Elyn Stephens. Thank you very much. During International Women's Day, she spoke fervently about the struggle to get this agenda forward and why she was so passionate about it. She was very impressive in doing so and I was very privileged to hear her. It's a testimony to the councillors in Rhondda Cynon Taf that they persisted in getting this agenda moved up. She was very inspirational in talking about it, and certainly well worth listening to, and I'm going to have the privilege of meeting her to talk further about what we can do as a Government in two weeks' time. So, I'm very much looking forward to doing that. She did speak a great deal not just about period poverty, but, as many Members in the Chamber have talked about, about period dignity and the need for education and the need for knowledge, and how both education and knowledge are essential in order to maintain dignity, as well as to have the money necessary to have essentials in your life. And so, we very much want to work across those pieces in the Welsh Government, in order to get all of that—both period poverty and period dignity—into our policy on this matter. 

As many Members have already mentioned, we've put a fund together very rapidly of £700,000 capital grant funding, and I'm delighted to say that all 22 local authorities have taken up the offer of that grant funding. The round of funding is being used to make necessary improvements to school toilet facilities where they are not adequately set up to meet the needs of pupils. And I'd just like to highlight, as other Members have also done, that that includes primary schools, where often the toilet blocks are not adequate for that. It could mean the provision of disposal bins or changes to toilet cubicles.

Other rounds of funding totalling £440,000 for this financial year and next year are also being offered to complement the grant. We have several local authorities that have already taken up the offer of the first year's funding, and we're working with all of them to make sure that we spread that right across Wales. These will be used to provide feminine hygiene products through local authorities' networks, and in partnership with local third sector organisations. Basically, our aim is to make sanitary products available for those who cannot afford them. Food banks are an important outlet, and I think Jane Hutt mentioned specific food banks in her area as well. But there are other potential outlets, such as homeless shelters and women's refuges, for example. I know Caroline Jones mentioned one that's in my constituency that's very good in terms of the packs that they put together—care packs they're called. It's very interesting, because it's not just about sanitary protection, actually. They provide washing and wipe facilities and so on.

That brings me on to the next thing that we've asked local authorities to consider, which is we've asked them to consider providing reusable products or environmentally friendly products, because as several Members pointed out, sanitary protection can be very hard to recycle, actually, and can cause other ecologically unacceptable problems, and we want to be able to tackle some of those at the same time. So, I think local authorities efforts are to be applauded. I do think that there are further actions necessary, though, and they are outside the education system as well. I think at this point it is worth mentioning, as many people have mentioned it, that the Cabinet Secretary is going to be making a statement on the sex and healthy relationships report later on this month, in a few weeks' time.

So, in terms of future actions, we've got officials working across Welsh Government to explore further options, including provision through sexual health services and community partnerships. We're also considering options for distribution via programmes that target low-income families, such as Flying Start and Families First. We also have a series of regular meetings with colleagues in the Scottish and UK Governments, so we can learn from one another's actions and offer support on new policies to tackle both period poverty and period dignity. And, as Members will all know, the First Minister has asked me to undertake a rapid review of our gender and equality policies to bring in a new impetus to our work in this area, and this will certainly include a review of the period poverty and dignity issue that Members all raise, and has already been raised by stakeholders in our initial stakeholder engagements.

In terms of education, the Welsh Government is committed to ensuring children and young people reach their full potential, regardless of background and circumstances, and this includes helping learners to overcome barriers to learning created by social and economic circumstances. So, schools have well-understood arrangements in place to support learner well-being. Pupils ought to know where to go and, as Vikki Howells pointed out, it's essential that that communication is in the school, so they know who to speak to if they need sanitary products while they're in school, whilst maintaining dignity. Adolescent girls in particular can be very sensitive with these matters. Looking forward, these issues are going to be covered under the new curriculum, which will consider how the school environment supports the social, emotional, spiritual and physical health and well-being of pupils, and will be instrumental in supporting one of the main aims of the new curriculum and assisting our children to become healthy, confident individuals. 

In terms of health, period poverty, as many Members have also pointed out, is also a health matter. Period poverty is due to be discussed at the next meeting of the sexual health programme board, because it's vital that all girls and women have access to the sanitary products they need, especially if they have health problems as well. Effective menstrual hygiene is vital to the health, well-being, dignity, empowerment, mobility and productivity of women and girls and, therefore, it's an essential plank of this Government's action in terms of gender equality throughout Wales.

We'll continue to keep abreast of emerging research to inform the decisions we make and ensure that the actions we take support as many people as possible in Wales. I'm keen to know more about how low-income families in Wales are affected. So, research into the scale of period poverty across foodbank users, including the Trussell Trust, is planned for the coming months. Officials are also looking at options to work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who manage the UK Government's tampon tax fund, to ensure that we maximise the benefit from that fund for Wales. 

So, I think there is a range of issues, but I'm very grateful to Members for bringing this matter forward so that we can discuss it fully. I also want to say that I'd welcome very much any other ideas that Members want to bring forward as part of the review or in any other way, so that we can consider how we could best support those ideas. Diolch.