3. What discussions has the Welsh Government had regarding the impact of changes to social security on communities in Wales? OAQ(5)0001(CC)

I thank Steffan Lewis for his question. I haven’t heard the ‘social security’ term used for quite some time, actually, but I thank him for his question. Working with a wide range of stakeholders, we continue to discuss and assess the significant impact of the UK Government’s welfare reforms in Wales. The Welsh Government has, on many occasions, made representations with UK Ministers, raising issues of concern when it is evident that vulnerable people will be further disadvantaged.

I thank him for that answer. The Welsh Government, incrementally, is becoming responsible for more and more elements of social protection, if I can use another retro term, from council tax support to the discretionary payment fund and the Work Programme. Despite that, though, citizens in this country are still subject to regressive and punitive welfare policies from Whitehall. As he has mentioned this afternoon on numerous occasions, he is denied many of the levers in this area. As this area of policy is such a vital pillar of Welsh public policy, will the Cabinet Secretary commit to publishing a distinct programme outlining the foundations of a Welsh welfare state, which would include not only the direction of travel for policy with the current devolution settlement, but also a vision for welfare in Wales with a further transfer of social protection powers here?

That is a really interesting question that the Member raises and a very complex one in terms of the relationship currently between the UK Government and ourselves and what we are able to mitigate. I think that what the First Minister has said is that we are content to take certain aspects of powers, provided that we get fair funding to deal with that. I think that that’s an important factor that we have to work out in advance.

I am attracted by the Member’s proposal in terms of the offer and what Wales can do. I’ll give some more thought to whether we can put something together to help people to understand what Wales’s responsibilities are and how we can help people.

Minister, you’ll have seen that the United Nations have recently published a damning report on the impact of the UK Government’s austerity measures on child poverty in the UK. Indeed, the Child Poverty Action Group described it as reading as an

‘Indictment of the government’s failure to prioritise children in its decisions on social security.’

Do you share my concerns about that? Will you raise those concerns with your opposite number in Westminster? But, furthermore, do you also share my concerns that if we vote to leave the EU tomorrow, the impact on our economy will be such that children are likely to bear even more the brunt of UK austerity policies?

Indeed, and the Member is right to raise that very issue. This Government legislated last year around the well-being of future generations and making sure young people were at the heart of our decision making as we move forward, planning for the long term. I think what will happen—and the EU referendum has a big take on this—is that, as the amount of funding is reduced, it will have an impact on our economic well-being and it will have an effect on families and predominantly children. It’s something we should all be very careful about.

Recent research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that universal credit does a lot to help make work pay for many of those who currently face the most severe disincentives. They went on to say that the number of people facing very weak incentives to enter work will fall by two-thirds. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree with the institute when it says:

‘universal credit should make the system easier to understand, ease transitions into and out of work, and largely get rid of the most extreme disincentives to work or to earn more created by the current system’?

What really concerns me is the UK’s dismissal of people; the fact is they change policies very easily, which has a massive impact on communities and individuals, and you will have all seen it. I expect even the Member has casework around personal independence payments—people who aren’t able to receive funding because of the unnecessary processes that have been placed by the UK Government. I think Steffan Lewis’s initial question about social security and the welfare state, about how we deal with that, should be given some much longer, further consideration by the UK Government before they tinker with it.

Cabinet Secretary, you might well be aware of a recent report from Sheffield Hallam University Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. They highlighted the disproportionate impact on welfare benefit cuts on the people of Wales compared to the UK as a whole—I think that’s the point that’s already been made—and this is even more pronounced in the Welsh Valleys. It notes that the proposed change to the local housing allowance will exacerbate these inequalities by impacting most on the already most deprived areas, where the reference point for setting the LHA rate will be the bottom 30 per cent of private sector rents, in an area where private sector rents are already extremely low. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what discussions the Welsh Government is having to ensure that those in receipt of local housing allowances in the most deprived areas in Wales are not disproportionately disadvantaged by the basis of the calculation of the average rent that will determine the LHA?

I thank the Member for her question. It’s something that my officials alerted me to as soon as I became Cabinet Secretary. The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the local housing allowance, which is a non-devolved matter as the Member knows. But this is again a reflection of what I said earlier; the fact is that the UK Government are making alterations to the welfare state, which have an impact on devolved services. So, this doesn’t stop the pressure in the system—it just moves the pressure. The unfortunate part of this is that people are involved in this whole process. The Welsh Government did raise concerns with the UK Ministers at the time regarding these changes, and we continue to raise the issue of impact assessments with the UK Government.