Therefore, we move to item 9 on our agenda, which is the short debate, and I call on Llyr Gruffydd.

Well, thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer—[Interruption.]

Just a minute. If you're going out from the Chamber, please do so quickly, and, if not, if you're staying in to listen to the short debate, please pay attention.

I will call the short debate now. Llyr Gruffydd.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm sure that many of us will have been watching the World Cup over the last few weeks—indeed, it's been impossible to avoid it in the past 24 hours. But I refer to that because I had the experience of reading an article recently about the terrible poverty that one of the most prominent players in that competition had experienced as a child, and he had only realised how poor the family was—he would have milk and bread for lunch every day, and he caught his mother one day watering down the milk, and then he realised from that moment on, while he was still a very young child, just how truly poor the family was.

That player is Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker, one of the most talented players in the world and one of the biggest stars in football, and he has written about his experiences of child poverty. I thought that was very striking, and it reminds us that there are thousands of children in Wales living in poverty, and some of them, I'm sure, living in the same kind of poverty that he experienced when he was a child. It is a cause of concern for us all, I know, that we have to come here to discuss this topic when it does arise in the Chamber, but of course we can't avoid the reality of the situation, that around a third of children in Wales are living in comparative poverty, and we must take this issue very seriously indeed and do more to tackle this problem.

Many of you will recall, back in 2005, that the Government published the strategy 'A Fair Future For Our Children', with the intention of halving and then eradicating child poverty entirely. Then, in 2006, the Government published a paper, 'Eradicating Child Poverty in Wales—Measuring Success', which set out milestones and set out clearly what steps they would take to reach that target. In 2006 also there was the child poverty action plan and, again, in the same year, the Welsh Government committed to eradicating child poverty by 2020. At that point, 27 per cent of children in Wales were living in poverty. Despite this, of course, the figures do demonstrate that 12 years later, a higher percentage of Welsh children—28 per cent—are living in comparative income poverty. And indeed, last December, the then Cabinet Secretary made a statement that the Government was to scrap the target of eradicating child poverty by 2020. Now, what sort of message does that convey in terms of priorities? 

My hope in this short debate today is to highlight the gravity of the situation, of course, but also the need for the Government to look again at its approach in tackling child poverty, and the need to do more to tackle this blight. Indeed, independent reports estimate that, now, as many as 250,000 children could be living in poverty in Wales by 2021, and that could represent an increase of 50,000 as compared to the current position. We know that children are more likely to live in relative poverty as compared to any other group—for example adults of working age or pensioners. Of those children, children living with single parents, or who live in unemployed households, or who live in households that include a disabled person, are even more likely to find themselves living in poverty.

Some parts of Wales, of course, have higher child poverty levels that should cause shame to us all. According to the End Child Poverty campaign, over half the children in Rhyl West live in poverty. As Sean O'Neill, the policy director of Children in Wales, said earlier this year—and I'll quote—

'Children in low income families in Wales are facing considerable pressures and are growing in number. Figures again show that child poverty is prevalent in all parts of Wales with an increasing number of families struggling just to get by. The impact of changes introduced by the UK Government's programme of welfare reform at a time of rising everyday costs is hitting many families hard. Governments at all levels must ensure that urgent action is taken to prevent and protect families already struggling to provide for their children.'

As we know, Children in Wales aims to contribute to policy making that reduces levels of child poverty and mitigates the impact on children, young people and their families, and that includes co-ordinating End Child Poverty Network Cymru. We see annual surveys being conducted, which look at how family poverty has changed compared to previous years, and the latest survey was carried out between mid February and mid April this year, with both professionals and young people. Respondents to that survey identified changes to the benefits system as the top issue relating to poverty, with insecure income and employment as the second most important factor. Forty-eight per cent—nearly half of respondents—said that the situation had got worse over the past year, and some of the issues identified in the survey also included a lack of essential items such as clothes and beds. Other issues included access to food banks, social poverty, such as not being able to participate in activities, low self-esteem and aspirations, and the negative impact on physical and mental health as well. It paints a very bleak and depressing picture, doesn't it?

I want to pay tribute to Children in Wales, and all the other organisations who do so much work in their crusade against poverty and its effects on children and families in Wales. We have plenty of evidence here, in Wales, of course, of the negative impact welfare changes are having on some families, including the freeze or cuts to benefits, delayed payments, sanctions, bedroom tax, and the new two-child limit on means-tested benefits. This is clearly a huge problem facing families and children in Wales, yet as we know, the Welsh Government is still refusing to demand that some of the powers over welfare be devolved to Wales so that we could mitigate at least some of the worst elements of the UK Government's welfare reforms.

I mentioned access to food banks a moment ago, and I was speaking to a trustee of the Vale of Clwyd food bank only last week, and he told me that around a third of the people who receive food packages from them are children. Over 500 children received food parcels from them last year alone. All of this means, of course, that people are having to make impossible choices on a daily basis, which they shouldn't have to make. We've heard it before, haven't we? They have to choose between putting food on the table, clothing their children, or heating their home.

I was pointed recently in the direction of an article that appeared in the British Medical Journal that warned that the next public health crisis in the UK would be child malnutrition—child malnutrition in a twenty-first century western economy. Now, this, in turn, of course, impacts on educational attainment, with teachers doing their best to work with children who are hungry, who are tired, and who are suffering some of the other physical impacts of poverty. One teacher in a primary school near to where I live was telling me recently how she had to deal with the social services in the last couple of years more than she had ever done before—to unprecedented levels, compared to her experience of a long career in teaching.

So, let's be clear: child poverty is a rights violation, and Ministers of this Government have a due-regard duty to the UNCRC through the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. Now, the question we're faced, asking ourselves, is this: is child poverty really now becoming the norm for many families, schools and communities across Wales, and what's being done about it? Now, I touched, at the start of this contribution, on some of the initiatives from previous Welsh Governments from over a decade ago now to try to tackle child poverty. So, where are we today? The Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 continues to provide the legislative framework for tackling child poverty in Wales. It places a duty on Welsh Ministers and named public bodies to set objectives for tackling child poverty.

The previous Welsh Government published their revised child poverty strategy in December 2015, and after evaluating the strategy and assessment, a progress report was published in December 2016. However, it's not clear how this strategy is being utilised, nor how, today, it's shaping this current Government's thinking. 'Taking Wales Forward', the Government's foundational strategy is seen as the new vehicle for taking actions; however, it doesn't have an explicit reference to poverty, aside from a brief mention of fuel poverty. Indeed, the Government's flagship 'Prosperity for All' national strategy—in that, there's only one reference to poverty, which can be found within the text of the early years cross-cutting priority, but of course there's no child poverty action plan to deliver the strategy.

The Government did have a broader tackling poverty action plan, which had within it measurable milestones, targets and key performance indicators between 2013 and 2016. However, this plan came to an end with the end of the last Government, and we've seen no replacement action plan to deliver this agenda. Of course, what we have seen, however, is the scrapping of the anti-poverty Communities First programme, we saw the initial scrapping of the school uniform grant, which was subsequently reversed due to mass public outcry, we know that Flying Start provides a service, but it's very much a postcode lottery, where we recently reported from the Children, Young People and Education Committee that most children who need those services don't actually live within those areas that can access it, and, of course, we're now seeing the Government bringing forward a childcare offer that proposes to give couples earning up to £200,000 a year free childcare whilst excluding the poorest children from workless families from receiving that same support. A poverty advisory group that was convened under the last Government and had representation from all sectors and key groups has also been scrapped.

The sad truth is that Wales is now without a headline target or a similar pledge to eradicate child poverty by a certain date in the future, and there doesn't seem to be an appetite, from what I see from this Government, to introduce such a target, either. But we must have ambition, and we must have a target to aim for. How else can we measure whether or not Government policies are successful in any meaningful way? The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called for concrete targets within a time frame back in July 2016. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation called for an aim that fewer than one in 10 people are in poverty at any one time by 2030. Indeed, a 2030 target would be in line with Wales's sustainable development goals on ending poverty and inequality, providing a solid relationship with the intentions of the well-being of future generations Act. The End Child Poverty Network Cymru has also repeatedly called for the Welsh Government to renew its previous ambition and set new headline targets, something that we in Plaid Cymru very much support. 

The Government also lacks an annual reporting mechanism that would bring together all of the activities in one place and would allow a better understanding of how all the different programmes—such as Flying Start, Families First, the different funding streams and policies—are together contributing towards an overarching target. Such a single coherent plan could be a compendium of existing actions with clear and complementary targets and milestones and a strong narrative around it as well to reinvigorate the whole debate around child poverty. That will help us as well move from problems to solutions and send an unequivocal message to all delivery partners, including public bodies and the public services boards, of the Government's clear intention and expectations, putting an explicit focus on tackling child poverty. 

Contrast our situation in Wales with Scotland, where the Scottish Government has set itself new targets for 2030, such as having less than 10 per cent living in relative poverty, less than 5 per cent living in absolute poverty, less than 5 per cent living in persistent poverty—and there are others too. They've also published a child poverty delivery plan, which clearly sets out the actions to be taken to progress towards the ambitious child poverty targets set for 2030. It pains me to say that our Government's response here in Wales has been weak in comparison.

Key recommendations put forward by the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee that a clear tackling poverty strategy is published and that the Welsh Government develops a dashboard of poverty indicators have both been rejected. I'd urge the Government to reconsider their refusal and to look at these proposals again. Plaid Cymru has been clear in terms of our policies: we want to see universal childcare for all parents rather than the limited proposals that are on offer from the Welsh Government. Why can't we reorientate adult skills programmes to reward providers on outcomes such as income rather than qualifications achieved? And of course we want to see adopting a no-evictions policy due to benefit cuts for all families with children.

I realise that time is short so I'll make one important point, and I made a similar point in an earlier debate. There are strengths to having a cross-Government approach very often to some of these broader issues, but there can be risks as well. I'm not convinced in this context that it's actually working. It says something that I really had no idea which Cabinet Secretary or Minister was going to be responding to this debate this afternoon. I'm not sure what that tells us about the clarity around who actually leads on this within Government. There may be plenty of back-seat drivers, but who's sitting in the driving seat here, leading on this agenda, leading the charge from the front?

I am running out of time, so I'll conclude my remarks by saying that child poverty in Wales is getting worse and the Government's response really needs to reflect that fact, because it is a fact. We need to be intensifying our actions, redoubling our efforts, being more ambitious and more determined than ever to rid Wales of this scourge. Like Romelu Lukaku, we need to play the game of our lives to beat child poverty. We need the same kind of comeback in this context as the Belgian team experienced the other night against Japan. I hope, in his response, that the Cabinet Secretary will reflect that very same sentiment, that same ambition, that same determination, but backed up with action.

Thank you. Can I now call the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport to reply to the debate? Ken Skates.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank the Member for North Wales for highlighting this most important of issues today. I'm pleased to respond on behalf of the whole of Government. Our tackling poverty programme is something that all Ministers are responsible for. However, I'm delighted to be able to respond on behalf of each of the Ministers in this debate.

I'll begin by saying that whilst recent data shows that the level of relative child poverty in Wales has fallen slightly, we have no room whatsoever to be complacent. Current levels are too high, admittedly, and there is a consensus of opinion from a range of respected research organisations that the detrimental impact of the UK Government's tax and welfare reforms on disadvantaged families means that we'll see a significant rise in child poverty in the coming years. It's been estimated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission that an additional 50,000 Welsh children could be plunged into poverty, and that we could see an increase in levels of deprivation for our most vulnerable families. 

Now, as you know, fiscal powers over the welfare system that are needed to bring about any significant change in levels of child poverty do not sit with Welsh Government, but there is much that we can do with our existing levers to help to mitigate the impact of poverty for our children and their families, and, indeed, to prevent poverty in the longer term. That's what I want to focus on: the prevention of poverty.

We believe that investing in the early years of a child's life is a key priority for our national strategy, 'Prosperity for All'. We're focusing on those areas where we can have the most impact—on the pivotal early years of a child's life and on maximising employability. We're making an important contribution to improving health and developmental outcomes through programmes such as Flying Start and our Healthy Child Wales programme. Our Families First programme provides advice and support to parents, looking at the whole needs of the whole family.

On employability, there is a strong evidence base to show that employment provides the most sustainable route out of poverty, and our employability plan sets out those actions that we'll take to support individuals to find, to maintain and to progress in employment. We know that staying in work and having opportunities to progress through work are vital in improving outcomes. The employability plan, it has to be said, works in tandem with our economic action plan, a plan to increase wealth and well-being whilst also reducing inequalities. 

And at the heart of the economic action plan is a new relationship between Government and business based on the principle of public investment with a social purpose. Our economic contract requires businesses seeking direct investment from us to act responsibly as businesses and as employers. Our ambition is to make Wales a fair work nation, with access to better jobs, closer to home, developing skills and careers, a nation where we can all expect decent life-enhancing work, and a nation where we all build prosperity and all share in that prosperity. We're setting up a fair work commission that will test the evidence and make recommendations on supporting fair work in Wales, and we expect the commission to report in the spring of 2019. 

In terms of the impact of the UK's exit from the EU on the child poverty agenda, this will have far-reaching consequences for the prosperity of Wales for many years to come. Analysis shows that any significant reduction in access to the single market will be damaging for Wales's prosperity. For example, the cost of food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables, could rise significantly in the event of a 'no deal' scenario. Such price rises are likely to be disproportionately felt amongst those children living in the least affluent families. 

While we don't underestimate the scale of our challenge, we must also recognise the strength of the opportunity. Our labour market is, by historical standards, in a relatively strong position. We have an opportunity to build on the advances made in recent years that have seen close to a record number of people in work. We also have a real opportunity to build on our relationship with world-class companies and significant investments. Through our work, we can build on the strong foundations we are developing, futureproof our economy and empower our people and communities, so that we all have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from economic growth. 

Thank you very much. That brings today's proceedings to a close. Thank you. 

The meeting ended at 17:49.