2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's policy on food insecurity in Wales? OAQ51954

The Welsh Government is working with the Welsh food poverty alliance to address food insecurity, and that includes increasing the uptake of free school meals and working with food producers, manufacturers, retailers and supermarkets to help them deliver on corporate and social responsibility.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. At the beginning of February, Emma Lewell-Buck MP had her Second Reading of her proposed Food Insecurity Bill in the House of Commons. The aim of the Bill is to ensure that UK Government establishes annual monitoring of, and reporting of, food insecurity in the UK.

I was contacted by Jig-So last month about this particular issue. They are a charity that do excellent work in this field, and they state there are two existing survey tools that have been validated and could be introduced inexpensively to measure food insecurity. First Minister, what assessment has the Welsh Government made about introducing food insecurity survey tools into Wales?

Well, we are working with the Welsh Food Poverty Alliance Wales to address food insecurity. There are a number, we understand, of food insecurity survey tools. They all collate important information that needs careful consideration. I note, for example, the recent End Hunger UK survey highlighted that a third of the UK's poorest households are skipping meals because they can't afford to put food on the table, with austerity and rising food prices driving hidden hunger. We know, of course, the situation with universal credit. So, what we want to do is to work with organisations to identify a tool that might be used in order to address food insecurity, because at the moment, of course, there seem to be a number of tools. But they all point to the same message, which is that austerity is driving people into poverty.

First Minister, the United Nations has estimated the scale of the food insecurity problem in the UK and, indeed, in other countries, but it seems to me, looking through some of the information that the UN has provided, that there's a lack of up-to-date relevant data, both on a UK level and Wales specific, so that we can fully assess the scale of this problem. I think the data that's being used is around 10 years old. Do you have any plans for the Welsh Government to collect more Welsh-specific data or, failing that, to work with the UK Government to see if we can get that data bang up to date so that we know the scale of the problem that we're dealing with?

Well, the end hunger survey was published—or rather, it reflected findings published last year by the Food Standards Agency. In fact, the End Hunger UK survey was more recent than that, even.

I can say to the Member that recent Trussell Trust analysis shows that, in areas of full universal credit roll-out of six months or more, food banks have seen a 30 per cent average increase six months after roll-out compared to the year before. These are recent figures and they show us the scale of the problem that is being caused by unending austerity.

Last week, I staged an event here with the Women's Institute on food poverty. Jig-So from Cardigan were in attendance, Food Poverty Alliance Wales were there, as were the Trussell Trust. It’s clear that the Women’s Institute want to lead a campaign on food poverty over the next few months, and there is an issue related to women here, because it is they who primarily miss out on meals in these situations, and that is something that we should be clear on given the threat of universal credit coming down the line to many communities in Wales, as has just been mentioned. What can you as a Government do to work with organisations such as the Women’s Institute to go into communities to ensure that they do their very best to support those families who are facing austerity?

Well, two things. First of all, it’s vital that we consider the situation in every part of Wales, and also that we should work with the food poverty alliance in order to deal with the issue. But what is different at present is that the level of poverty among those who are of working age is worse than among pensioners. Historically, people used to think that if they lived on a pension they were in a worse position, but that is not true, because we’ve seen so many cuts to benefits as regards those that are of working age, and that is the difference now. That’s why it’s vital to ensure that the UK Government acts to relieve the pressure on so many families’ income.

Before we move on, it’s appropriate that we mark the death of the former Secretary of State for Wales, Nicholas Edwards, Lord Crickhowell, a man whose vision transformed this area of Cardiff bay, which is home to our Parliament today. And also Ivor Richard, Lord Richard of Ammanford, who led crucial work in 2004 in preparing the road to strengthening our National Assembly and creating a stronger Parliament for Wales.  I’m sure that, as an Assembly, we extend our sympathies to the families of both men.