New Senedd committees were established after the election in May 2026. The EYCYPE Committee's remit is to examine legislation and hold the Welsh Government to account by scrutinising its expenditure, administration and policy matters, encompassing (but not restricted to): early years, education (including Welsh language in education), skills, and the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including their health and social care.
The Committee launched a consultation in July 2026 seeking views on what should be its main priorities during the Seventh Senedd.
Our response
In our response, we called for the Committee to take forward a dedicated inquiry into children's health and wellbeing early in the new Senedd term. We argued that such an inquiry would provide the opportunity to assess the state of children’s health in Wales, evaluate whether children are being adequately prioritised within health and care services and identify changes that are needed to improve outcomes.
The Children, Young People and Education Committee in the previous Welsh Parliament acknowledged that it had not undertaken significant work on children's health but had nevertheless raised concerns that children's health and wellbeing were not being sufficiently prioritised within national planning and resource allocation. We therefore suggested that an inquiry early in the new parliament provided an important opportunity to assess the scale of the challenges facing child health services, examine the effectiveness of current policy interventions and consider how government, public services and wider partners can work together to improve outcomes for babies, children and young people.
A specific inquiry into child health services in Wales could examine:
- Whether children's health is sufficiently prioritised within current planning and funding frameworks
- Whether workforce numbers are sufficient to match growing demand for support and to meet increased complexity of children's health needs
- The impact of inequalities on the health and wellbeing of babies, children and young people and whether service configuration, access arrangements and funding are playing a positive role in addressing these inequalities
- The particular challenges around waiting times for babies, children and young people and whether existing performance measures appropriately capture the impact of delayed access to treatment
- The quality and availability of child health data and opportunities to improve digital infrastructure and information sharing between health, care, education and other services that support children
We respond to a wide range of consultations to ensure that the College’s position, and ultimately children’s health, is represented. Members can get involved in current consultations in Wales by contacting enquiries-wales@rcpch.ac.uk.