Universal Credit

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 12 January 2021.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:18, 12 January 2021

While I share some of the obvious and genuine anger that the First Minister feels about the way in which the benefit system affects people here in Wales, I'd like to put it to the First Minister that there is something that he could do for some of those families. It's estimated by the Child Poverty Action Group that there are about 70,000 children in Wales whose families are in receipt of universal credit and yet they are not eligible for free school meals in Wales. Can I ask the First Minister today, should the UK Government make the decision to remove the £20 uplift—and like the First Minister, I very much hope that they don't do that and that they provide families with certainty—but if they do that, does the First Minister accept that there is of course something that the Welsh Government could do for those families within its devolved powers, and that is to provide those children and those families with entitlement to free school meals?