4. How is the Welsh Government ensuring that parents are able to afford costs associated with their children's education? OAQ53552

Thank you very much, Leanne. I introduced PDG access in 2018-19 to provide additional support directly to families, helping those who need it most to meet some of the costs associated with the school day. For 2019-20 we have more than doubled the funding that will be available to support families in this way.

In the words of the Association of School and College Leaders, there is a 'severe funding crisis' in schools, which is having a 'detrimental effect...on...young people.' Those are direct quotes from them. This comes at the same time as a report by the children's commissioner, Sally Holland, last week, who said

'Financial demands are flying at families from all sorts of angles and it's the children who pay the price when their parents can't keep up with the costs.' 

She added

'If we're serious about levelling the playing field and giving all children an equal opportunity to learn and grow, we need Welsh Government to show real ambition and leadership in helping the thousands of families across Wales who are really struggling.' 

I've raised the school meals threshold with you on a number of occasions. Do you recognise the picture painted by these two impartial and expert sources? If you do, when can we expect to see this real ambition and leadership from this Labour Government to help struggling families and also to ensure that struggling schools get the funding gap plugged that they need to deliver good-quality education services to our children?

I absolutely recognise the challenges that the children's commissioner report paints. That's why, as I said, next year we will have £5 million to spend on PDG access. So, for the first time, this year, parents have been able to get support for uniform and equipment when their child starts school and when their child transitions through to high school. I am currently looking at whether we can expand further opportunities for parents in other parts of their child's career to be able to access support. Meanwhile, our consultation on school uniform, to make sure that the guidance around affordability of school uniform is put on a statutory footing, which it has not been until now, has recently concluded, and I hope that will be in place before the start of the new academic year. At the end of last year, I commissioned Children in Wales to produce a series of guidance notes and support packages to schools so that they can better understand and they can help guide their decisions with regard to the cost of the school day. The guides will be stand-alone resources and they will cover an understanding of the causes and the impact of living in poverty, the impact of food and hunger, school uniform resources, and out-of-school activities. We are increasing the money available to local authorities to support our school holiday enrichment programme, so that all local authorities, hopefully, this summer will provide support for families during the school holiday process, and with regard to free school meals, thousands more children will be eligible for free school meals under the new regime, and a significant amount of additional resource has been made available to pay for those meals. 

I thank you, Minister, for outlining all the help that we are giving, because clearly we're trying our very best in Wales just to mitigate the austerity that is coming down from Westminster. But I think my question has to be—and you've identified the need for more free school meals availability to young children—have you assessed the impact of universal credit on the eligibility for free school meals in Wales, and the impact that that might have right across the region?

Yes, we have. What we know—the impact of universal credit will mean that more children will qualify for free school meals in Wales, and we have made resources available to that. We also know that some children who have a current eligibility may find that eligibility curtailed, and that's why we are putting in protection to ensure that those families do not lose out. We will keep under constant review the support for families in this particular area. Indeed, only earlier today, when the European sub-committee of the Cabinet met—one of the things that we're having to look at in terms of preparation for a 'no deal' Brexit is what more support we may be able to give to families with the cost of school meals should food prices rise considerably as a result of a 'no deal' Brexit, and what position we might be in to be able to help those families at that time.