1. What is the Welsh Government doing to tackle child poverty? OAQ52801

Well, the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts that poverty in Wales will grow significantly as a result of the UK Government's savage benefit cuts. We are investing to grow our economy, to create jobs and support children, through Flying Start, through Families First, through our childcare offer and the pupil development grant.

I'd like to return to the matter of free school dinners, First Minister. Last month, you may remember crowing about the generous offer that you were making, but it is a fact that Wales lags behind the north of Ireland when it comes to school meal provision. There, they've put in place a far more generous earnings limit of £14,000 for families, which is almost double the limit proposed by the Welsh Government. Now, this isn't just a concern for me; the Children's Society are actively campaigning against the harsh limit that you plan to introduce. So, can you tell us how the earnings limit is determined in Wales? Have you examined other earnings limits and, if so, what were they? And, as we move closer to 2020—a year in which Labour in Wales had once promised to eliminate child poverty—why is your Government introducing a policy that is going to make it worse?

Well, there's no evidence at all that it will make it worse. It is a more generous offer than is the case in England. We're providing additional funding of £4 million to local authorities for free school meals via a grant scheme. We're also making an additional £7 million available to local authorities for free school meals in 2019-20. Our most up-to-date analysis suggests that more children will be eligible for free school meals throughout the universal credit roll-out period because of this policy than otherwise would have been the case under the old legacy system. And our transitional protection proposals mean that no child would lose their entitlement to free school meals during the universal credit roll-out period, and beyond, as any existing claimants will continue to be protected until the end of their school phase. And, bear in mind, we have done this despite having no additional funding to manage the impact of the UK Government's welfare reform agenda on free school meals.

First Minister, back in February I raised, under the business statement, the pioneering work of North Lanarkshire Council in Scotland, which looks to provide free school meals for those eligible 365 days a year. Now, there are proven benefits there to pupils not just in terms of health and well-being, but also in academic attainment too. The leader of the house said the Welsh Government would be following this initiative with keen interest. What lessons have you drawn from it to date?

Well, these are issues that are still being examined. Of course, whatever we do is tempered by the funds that are available. And we know that the situation is not going to get better, although I do notice that, having come into this job as austerity started, as I'm about to leave it the Prime Minister's announced that it's over. I won't take it personally. But if it is genuinely the case that austerity is over, then that will mean that more resources will be available in order to provide the kind of services that we would like to provide and that we have, by and large, succeeded in providing despite the iron grip of austerity.

First Minister, the economic action plan states that,

'Good quality jobs and regions that are attractive places in which to live, work and invest, will provide people with a reason to remain or return to work and live in communities where the Welsh language thrives'.

Good education, of course, underpins this ambition, and, while these statements seem aimed at young people who are already in Welsh-speaking communities, being bilingual is an advantage in the workplace and a tool of social mobility as well. So, what success is your Government having in raising the level of Welsh skills in young people who live in communities where Welsh is not a community language?

Well, one of the lessons we've learned is that, despite the fact that Welsh has been compulsory up to the age of 16 in schools since the early 1990s, we cannot say that we have created confident Welsh speakers in English-medium schools as a result, which is why, of course, the curriculum is being reformed, showing that Welsh is a skill—which it is for most people—rather than an academic qualification, and ensuring that people are better able to measure their fluency in the language. For too long we've had an artificial divide between first and second languages, rather than actually measuring the level of someone's fluency. And that is something that will be very much part of the curriculum, to ensure that Welsh teaching is effective and also that Welsh is seen as a subject that is there to be studied as a skill, which I think will enthuse many more young people.