Obviously, poverty and child poverty in Wales are very significant issues for us and for those concerned with social justice at the very heart of the progress that we need to make in Wales. So, I welcome this debate today and the focus that it allows here in the Chamber. We should be discussing these matters and we should be looking at the most effective ways forward and possible new ways of addressing these matters. It is difficult, which I think we've recognised all along, given that many of the levers that would enable poverty to be more effectively tackled in Wales are in the hands of the UK Government. And when that UK Government is a Tory Government, then we see the results. We've seen the results through all the years of austerity, and I fear that we will see the results over the years to come of Boris Johnson's UK Government.

So, I do think that we need to look at what we can do here in Wales with the powers that we currently have, but also what further devolution could take place to add tools to those that are currently available to us, to Welsh Government and to the Assembly. That's why the committee that I chair, the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, has done work on the benefits system. Because, as we've heard already, the benefits system is a very important part of the overall picture; because, yes, we do need to increase the income of families in poverty and we also need to reduce their outgoings. Organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Bevan Foundation have made those points quite clearly. So, one way of improving the income of poor families in Wales would be improvements to the welfare benefits system.

You know, some things are in our control at the moment, and we could introduce new requirements—for example, benefits take-up. I think there's still quite a lot of work to be done there. In our report, we look at perhaps introducing a duty on local authorities with necessary funding, so that they could play a greater role. We also look at how we could generally improve benefit take-up in Wales.

We look at universal credit. I think we do know that the shortcomings in universal credit are widely recognised by agencies and charities in Wales that are trying to address these issues and introduce improvements. You know, that wait for an initial payment, monthly payments rather than fortnightly, the lack of choice for benefit claimants in terms of flexibilities—for example, to get the housing benefit element paid direct to the landlord where they believe that would be advantageous to them—and, indeed, split payments between couples where there are problems in relationships and perhaps coercive behaviour. There are lots of flexibilities that could be introduced if Welsh Government had the power to do that rather than trying to negotiate something with the Department of Work and Pensions. 

Yes, there are possibilities around new benefits, around devolution of existing benefits. We know that the rules and regulations around sanctioning are problematic, and I believe we could have a much better approach if we had the power to change that here in Wales. The assessment process for sickness and disability benefits leaves a lot to be desired, and the percentage of successful appeals shows quite clearly the shortcomings to the initial process.

You know, there is very much that could be done. We explore all of that and much more in our report. Welsh Government is interested, we know that, because Welsh Government is taking forward its own work on some of these aspects, and I know Welsh Government is very interested in the report of the committee. In due course, we will of course have the Welsh Government's response when the further work—[Interruption.] Sorry?