English: Well, I thank Dawn Bowden for pointing to one of the great social policy experiments of this century. I deeply regret the fact that the child trust fund, launched by Labour in 2002 was abolished by the incoming coalition Government in 2010, because that scheme offered young people and particularly people from disadvantaged communities a chance to begin their adult life with an asset behind them, and in asset-based welfare, the theory is that assets change lives; that, if you have a sum of money that you can rely on, you make different sorts of decisions about your future. Now, we have this great natural experiment because we have these cohorts of young people born from 1 September 2002 until 2011 and the first generation of those children turn 18 in September of this year. There were 273,000 young people in Wales who had child trust fund accounts opened for them and some Members here will remember my colleague, Brian Gibbons, introducing a Welsh addition to those child trust funds, so that children in Wales, when they became primary school age, every child had £50 added to their account; every child from a disadvantaged family had £100 added to their account. When the child trust fund was set up, Llywydd, the idea was not simply to put money into a child's account, but that that child would be able to track that account throughout their maturity - that, every year, they would have a statement telling them how much was being held for them. By the time they were 16, they were meant to be able to make decisions for themselves about where that fund would be invested. And, when the fund was abolished, unfortunately all of that was abolished as well. That's why we are fearful, as Dawn Bowden has said, that there could be thousands of young people in Wales in September of this year who have had money invested on their behalf that could provide a platform for them as they go into adult life, who will know nothing about it. That's why my colleague Rebecca Evans wrote to Treasury Ministers on 22 January, urging them to take new action, so that those young people in Wales who have an opportunity to take advantage of their child trust fund will be identified and that we can be confident that, for those young people at least, this opportunity will be genuinely available.
Welsh: Wel, diolchaf i Dawn Bowden am gyfeirio at un o arbrofion polisi cymdeithasol mawr y ganrif hon. Gresynaf yn fawr y ffaith bod y gronfa ymddiriedolaeth plant, a lansiwyd gan y Blaid Lafur yn 2002 wedi cael ei diddymu gan y Llywodraeth glymblaid a ddaeth i rym yn 2010, gan fod y cynllun hwnnw'n cynnig cyfle i bobl ifanc ac yn enwedig pobl o gymunedau difreintiedig ddechrau ar eu bywyd fel oedolion gydag ased y tu ôl iddyn nhw, ac mewn lles sy'n seiliedig ar asedau, y ddamcaniaeth yw bod asedau'n newid bywydau; os oes gennych chi swm o arian y gallwch chi ddibynnu arno, rydych chi'n gwneud gwahanol fathau o benderfyniadau am eich dyfodol. Nawr, mae gennym ni'r arbrawf naturiol mawr hwn oherwydd bod gennym ni'r cohortau hyn o bobl ifanc a anwyd rhwng 1 Medi 2002 a 2011 a bydd y genhedlaeth gyntaf o'r plant hynny yn troi'n 18 oed ym mis Medi eleni. Roedd 273,000 o bobl ifanc yng Nghymru yr agorwyd cyfrifon cronfa ymddiriedolaeth plant ar eu cyfer a bydd rhai Aelodau yn y fan yma yn cofio fy nghyd-Aelod, Brian Gibbons, yn cyflwyno ychwanegiad yng Nghymru at y cronfeydd ymddiriedolaeth plant hynny, fel bod plant yng Nghymru, pan roedden nhw'n cyrraedd oed ysgol gynradd, ychwanegwyd £50 at gyfrif pob plentyn; ychwanegwyd £100 at gyfrif pob plentyn o deulu difreintiedig. Pan sefydlwyd y gronfa ymddiriedolaeth plant, Llywydd, y syniad oedd nid yn unig rhoi arian i mewn i gyfrif plentyn, ond y byddai'r plentyn hwnnw'n gallu olrhain y cyfrif hwnnw drwy gydol ei aeddfedrwydd - y byddai ganddo, bob blwyddyn, gyfriflen yn dweud wrtho faint oedd yn cael ei gadw ar ei gyfer. Erbyn yr adeg y bydden nhw'n 16 oed, roedden nhw i fod i allu gwneud penderfyniadau drostynt eu hunain ynghylch ble y byddai'r gronfa honno'n cael ei buddsoddi. A, phan ddiddymwyd y gronfa, diddymwyd hynny i gyd hefyd yn anffodus. Dyna pam yr ydym ni'n bryderus, fel y mae Dawn Bowden wedi ei ddweud, y gallai fod miloedd o bobl ifanc yng Nghymru ym mis Medi eleni y buddsoddwyd arian ar eu rhan a allai roi llwyfan iddyn nhw wrth iddyn nhw fynd ymlaen i fywyd fel oedolion, na fyddan nhw'n gwybod dim am y peth. Dyna pam yr ysgrifennodd fy nghyd-Aelod Rebecca Evans at Weinidogion y Trysorlys ar 22 Ionawr, yn eu hannog i gymryd camau newydd, fel y bydd y bobl ifanc hynny yng Nghymru sydd â chyfle i fanteisio ar eu cronfa ymddiriedolaeth plant yn cael eu nodi ac y gallwn fod yn ffyddiog y bydd y cyfle hwn ar gael yn wirioneddol, i'r bobl ifanc hynny o leiaf.