I'd like to thank Jane and Jenny for bringing forward this important debate today. I support the Members' efforts to highlight the issue, and fully support the motion before us today. Due to a quirk of our biology, half the population face a monthly challenge. Due to poverty, for many young girls, that challenge becomes a struggle. Far too many young girls are missing school because they can't afford sanitary products. Far too many young girls are forced to go to extraordinary lengths to improvise sanitary products. It's hard to believe that this is happening in 2018.

I welcome the moneys put up by the Welsh Government to distribute sanitary products to community groups, schools and food banks, but we do need to go further. Girls shouldn't face monthly exclusion from school because they can't afford to have a period. We have to make sanitary products freely available in our schools. We also have to put an end to policies that restrict girls' access to the toilets, notably during lesson time, and an end to a culture in which girls are too embarrassed to talk to school staff when they need to. To quote Plan International:

'Girls' periods are a fact of life and schools, as well as wider society, still need to adapt to that fact.'

We also have to make sanitary products cheaper for every one of us. I urge the UK Government, now that we are leaving the EU and free to set our own value added tax rules, to abolish the tampon tax. Sanitary products are a monthly essential, and should not be subjected to VAT. I expect the Chancellor of the Exchequer to abolish VAT on sanitary products on 29 March next year. Until then, they need to work with the product manufacturers to make the products more affordable. One of the largest manufacturers, Procter & Gamble, gave a pack of Always Ultra to a UK school for every pack sold during March and April. I would like all the manufacturers to emulate this scheme year-round.

While we're talking about the manufacturers, I think they need to move away from using plastic in their products. I was shocked to learn yesterday that 90 per cent of a sanitary pad is plastic, containing as much as four supermarket carrier bags. We need to eliminate this source of single-use plastic and look for an alternative replacement.

But, back on topic, I would like also to thank the hard-working charities that are doing their bit to end period poverty. Jane and Jenny have mentioned a few, but I would like to mention Matthew's House in Swansea, which operate The Homeless Period Swansea. They give homeless women access to sanitary products by distributing dignity packs, which contain the sanitary products, wet wipes and tissues, underwear and socks, deodorant and lip balm. In their own words, they deliver

'hope (in care package form) to the most vulnerable of Swansea', which is within my region. 

Menstruation is a natural process that shouldn't put women and girls at a disadvantage. Charities are doing their bit to level the playing field. We need to do ours, and I urge colleagues to support this motion. Thank you.