Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 24 September 2019.
I remember when the last Labour Government in Westminster appointed a poverty tsar nine years actually after coming into Government, and I said to them what I say to you now: 'Where have you been?' quite frankly. The Scottish Government has adopted binding statutory targets to reduce child poverty. It's fast tracking its delivery plan to commit to a £10 a week per child payment for families who are receiving universal credit. Four hundred thousand children in Scotland will benefit and 30,000 could be freed from poverty immediately. The senior Scottish economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has praised this as a beacon of progressive policy. Now, Plaid Cymru in Government in 2021 will commit to going even further, but where the UK Government has cut back, surely the Welsh Government needs to step up. It's staggering, First Minister, that you are only now waking up to the effects of poverty on children's lives. When will we see real investment and when will you set an ambitious target so that children don't go to school hungry and to bed cold?