Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 15 December 2020.
Diolch, Llywydd. The UK Prime Minister has repeatedly scored own goals by only partially and belatedly heeding Marcus Rashford's call to provide free schools meals in England. While the Conservative Government has an ideological objection to helping the most vulnerable in society, in Wales, we have a moral obligation. Providing free school meals is one of the best ways of mitigating the worst effects of a second wave of Tory austerity, which will hit the poorest hardest, as the Marmot review, published today, has shown. In its own report in June last year, the Bevan Foundation found a number of shortcomings with the current free school meal system in Wales. The value from the support, they say, is not sufficient to lift enough children out of food poverty. With 180,000 children living in poverty in Wales, do you regret dropping the long-standing target to eradicate child poverty by this year, and does that place a greater responsibility on you now to act?