You refer to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee report about the future of welfare benefits in Wales. As a party to that report, I won't comment. I look forward, however, to hearing how the Welsh Government responds.

You refer to austerity cuts, well, my dictionary describes 'austerity cuts' as not having enough money, and, as such, that was an inheritance, not a choice. We know that, because of the actions taken since 2010, public spending can now begin to increase significantly again. Why do you instead champion the economic policies favoured by those high-deficit countries that tried to defy and deny austerity and ended up having far, far, far higher cuts imposed on them—exactly what your party's proposing at UK level now, in bigger interest rates and the sort of austerity we haven't seen here since the second world war?

Now, as I said, Wales has had a Labour Government for over two decades. Why did you fail to mention figures before 2010? Even before the financial crash, official figures show that Wales had the highest child poverty levels in the UK: 29 per cent in 2007; 32 per cent in 2008, even before the crash. In 2012, child poverty snapshots from Save the Children said that Wales had the highest poverty and severe child poverty rates of any nation in the UK, and in May this year, the End Child Poverty Network reported that Wales was the only UK nation to see a rise in child poverty last year to 29.3 per cent.

In fact, the UK policy matters—. Those are official figures, please check them. The UK policy matters you refer to apply, of course, across the UK, but only Wales has a Labour Government. You state that evidence shows that key Welsh Government programmes are making a difference by mitigating the impact of poverty. Will you, therefore, apologise, for example, for the Child Poverty Action Group's poverty facts summary published in May, which said that Wales had the highest overall poverty rate in the UK in 2018, or for the findings of the Joseph Rowntree report on poverty in Britain published last December that said that of the four countries of the UK—all of which had the same UK Government policies affecting them—Wales has consistently had the highest poverty rate for the past 20 years, not simply nine?

Wales, as we know, is referred to in many other reports. The End Child Poverty Network Cymru has been calling for some time on the Welsh Government to produce a new child poverty strategy with more ambitious targets to eliminate child poverty. In May, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Dr Steffan Evans, officer—. In an article for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Dr Evans from the Bevan Foundation argued that child poverty is still a significant issue in Wales and that there has been a 'Lack of joined-up thinking', whereby the Welsh Government's poverty alleviation policy has 'not been working in harmony' with other areas such as housing. And, of course, the Children's Commissioner for Wales said in March that the Welsh Government should write a new child poverty delivery plan, focusing on 'concrete' and 'measurable steps'.

Why has the Welsh Government failed to support calls for any appropriate plan, as debated in an individual's debate earlier this year? And how does she respond to calls by the sector, recognising that the Welsh policy levers that the Welsh Government has within its power are exactly the area they would like to focus their influence on, as they agree there are powers the Welsh Government can and should be using to tackle the root causes of poverty? That was stated in recent months, not a decade ago.

You state that throughout the review process, you will ensure that the voices of those with a lived experience of poverty will inform the options going forward. Seven years ago, the Welsh Government rejected the Wales Council for Voluntary Action's 'Communities First—A Way Forward' report, which found that community involvement in co-designing and co-delivery of local services should be central to any successor lead tackling poverty programme. And, after spending £0.5 billion on that programme, the Welsh Government then phased it out, having failed to reduce the headline rate of poverty or increase relative prosperity in Wales. As the Bevan Foundation said, if people feel that policies are imposed on them, the policies don't work, and a new programme should be produced with communities, not directed top down.

How, therefore, do you respond to the statement by Carnegie Trust in their latest report on turnaround towns that the enabling state approach, such as moving from target setting to outcomes, top-down to bottom-up, representation to participation, is the way of moving forward from the status of provider of welfare towards a more enabling style of Government, with a shift in the relationship between citizens, community and the state, where communities are best placed to bring a wealth of local knowledge and collective energy to the decisions that affect them?

Finally, how do you respond to the evidence available from the Co-production Network for Wales that we need to measure what matters? Their toolkit says that it matters most to the people that your activity supports that the people co-design as well as participate in the evaluation. So, how will the child poverty review lead that you're currently seeking to employ be seeking to apply those new lessons, or old lessons, to ensure that the needs that continue after two decades are finally addressed in a way that tackles the causes and not simply pays for the symptoms?