2. What strategy will the Welsh Government follow to address the way that social class determines the life chances of people in Wales? OAQ53578

I thank John Griffiths for that. The Welsh Government deploys all the levers available to us to help overcome the way in which life chances are unfairly distributed by economic circumstances. The Fair Work Commission appointed by my predecessor will report shortly and add to the repertoire of actions available to us in this area.

First Minister, when a baby comes into this world in Wales, the social class he or she is born into will affect every aspect of their life, whether it's life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, the standards and qualifications experience of education that she or he receives, their job, lifetime earnings, standards of living, quality of life. Far too often, those born into lower income groups are disadvantaged in all of those terms and, indeed, many others. So, I think most of us would agree, First Minister, that social justice, equality of opportunity and outcome, demands an effective strategy, a set of policies, that address all those disadvantages too often experienced. So, will Welsh Government commit to redoubling its efforts to ensure a fairer Wales?

I thank John Griffiths for that very important question. He's absolutely right to say that economic chances determine social chances, and your relationship to the economy right at the start of your life has such an impact on the chances that are available to you. But, as John Griffiths knows, our commitment to a more equal Wales is also about narrowing the gap between those who have more than they will ever need, or know what to do with, and those who struggle every day to meet the most basic needs that they have. And more equal societies not only promote better economic chances, but they determine the chances you have at the start of life. A female child born in Japan today will live, on average, to be 100 years old, and that's because the gap between the top and bottom of society in Japan is the narrowest of the sort of economies that Japan represents. 

Now, here in Wales, we are determined, as part of our Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, to create that more equal Wales, and that does mean, as John Griffiths has said, investing in those earliest years, those first 1,000 days of a child's life, because of the way that that goes on making a difference to the rest of the life course. It's why we introduced the foundation phase in our schools, to make sure that learning through play meant that children from those backgrounds learnt from the beginning that schooling and education was for them as well as everybody else. In the budget that was passed on the floor of this Assembly in January, we more than doubled the amount of money going into the new pupil development grant access fund, and that, again, is there to make sure that, from the very beginning, we equalise some of the unfair chances that children are dealt, so that the benefits of those investments can go on being felt in the rest of their lives. 

First Minister, social class, household income and personal wealth all affect someone's life chances and influence their chances at schools, their lifestyle and how long they'll live. You've just mentioned the Japanese experience. Figures released by Public Health Wales, from the child measurement programme, show that more than 1,000 children in Wales starting school are classed as severely obese. The figures were highest for those living in the most deprived areas in Wales, such as Merthyr Tydfil—the highest rate of severe child obesity in Wales is in Merthyr. If things continue as they are, this current generation of children could well be the first to live a shorter life than their parents. That's a dismal figure—that's a very sad story. Will the First Minister agree to review his Government obesity strategy in the light of these findings to see what more can be done to address the problem of children from poorer backgrounds being dangerously overweight in Wales?

Well, Llywydd, it's an important question. I think it's important to say to the Member that life expectancy amongst some people who are alive today is falling in some parts of the United Kingdom for the very first time since those figures were collected in the way that they are collected. And that is the impact of austerity that is being seen in our society. And personally I believe that obesity amongst very small children is a product of austerity as well. It is the ways in which families who have the very least available to spend are obliged to buy food that fills children up quickly, gives them an immediate boost. And if you don't have the choices that money allows you to make, then you end up making the sorts of choices that lead to the figures that Mohammad Asghar has pointed to. So, this is how those issues of health justice are equally linked to economic justice. And of course we need to make a difference in the lives of those children, because that start in life, arriving at school already overweight and obese, is going to have an impact on that child's long-term well-being. But, fundamentally, that is an economic issue—it's about making sure that those families have genuine opportunities to prosper and to thrive, and tackling it in isolation from those formative conditions I don't think gets to the root of the problem.