7. Plaid Cymru Debate: Poverty

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:31 pm on 27 November 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 6:31, 27 November 2018

Thank you very much for that intervention. Of course, it was the UK Government that abolished the independent living fund, and Welsh Government then sought to support people who were already on that fund. But this is an example of where, if you have this pot of money and you actually only allow those people who are on that benefit, or in receipt of that benefit, to continue on it, then you have a two-tier system for disabled people in Wales, which is something that we wouldn't want to support. People should be able to have their needs met, and met well, through the social services and well-being Act and the provisions that they would receive underneath that.

So, both the motion and the Conservatives' amendments call for clear performance targets and indicators to measure progress in tackling poverty. The national indicators, which underpin the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, will help measure our progress as a country towards achieving the seven well-being goals. Many of these indicators will help us assess progress in tackling poverty. These will measure, for example, relative poverty, material deprivation, levels of employment and healthy lifestyles, amongst other things. In addition, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 places a duty on Welsh Ministers to set national milestones that will indicate the scale and pace of change needed if we are to deliver the seven goals by 2050.

So, Presiding Officer, as we have set out in our own amendment, we are working hard to mitigate the worst impact of the UK Government's continuing austerity measures, whilst the UK Government needs to urgently address the fundamental flaws we have identified in universal credit.