9. Will the Minister provide an update on Welsh Government’s strategy for tackling child poverty in light of the recommendations in last week’s Joseph Rowntree Foundation report We Can Solve Poverty in the UK? OAQ(5)0034(CC)

I thank Jenny for her question. The Welsh Government’s strategy for tackling child poverty remains focused on building a strong economy, increasing skills, reducing worklessness, reducing inequalities in education and health outcomes, and addressing the poverty premium. These priorities are closely aligned with the elements of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s anti-poverty strategy.

One of my constituents alerts me to the fact that she’s having to pay £8 a week for her eldest child to settle into her first term at secondary school, which is less than 3 miles away but more than 2 miles away. I understand her anxieties at this very difficult moment in the child’s life, but this is a woman on housing benefit, on income support, and £8 a week is a huge chunk out of the money that she needs to spend on the rest of her family. If we compare that with those rather reckless parents who continue to deliver their children to the school gates by car, regardless of the environmental consequences, you can just see the differences in the way in which children approach secondary school education.

Now, the Rowntree report makes five asks about child poverty, including supporting people to be good parents, supporting parents and children’s mental health, and access to high-quality affordable childcare. What more do you think the Welsh Government can do to address these endemic causes of enduring child poverty?

Well, the asks that the JRF report responds to are very closely aligned to the policy development of this Welsh Government. I agree supporting parents is a priority, and I’ve taken a decision to refocus the Families First programme to ensure it develops services that address identified gaps in service provision for parents. That will link in very strongly to the work that we are doing around adverse childhood experiences. Parenting is also integral to Flying Start. I’m more than happy, as always, to meet with the Member for Cardiff Central if the Member’s got more ideas in terms of how we can improve our support mechanisms, and will continue to do so. But we are thinking about this very carefully and I will be making a statement shortly.

Cabinet Secretary, I’m sure you know that only a highly integrated policy across Government areas is going to really tackle child poverty. For instance, the level of economic inactivity has a big impact on the number of children living in poverty. I do hope you’ll be talking to your colleagues, the economic Minister and education Secretary as well, so that we can see FE course, HE courses, for instance, being more accessible—more part-time courses, more financial support—so that people can develop their skills to either enter the labour market or get a better job within that labour market.

I’m grateful for the Member’s question. We have seen a small, 2 per cent reduction in child poverty here in Wales. I believe that is partly due to the economics of Wales, with more jobs and young people living less in workless households. It’s something that the Cabinet Secretary for the economy leads on in terms of poverty strategy, but we work very closely together to ensure that we are joined up on all aspects of the work that we do.