Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This morning, I laid a copy of the Welsh Government’s progress report on tackling child poverty. The results make difficult reading. The headline figure—and the one I'm sure that Members today will all want to focus on—shows that child poverty in Wales has risen. This inescapable fact is something that should concern each and every one of us. 

In a rich, developed country like the UK, almost a third of children are living in poverty. It is a sobering statistic and a sad indictment of the inequality that has been allowed to take root across the UK over the last decade. There is no doubt that child poverty is rising in Wales because of the actions taken by the UK Government over the last decade. A decade of austerity cuts that have reduced the funding available for vital public services and a decade of cruel welfare cuts that have transformed what should be a safety net into a punishment system for those who rely on the state to help them in their hour of need. Reforms that have withdrawn child support from a third child, that have wrongly judged the disabled and long-term sick to be well enough to work, and created a sanctions regime that has driven unknown numbers to suicide. Reforms that have forced people to pay for having the luxury of a spare bedroom and have seen the use of food banks mainstreamed for millions.

Deputy Presiding Officer, when we look more closely at this report, it shows that where the Welsh Government has taken direct action to influence the lives of families and children throughout Wales, our policies are having a positive impact on the root causes of poverty and inequality. Our economic inactivity rate has fallen by five percentage points—double the rate for the UK since devolution. The number of workless households in Wales has fallen by more than 18 per cent. The employment rate here in Wales is now higher than the UK as a whole, and the percentage of working adults with no qualifications is falling.

The evidence shows that key Welsh Government programmes are making a difference by mitigating the impact of poverty, helping people to find and stay in work, and are providing support through the social wage, worth £2,000 a year to some households. But with 29 per cent of children in poverty in Wales, the action we can take can only ever mitigate what has become a deliberate policy intention of this and former UK Conservative Governments to increase inequality across the UK.

The independent Resolution Foundation has projected that by 2022, the UK Government’s policies will lead to 37 per cent of children in the UK living in poverty. This is higher than in any other period since the second world war. This is a shameful epitaph to be placed on the record of the UK Government. We won’t stop working to make families’ lives better in Wales, and we will use every lever we have to build greater resilience to support people and communities. As a Welsh Government, we can make a real difference to those families living in poverty in Wales, but we cannot undo this fundamental inequality that is being imposed on us from beyond our borders.

We will look again at everything we are doing as a Government—our activities, our policies and our priorities—to ensure that we do everything within our powers to support our most vulnerable citizens in these most uncertain of times. As part of this work, we have asked the Wales Centre for Public Policy to explore the case for the devolved administration of aspects of the benefits system. In taking this forward, we will look at the recent work by the Equalities, Local Government and Communities Committee about the future of welfare benefits in Wales. We've already started to outline some core principles for change, including compassion, fairness, dignity and understanding, with the aim of taking a more citizen-centred, humane approach.

I am leading a review of the programmes and services we fund to ensure that they have maximum impact on the lives of children living in poverty. This work will help to inform how we prioritise our funding to support programmes going forward. This review will take place alongside the planning of our budget priorities for 2020-21 through a poverty lens. Throughout the review process, we will ensure that the voices of those with a lived experience of poverty will inform the options going forward. It will also be informed by the findings and recommendations of a range of stakeholders, and through working closely with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, the Bevan Foundation, the End Child Poverty Network and Chwarae Teg. 

We will take on board research and analysis by organisations such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Oxfam and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The final report will include proposals for a future programme of activity and a timetable for that delivery based on the recommendations, and I will make a further announcement once the review is complete in the spring.

It is more important than ever that we focus the collective impact of our devolved powers to deliver on our priority of tackling poverty. We know this will not be easy. I welcome this progress report, despite the difficult messages it contains. It sets out our achievements as well as the scale of the challenge that we still face in Wales, and shows the continued commitment of the Welsh Government to make a difference. Importantly, it will act as a benchmark for measuring our renewed efforts for ensuring that all children in Wales have the opportunity to live enriched lives and reach their full potential. I commend this report to the Assembly. Diolch.