colleagues, to respond in anything other than a considered manner. That said, I can report that whilst it is not routine practice to report to CPRs, I and my Cabinet colleagues feel that the unique issues raised by this case warrant us writing immediately to all safeguarding boards in Wales, and the national independent safeguarding board, drawing their attention to the issues raised and the findings of this report. I will be working closely with my colleagues to get to the heart of the issues raised by this case, and the CPR, and I will update the Chamber in due course of our intended actions.
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd. Cyhoeddwyd yr adolygiad ymarfer plant i farwolaeth Dylan Seabridge yn 2011 yr wythnos diwethaf, gan dynnu ein sylw unwaith eto at yr amgylchiadau lle cafodd bywyd bachgen ifanc ei dorri'n fyr yn ddiangen. Dim ond wyth mlwydd oed oedd Dylan a bu farw o ddiffyg fitamin y gellir ei osgoi ac y gellir ei drin. Bu farw'n anweledig i'r gwasanaethau a'r gweithwyr proffesiynol a allai o bosibl fod wedi ei achub. Mae'n annerbyniol, mewn cymdeithas fodern, y dylai plentyn fod yn anweledig fel hyn. Mae'r achos hwn yn tynnu sylw at yr heriau a wynebir pan fydd pobl yn unigol, neu'n rhan o deuluoedd, yn tynnu'n ôl o batrymau bywyd teuluol traddodiadol neu gyffredin, ac o'r diogelwch a'r amddiffyniad a ddarperir gan a thrwy ein gwasanaethau cyffredinol. Diben yr adolygiad ymarfer plant yw gwella ein gwasanaethau a'n helpu i ddysgu beth sydd angen newid. Dyma'n union yr ydym ni'n bwriadu ei wneud yng ngoleuni'r adroddiad hwn: dysgu gwersi a gwella gwasanaethau. Mae'r dirwedd wedi newid ers 2011. Mae'r Ddeddf Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol a Llesiant (Cymru), yn arbennig, yn cryfhau'r fframwaith statudol ac ymarfer ar gyfer diogelu plant ac oedolion. Mae'n cyflwyno dyletswydd newydd ar bartneriaid statudol i hysbysu eu hawdurdod lleol am bryderon bod plentyn neu oedolyn yn dioddef camdriniaeth, esgeulustod neu niwed, neu mewn perygl o ddioddef un o'r rhain. Ategir y Ddeddf gan y canllawiau statudol diwygiedig sydd wedi bod yn destun ymgysylltu sylweddol ar draws sectorau. Rydym wedi buddsoddi'n sylweddol, drwy hyfforddiant pwrpasol, i gynorthwyo ymarferwyr i gyflwyno'r fframwaith cryfach ac wedi cyhoeddi'r adnoddau hyfforddi hynny ar wefan y cyngor gofal. Wrth gwrs, er bod y Ddeddf yn darparu sylfaen gryfach i fwy o hyder na allai achos fel achos Dylan ddigwydd eto, nid yw rhoi'r holl atebion, ac ni all wneud hynny. Mae'r adroddiad yn sôn llawer am faterion addysg ddewisol yn y cartref, ac nid oes amheuaeth bod hyn yn rhan o'r darlun yma, ond mae'n bell o fod y darlun cyfan. Bu farw Dylan gan ei fod yn anweledig i'r gwasanaethau a'r gweithwyr proffesiynol a allai fod wedi gallu ei helpu a'i amddiffyn. Bu ymchwiliad troseddol i farwolaeth Dylan, a gwnaeth Gwasanaeth Erlyn y Goron y penderfyniad nad oedd erlyn y rhieni er pennaf fudd y cyhoedd. Yr hyn sy'n eglur i mi o'r adolygiad ymarfer plant yw nad oedd un gwasanaeth neu weithiwr proffesiynol ar fai am yr hyn ddigwyddodd i Dylan ond bod cymdeithas, a'r system, wedi methu trwy adael iddo aros yn anweledig ac yn anghyraeddadwy. Rwy'n gweithio'n agos gyda fy nghydweithwyr Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Addysg, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Iechyd, Lles a Chwaraeon a'r Gweinidog Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol ac Iechyd y Cyhoedd i ystyried y gwersi o'r achos hwn. Bydd ein hymateb yn gynhwysol ac yn ceisio ymdrin â materion allweddol sut y mae gwasanaethau'n gweithio gyda'i gilydd, sut y maent yn cyfuno eu gwybodaeth ac yn meddwl am deuluoedd yn hytrach nag unigolion, ac ynghylch sut y gallwn atal unrhyw blentyn neu berson ifanc rhag bod mor gudd nes na allwn weld unrhyw risg o niwed ac ymdrin ag ef. Mae 'meddwl am y teulu' yn fwy cyffredin nawr ar draws gweithwyr proffesiynol ac asiantaethau yn rhan o ddulliau fel tîm o amgylch y teulu. Byddwn yn ystyried nawr sut y gallwn annog a chynorthwyo gweithwyr proffesiynol i weithredu ar eu chwilfrydedd proffesiynol a bod â mwy o hyder i weithio'n effeithiol gyda theuluoedd a bod yn hyderus i uwchgyfeirio problemau pan fo angen, er enghraifft, os mai'r dystiolaeth o destun pryder yw, mewn gwirionedd, diffyg tystiolaeth o les. A byddwn yn ystyried y canllawiau a'r rheoliadau sydd ar waith ar gyfer ein holl wasanaethau i oedolion a phlant. Bydd ystyriaeth o'r fath, wrth gwrs, yn cynnwys ystyried addysg ddewisol yn y cartref, ond hefyd y cerrig milltir allweddol lle byddem yn rhagweld y byddai rhieni a phlant yn ymgysylltu â gwasanaethau iechyd a gwasanaethau cyffredinol eraill, er enghraifft ar gyfer brechiadau, swyddogaeth yr ymwelydd iechyd, timau gofal sylfaenol, nyrsys ysgol, meddygon teulu, ac ati. Ni chafodd Dylan ei weld gan unrhyw weithiwr proffesiynol gwasanaethau iechyd, addysg, cymdeithasol na phlant rhwng yr adeg yr oedd yn 13 mis oed a'i farwolaeth yn wyth oed. Yn 18 mis olaf bywyd Dylan, gwnaethpwyd ymdrechion i ymgysylltu â'r teulu, a chyda Dylan, ond heb fawr o lwyddiant. Ni fyddwn byth yn gwybod beth allai fod wedi digwydd pe bai'r ymdrechion hynny wedi arwain at gyswllt uniongyrchol gyda Dylan. Yr hyn yr ydym ni'n ei wybod yw bod gweithwyr proffesiynol wedi methu â chael mynediad at blentyn ifanc ac agored i niwed a fu farw o gyflwr y gellir ei drin, er gwaethaf rhywfaint o bryder. Mae hwn yn achos hynod gymhleth, ac ni fyddech yn disgwyl i mi, na'm cydweithwyr yn y Cabinet, ymateb mewn unrhyw fodd nad yw'n ystyriol. Wedi dweud hynny, gallaf ddweud, er nad yw adrodd i adolygiadau ymarfer plant yn fater o drefn, fy mod i a'm cydweithwyr yn y Cabinet yn teimlo bod y materion unigryw a godwyd gan yr achos hwn yn cyfiawnhau i ni ysgrifennu ar unwaith at bob bwrdd diogelu yng Nghymru, a'r bwrdd diogelu annibynnol cenedlaethol, i dynnu eu sylw at y materion a godwyd a chanfyddiadau'r adroddiad hwn. Byddaf yn gweithio'n agos gyda'm cydweithwyr i gael at wraidd y materion a godwyd gan yr achos hwn, a'r adolygiad ymarfer plant, a byddaf yn rhoi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i'r Siambr maes o law am y camau yr ydym ni'n bwriadu eu cymryd.