I want to begin by commending this report to the Senedd and congratulating the committee. I would argue that this is an example of our Senedd, our Parliament, at its best: detailed evidence collected, carefully considered, and strong, well thought through, detailed recommendations. As a Parliament and as a nation, we should be grateful to the committee for its work.

Unfortunately, the Government response is less inspiring—too much 'we're doing it already', too much 'accept in principle', which we all know basically means 'we know that you're right but we're not going to do it', and, for recommendations 10 to 17, no response at all pending research, despite the research that the committee had already done. As John Griffiths has already said, I hope the Minister will be able to give a more positive response in her contribution to this debate, particularly in the light of what we've learnt about poverty through the COVID crisis.

I will address my remarks to these recommendations. The committee has carefully looked at and made a very powerful case for the devolution of various aspects of the benefits system, and there's no need for me to rehearse those; I want to speak to the overall principle. Dirprwy Lywydd, I'm sure that we can all agree that poverty is a scourge on our nation. Personally, I am deeply saddened and angered by the fact that I live in a nation where a third of our children are poor. It's a national disgrace. And I hope we can all agree that the long-term solution is for us to build an economy where work pays, where good-quality employment is available to all, and where prosperity is shared across Wales. But, in the short term, there will be many individuals and families who will need benefits to get by, and this position will only worsen in the aftermath of the COVID crisis, as we've already heard. 

The current benefits system—and I'm focusing here on those benefits that are not devolved, but it's arguably true of the Welsh benefits system too—is complex, it's stigmatising, and it does not provide individuals and families with sufficient income for a decent life. If we are serious about lifting people out of poverty, we need to use the benefits system to help us do it. And I don't believe for one minute, and I suspect Members on the Government benches here don't either, that the current Conservative Government in Westminster, albeit that they come and go, can be trusted to do that. My constituents are certainly not experiencing the kind of social solidarity and redistribution of which Mark Isherwood speaks. 

So, I remain at a loss as to why the Government is not seeking powers over these benefits as a matter of urgency. I can understand some fiscal concerns, that's only responsible, but Ministers will be aware, for example, of the research done by the Wales Governance Centre that found no evidence that devolving some power over benefits to Wales, as has already been done to Scotland, would be fiscally unsustainable. Indeed, it showed that, depending on the model used, the Welsh Treasury could stand to benefit considerably from the devolution of welfare powers.

Dirprwy Lywydd, partly as a response to COVID, new and innovative ideas are circulating in Wales about how we might lift people out of poverty. There are, for example, many in this Chamber who would advocate trialling a universal basic income. My party is advocating a Welsh child payment to end absolute poverty for children in Wales. But these ideas can only work properly, they can only go beyond trial, if the power over the benefits system lies here. The committee has made a powerful, well-evidenced as well as passionate case, and we've heard this again in John Griffiths's speech today. I urge the Government to act on that now. As John Griffiths has said, it will take time. If we began the process to seek the devolution of these benefits, it would take time for them to come. Our poorest fellow citizens need our Government, as John said, to be bold.