Children and Young People Committee to follow the money to ensure young people in Wales get the best deal.

The National Assembly for Wales’ Children and Young People Committee is calling for evidence for its short inquiry into children’s budgeting in Wales.

Launching the call for evidence, Committee Chair Helen Mary Jones said: “Policy does matter and in the past decade the Assembly Government has made good policy when it comes to giving our youngest the best life chances.

“But budgets matter even more because without the money being directed at these policies they won’t have any impact.

And that’s what this inquiry into children’s budgeting is all about,  examining the resources national and local government allocates to polices, programmes and services that benefit children, and about whether these adequately reflect the needs of children and young people.  

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has consistently recommended that budget analyses be conducted across the UK Government and devolved administrations to show spending on children, to identify priorities and to allocate resources to the 'maximum extent available'.  

It is to the Welsh Assembly Government’s credit that it is has initiated work in this field.  Nevertheless, the way in which budgets are currently constructed in Wales often makes it difficult to identify what is actually being spent on children and young people, on a wide range of issues that impact upon them- their education, health and heritage.  

Greater transparency, and a better understanding of how public expenditure is set and allocated is crucial to monitoring the ways in which national and local government promotes the rights and well-being of children and young people in Wales.  

To get to the truth of the real priorities of government- at both national and local levels- we need to be able to follow the money.”

Further information about the Committee, and its call for evidence can be found at its webpage: http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-committees/bus-committees-third1/bus-committees-third-cyp-home.htm