Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to be clear that we agree with Plaid Cymru, with their motion, insofar as it relates to the devastating impact of the UK Government's austerity measures on the people of Wales. We do disagree with the practicality and desirability of taking over administrative responsibility for social security, and I will come to this in more depth shortly.

As Members would expect, we reject the complacent amendment from the Conservatives, which glosses over the real suffering being caused by their party's botched and heartless efforts at welfare reform. I have to say it's been an afternoon of quite astonishing contributions from the Conservative benches, and from the single Conservative contribution that we've had in this debate, you would really be forgiven for thinking that welfare reform is a roaring success.

We know only too well that levels of poverty across Wales and the rest of the UK are too high. I met with Professor Alston during his visit to Wales and agree with him that the responsibility for this rests squarely with the UK Government and its austerity and welfare reform policies. The effects are falling disproportionately on already vulnerable groups and those least able to bear it. Professor Alston summed up the situation that we currently find ourselves in like this:

'The experience of the United Kingdom, especially since 2010, underscores the conclusion that poverty is a political choice. Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so.'

He continues:

'Resources were available to the Treasury at the last budget that could have transformed the situation of millions of people living in poverty, but the political choice was made to fund tax cuts for the wealthy instead.'

Damning stuff. The special rapporteur expressed his outrage that the devolved administrations need to spend their diminishing resources to shield people from these harmful UK Government policies. Austerity has meant that our overall budget for 2019-2020 is down £850 million in real terms compared to 2010-2011. Nevertheless, in the absence of a change of direction by the UK Government on key policies, we must continue to do all we can to mitigate the worst impacts of these destructive policies.

Welsh Government doesn't support the devolution of welfare benefits for a number of reasons. As a matter of principle, of social solidarity, we should all be entitled to an equal claim to our welfare state. The needs of citizens, wherever they are within the UK, should be equally met, and we do not believe that equality and solidarity and redistribution of wealth are, as the Plaid Cymru benches have suggested, a 'pathetic allegiance' or 'unionist dogma'. We'd also be extremely cautious of agreeing to any changes to the social security system, including the devolution of benefits, before assessing the ramifications of how those changes would be funded. And, of course, we're particularly mindful of what happened when the UK Government devolved council tax benefit to Wales when they top-sliced the budget.

The approach to the devolution of welfare benefits to the Scottish Government has transferred the financial risk associated, with the demand for benefits growing faster per head in Scotland than in England from the point of devolution. And for Wales, that would prove to be a significant financial risk. As we've heard, the costs associated with administering the welfare system would take resources away from the delivery of front-line services. In Scotland, it is £266 million away from front-line services in order to implement the newly devolved welfare powers. Others may not like these arguments, but I think they are reasonable and legitimate concerns to have when it is suggested that we should be taking over responsibility for these items.

So, flexibility in the administration of universal credit should and can be made available to everyone in receipt of that benefit through alternative payment arrangements. If the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions were to agree to our request for this, it would ease many of the difficulties that people are experiencing with the payment of universal credit. This does not require the devolution of administration, which would cost money, as we’ve heard, and divert funding away from delivering on our responsibilities.

I’ve written to Amber Rudd, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who has acknowledged that there are problems with universal credit, urging her to consider how universal credit can better support people and recognise that many claimants want and need to choose the frequency of their payments. I also stressed the need to ensure that all legacy claimants receive the maximum transitional protection top-up payments as and when they are moved over to universal credit to ensure that no-one is disadvantaged and worse off on universal credit.

Our approach to tackling poverty is that it should be inherent in the way that government and its partners work and deliver for the people of Wales. That's why we've made tackling poverty fundamental to 'Taking Wales Forward' and 'Prosperity for All'. 'Prosperity for All' recognises that reducing levels of poverty and growing our economy are interdependent. It sets out those actions we'll take as a Government to create the conditions and opportunities for people and for communities to succeed, flourish and thrive.

Our fundamental commitment is prevention of poverty. We're doing this through investment and giving children the best possible start in life, helping people to improve their skills, supporting people into fair employment and taking action to mitigate the impact of poverty in the here and now. These are all embodied in our national strategy.