Poverty in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 12 March 2019.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 2:22, 12 March 2019

Thank you for that answer, First Minister, and I'm sure you'll agree that it is shocking that in my constituency, as in other Valleys communities, organisations such as Merthyr Valleys Homes are supporting schemes like holiday hampers to help tackle hunger amongst children. I'll just repeat that: in 2019, they run schemes to tackle the problem of hunger amongst children in our communities.

You'll also be aware that the Bevan Foundation recently ran an event in Merthyr Tydfil, bringing together organisations involved with food insecurity, looking at the impact of welfare reforms and its impact on health and behaviour. And just this weekend at my advice surgery, I again issued a food bank voucher to a young mother in full-time employment because she had fallen into debt as her salary, her income, was not enough to cover her outgoings and to live on. Now, in light of this, and whilst I fully appreciate that the Welsh Government does not hold many of the key economic levers, can you assure me that the Government carries out poverty proofing, not just on policies but on all decisions, in order to help tackle the root causes of poverty and hunger in our communities?