8. What action has the Welsh Government taken recently to help tackle poverty in valleys communities? OAQ52232

If we look at 'Prosperity for All' and the Valleys taskforce, for example, they are about improving people's lives through delivering good-quality jobs and the skills to do them, and, of course, supporting better public services and strengthening Valleys communities.

Thank you for that, First Minister. Securing the well-being and prosperity of our Valleys towns and communities remains a significant challenge, as shown by a number of health, social and wider welfare indicators, and I was alarmed by the recent report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that suggested more people would be driven into poverty by UK welfare reforms. That follows closely on the heels of reports by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Bevan Foundation, which state that the next wave of welfare reform will push even more people in our Valleys communities into poverty. Now, as my constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney prepares for the roll-out of universal credit next month, will you join me once again in urging the benches opposite to raise their voices alongside ours to persuade their Government in Westminster to stop this reckless policy of austerity now, before any more damage is wreaked upon the most vulnerable in our society? 

They will have heard that call. We've written to the UK Government asking them to reconsider the damaging changes that their tax and welfare reform policies are having on households in Wales. All I'm concerned about is, if we look at the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report published in March, that suggests that we will see the reforms that they are proposing in Whitehall push an extra 50,000 children into poverty by 2021-22. Now, the whole point, surely, of Government is to look to find ways to even out inequality and look to reduce it as much as possible, not to increase it, but that is where the UK Government are. And I'm deeply concerned about the fundamental flaws of universal credit—they've been well rehearsed in this Chamber—but despite those flaws, the UK Government is rolling the programme out. We need to have a benefits system in this country that helps people rather than penalises them, which is what the current UK Government seemingly want to do.  

Does the First Minister agree with me that work is one of the best ways out of poverty? And will he join me in welcoming the fact that unemployment in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney has fallen by 52 per cent since 2010? 

I have to say to the Member that work is important, but well-paid work is crucial. We have always said—. We used to say to people, 'If you get a job, you'll be better off', yet why is it that there are people in work using food banks? Why is it that there are still stories of people who find themselves in a job but yet unable to afford the basic necessities of life? Why? Because of the benefit cuts, particularly in-work benefit cuts, that we've seen from the Conservative Government, because we have a Conservative Government that doesn't value work, because we have a Conservative Government that doesn't believe in fair work. We believe in all those things. We want to see fair work for our people in all parts of Wales in the future.