Happy, healthy and safe: A manifesto for Wales’ children and young people 2021

Read our 2021 Manifesto

The election

In May 2021 there will be a Senedd election. This is when people who live in Wales will vote for who they want to run the country for the next five years.

Over the coming months parties will try to convince all of us who live in Wales to vote for them.

One of the ways parties do this is by publishing something called a manifesto. A manifesto explains to people what a party would do if they got enough votes to run the country.

What we want to see in manifestos

It’s our job to make sure that the Government always thinks about children’s rights when they make decisions that affect children. We want all political parties who are hoping to win the election next year to think about children’s rights when they write their manifestos.

On this page, we’ve written the top things we want Welsh Government to do for children and young people.

They are the things we want political parties to put in their manifestos, so we can be sure that the next Government will do what’s best for children and young people.

These ideas have come from all of our work over the last five years and reflect what children and young people have told us is important to them.

You can read our full manifesto by clicking the link above.

These are the top things we want Welsh Government to do for children and young people

  • Lots of children in Wales live in poverty. The Government needs to give more help to them and their families, and they need to work hard to make sure fewer children live in poverty from now on.
  • Get children and young people’s help on tackling climate change, by listening to and using their ideas.
  • Free bus and train travel for under 18s.
  • More youth and play services that anyone can use, for free.
  • Make it much easier for children to get help and support for their mental health. Children should be able to get the help they need where and when they need it, and from lots of different places. There should be ‘no wrong door’ for children looking for help. Wherever they go for help, they should get it.
  • Make sure all children have the electronic devices they need to learn at home, and access to the internet.
  • Make sure every child in Wales has their rights respected in school.
  • Think carefully about school tests and exams for children and young people 7-18. Do they need to be changed at all? They will need to listen to children, young people, parents, schools, universities, and employers to make a decision.
  • Make new laws to protect the rights of children who are home educated. When children are home educated at the moment, they don’t need to follow any rules, which means we don’t know if they are getting everything they need.
  • Give all young children the chance to go to a nursery for free, to help them learn and develop.
  • Stop private companies making a profit in children’s homes and foster care.
  • Bring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child fully into Welsh law. This means we should bring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child fully into Welsh law.