Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 15 December 2020.
I don't need to tell you about the value of progressive universalism; the point of universality is that you ensure then that everyone who needs it gets it. In relation to your point about finite resources, we need to be smart, so we need policies that deliver more than one objective. And so you can see, with universal free school meals, if you link it, for example, with the foundational economy—a square meal produced within the square mile, the foundation phase and the foundational economy, ensuring local procurement, children learning where their food comes from at the same time as helping the local food-producing businesses that were really hammered hard by the pandemic and, who knows, maybe by a 'no deal' Brexit—surely that's the kind of smart policy that we need, First Minister, that delivers to a preventative model savings even in financial terms because of the better health and educational outcomes for the children concerned and, indeed, their economic life chances, but also does it in a holistic way for the economy, for a better environment, for better health at the same time.