Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move this motion in the name of Plaid Cymru, which regrets the way in which the Welsh Government has scrapped the school uniform grant, because the grant, as we know, has provided crucially important support to many families—those poorest families in Wales—in order to ensure that their children can have an appropriate uniform to attend school. Over the last year alone, 5,500 pupils have been supported under this grant. It is appreciated by local authorities, by schools—we hear stories from the teaching unions as to how individual teachers sometimes have to go into their own pockets to buy items of school uniform for pupils. So, any question as to whether that kind of support is needed is an empty question, to all intents and purposes. And, of course, most importantly, it is appreciated by those parents who find it difficult to make ends meet, and for those children, of course, who are in receipt of free school meals. 

It is a disgrace that a Labour Government, or a Labour-led Government at least, is cutting that crucial support for the poorest and most deprived in our society, and at a time when it is needed as much as ever, if not more so. At a time when the Conservatives in Government in the UK are cutting the welfare budget, and cutting support for the poorest in our society, when living costs are increasing and salaries are shrinking, the last thing we would expect from Labour is this.

And let us put to bed this claim that it has always been the intention to introduce an alternative scheme. Certainly, there was no-one on the Labour backbenches who were aware of that when this news emerged. There was no talk of an alternative proposal when this was first mooted in the media. If it was an intention, well, fine, but shouldn't that alternative proposal have been in place before the current grant was scrapped? That is, we could have avoided all of the confusion and all of the concern among the most vulnerable people and the most needy people in our society.

And the first response of the Welsh Government, of course, when the news emerged, was to say, quite carelessly, if I may say so, that the cost of school uniform had reduced in any case. Well, I and others have seen on the Bevan Foundation website how they described this as a mealy-mouthed justification for a cut that would save a relatively small sum for Government, but, of course, would be of huge cost to those most needy parents. We know that the average cost per annum to pay for secondary school uniform is now £316, according to the Teaching Times, and simultaneously the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the working-age families who are poorest and who have children will see their incomes reduced by 20 per cent between 2015 and 2020. So, those poorest families need this support more than ever.

It is not a matter of going to a supermarket to buy the cheapest school uniforms now, of course. An increasing number of schools insist that school uniforms have to be bought branded from specific suppliers. Now, I'm a parent at Ysgol Brynhyfryd in Ruthin, and they went through a process of introducing a new school uniform recently—and I should declare an interest as a parent, I'm sure, in that issue, and I will do so. But at that time, many of the parents argued in the local press that you could buy school trousers that are three-times cheaper from other suppliers. There was a similar story recently in Monmouthshire, and I know that many Members here will be familiar with that story. 

Research by the Children's Society shows that more than 70 per cent of parents say now that they do have to buy some or all of their children's school uniform from a designated supplier. Their analysis demonstrates that parents across Britain could save hundreds of millions of pounds if they were allowed to buy school uniforms from cheaper suppliers. But the Welsh Government's response that school uniform is cheaper anyway by now, I have to say, was insulting, cold-hearted and demonstrated to many of us how out of touch they are with the reality of everyday life.

Now, I share the disappointment, and, indeed, the despondency of the Children's Commissioner for Wales at this decision. It wasn't clear in the Government's budgetary motion, and it hasn't been subject to any sort of public consultation. It was a unilateral decision by Government. Has there been an impact assessment on the rights of children? Has an equality impact assessment been prepared? Has the Government given due regard to the public sector equality duty or the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? These are all questions that remain unanswered and which should have been answered before the decision reached this point. 

In the meantime, of course, some counties are now saying that they're going to try to step into the breach in certain circumstances, and are looking at where they can make other cuts in current budgets in order to do that. So, something will have to give in those areas. I have spoken to local authorities across north Wales and at least half of them have said that there will be no support available from them as local authorities, and therefore the prospect is very real that that support will not be available in those areas.

And there's a pattern here, if I may say so, there's a pattern emerging: cutting a grant or a budget, there's a response out there on the ground, then they scramble to restore the situation and then there's huge confusion about a quick fix to try to restore the situation. We saw that with the minority ethnic achievement grant, the MEAG—it was scrapped, there was a strong response to that cut, the Welsh Government then found some funding from reserves and cobbled an alternative proposal together, and local authorities are still unclear as to how that will be distributed at a regional level. The same thing is happening again here: they cut the school uniform grant, there's a negative reaction and then they make an announcement, 'Oh no, there's an alternative proposal'—which is pretty vague at the moment—'in train'. But, you're not conning anyone. It's a total shambles. Our poorest families deserve better; our most disadvantaged pupils deserve better and Plaid Cymru insists that the Welsh Government restores the school uniform grant.