Previously, being of pensionable age could be synonymous with living in poverty. This has changed, in large part, due to the actions of the 1997 to 2010 Labour Government, but it is still estimated that around 50,000 older people live in parlous financial circumstances. Similarly, whilst well-meant commitments to end child poverty within a generation may not have been met, it is still useful to notice the analysis of the Institute of Fiscal Studies. This shows that child and pensioner poverty would either have stayed the same or risen, rather than fallen substantially, if not for the policy decisions of the previous UK Labour Government. This progress is to be welcomed, but child poverty’s persistence still affects far too many of our young people, with charities suggesting a third of Welsh children experience poverty, with significant impacts on their life chances.

Trends are especially pronounced in certain parts of Wales, and the shape of poverty can vary between different Welsh regions. Across large parts of Wales, there seem to be challenges presented by a dearth of good-quality well-paid jobs. In some parts of Wales, such as the predominantly rural areas, challenges seem to be around in-work poverty, where people are employed in poorly paid jobs with insufficient numbers of hours. The contrast is with Valleys constituencies, like my own, where the problem can be a lack of jobs in the first place, let alone those that pay well and are secure.

A further clear link is that between gender and poverty. Indeed, as Chwarae Teg reminds us, drawing on research from University of Oxford, poverty is not gender neutral. Welsh women are more likely to be engaged in part-time or elementary work, with average earnings of under £8,000 a year. A marginalised role in the workplace is reflected by a central role in the home, meaning that both the causes and experiences of women’s poverty differ from that of men.

In all this variety, poverty truly is a multiheaded beast. The ways in which it can impact also shows diversity. I want to focus on four of these today. Firstly, I want to talk about food poverty. Since being elected I have been proud to work with the Merthyr Cynon Foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust network of over 400 food banks, to both highlight their work in my own constituency and the simply unacceptable fact of people across the country not having enough to eat. It is shocking that, in 2016-17, the Trussell Trust foodbank network in Wales provided over 95,000 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis, which was a 10 per cent increase on the previous year; 34,803 supplies—over a third—went to children. The Trussell Trust suggests most of its users are not unique as, on average, people need multiple foodbank referrals. Furthermore, where news reports tell of police officers and nurses who are having to turn to food banks, we see that this is, indeed, a widespread phenomenon. Food banks and their supporters do excellent work, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them, but it is little short of scandalous that, in one of the richest countries in the world, people rely on their presence to ensure that citizens do not go hungry.

Secondly, I want to touch on fuel poverty. Households experience this when, in order to adequately warm their homes, they need to spend 10 per cent or more of their income on energy costs. I recently met with National Energy Action Cymru to discuss fuel poverty, and look forward to working with them on the planned cross-party group on this issue. NEA Cymru highlighted that whilst Government energy efficiency improvements have brought a welcome reduction in the levels of fuel poverty, 291,000 households are still unable to afford to adequately heat their homes. Of these, 3 per cent of Welsh households are estimated to be in severe fuel poverty, needing to spend 20 per cent or more of their income on energy to achieve an adequate level of warmth. There is a poverty premium associated with this issue, caused by the reliance on expensive pre-payment meters that are on average 20 per cent more expensive.

Fuel poverty can literally be a matter of life or death. NEA Cymru has calculated that 540 winter deaths during 2015-16 were attributable to cold homes. This means that between four and five people in Wales died every day of that winter period because of this.

Thirdly, I want to touch on the impacts of poverty on educational attainment and life chances. The gap in attainment has narrowed over recent years, but we cannot escape the stark reality that, from the age of 3, and at every stage of subsequent education, children from low-income backgrounds will achieve worse results at school than those from better-off homes. This impacts on their ability to tap into their talents and can lead to marginalised employment experiences during their adult lives. As Save the Children have said, a child and young person growing up in poverty is more likely to be low paid, unemployed and welfare dependent in adult life. Certain groups can face particular barriers within education, and again, bespoke solutions to these challenges must be developed.

Fourthly, I want to consider briefly the impact of poverty on health, well-being and mental health in particular. This is an issue of particular concern for me. The second-worst lowest super-output area in Wales for health outcomes is in my constituency, which has a disproportionate number of LSOAs amongst the bottom 10 per cent. This manifests in long-term illness rates, prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle choices, emotional distress and many other ways that I simply do not have time to fully explore today. I just want to cite two brief facts. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health earlier this year stated that poverty is the biggest threat to children’s health in Wales. They noted that children from the most disadvantaged fifth of the population are 70 per cent more likely to die in childhood than those living in the most affluent parts of Wales. This echoed the thought-provoking annual report from the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, which was published last November. The report explored the social gradient in health, whereby inequalities in population health outcomes are associated with the socioeconomic status of individuals. People in poverty are less likely to experience good health for the bulk of their lives than those who do not live in poverty. The CMO’s report also performs a useful role in explaining why this matters to all of us. Poverty-related health inequalities cost Wales an estimated £3 billion to £4 billion annually, and that’s in addition to the economic benefits lost by people not being able to thrive and achieve. As Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson pointed out in ‘The Spirit Level’, more equal societies do better for all their citizens.

What can we do? My starting point here is that we must recognise that, to a certain extent, our hands are tied by the decisions taken in Westminster. For example, levers like the social security system are reserved to Westminster. The Trussell Trust has suggested that we have not yet seen the full effects of changes like the roll-out of universal credit, and our ability to absorb their impact is limited. Similarly, on fuel poverty, decisions on energy prices and the winter fuel allowance are out of our hands, and the overall context of an ideological Tory commitment to public sector austerity has removed billions of pounds from budgets and inflicted untold damage on our ability to tackle poverty. Money has been removed from the health and educational sectors that could have tackled health or educational inequality, hurting the essential services people in poverty are more likely to rely on, and resulting in an economy that has not grown sufficiently to create the high-quality jobs that offer one crucial way out of poverty. It is good that the Chancellor has recognised we are weary of austerity, but action must now follow his words. However, in the meantime, here in Wales, we must make sure we can use the tools we do possess as effectively as we can. I welcome the fact that poverty reduction is at the heart of the Welsh Government’s well-being objectives, but I do not have time here today to address the full range of actions taken across Government to help those affected.

For the final part of my short debate today, I will limit myself to two aspects of our response. The first relates to Communities First. I note the communities Secretary’s comments from the equality committee this morning that the programme hasn’t delivered the fundamental change it should have done, but that equally it did stop poverty getting worse. Communities First did deliver some real wins in my constituency. I want to place on record my thanks to the staff who helped in this. In any future programme, I hope the most successful elements of the policy will be retained. This in particular applies to the employability agenda and I want to address this as a second key aspect.

The critical tool by which we can get people out of poverty is by increasing employment opportunities, making work pay, empowering our citizens to not just get jobs, but get good jobs, and tear down the barriers that stand in the way of doing so. For areas like Cynon Valley and indeed the rest of the northern Valleys, one solution is provided by improving and enhancing transport links. Schemes like the metro can be transformational, but fares and charges must be affordable. As I have mentioned here in this Chamber before, a return rail journey from Cardiff to Aberdare currently costs the same as an hour’s pay on the national living wage.

We must also create job opportunities in areas like the Valleys. There are some really good ideas here and I look forward to following the progress of Better Jobs Closer to Home. The Wales TUC made a really good case and I’m glad the Welsh Government has run with this. There are also opportunities in growing the foundational economy, making a better success of what’s already there. It is welcome that the economy Secretary has noted the role of this in reducing inequalities between people and between our communities.

Joined-up approaches like the city deal can play a key role in tackling poverty, as involved council leaders have suggested, although this aim must be a concrete one to ensure it does not slip down the agenda, as concerns from the Bevan Foundation have said. Policies like the new Welsh Government childcare offer are vital for enhancing and improving women’s work and tackling gendered aspects of the question. To tackle poverty we must be innovative and recognise its disparate challenges. We must also work together across all tiers of Government, and both private and public sectors, and not relent or waver from our purpose. But, if we do that, we can slay the beast.