1. What further financial provision will the Welsh Government make within its annual budget to address the impact of COVID-19 on pre-existing inequalities in Wales? OQ56099

Thank you. Building on allocations made this year to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable, the Welsh Government’s draft budget 2021-22 sets out plans including an extra £23.1 million for free school meals and £200 million for affordable and social housing.

Thank you, Minister. I think it's clear that the pandemic has particularly affected those who were already struggling in many ways—so, people with more disadvantaged backgrounds have suffered more, in health terms, economically and socially. In that context, I very much welcome that £23 million to extend the free school meals during holidays entitlement through to Easter of next year. I think it's in line with what organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have said—that, in order to tackle poverty, you have to basically increase families' income and reduce their outgoings. And I think it's really good that people like Marcus Rashford, who's been so effective in campaigning on these matters, very much welcomed that Welsh Government funding of £23 million plus. And it's good to see campaigners like that, Minister, using their profile and their own lived experience to help others and take that wider societal view. It's also very good that, in these times of uncertainty in the pandemic, this lifeline is being made available to our families. So, with all those advantages for this provision, Minister, I wonder if in due course Welsh Government will consider making this a permanent provision here in Wales.

Thank you very much to John Griffiths for raising this really important issue. It was the case, of course, that Welsh Government decided to extend our free school meals provision through the holidays a long time before the decision was arrived at across the border in England. And I do take my hat off to inspirational people such as Marcus Rashford, who has used his platform in order to effect change over the border. I really do think that that is inspirational.

In terms of moving forward, I'm really pleased that we were able to put this allocation in the budget for next year as well, to give families that kind of certainty. It also goes alongside the additional funding of £2.2 million that we're putting in place for the school holiday enrichment programme, and that's for children aged seven to 11 in deprived areas in the summer holiday so that they can benefit from meeting up with their friends, from learning in a much more informal environment, and access to healthy meals through the day, and so forth. So, I'm pleased that those two initiatives will sit very well together.

In terms of future years, unfortunately it is the case that, again, we've just had a one-year spending round from the UK Government. And we were anxiously awaiting our comprehensive spending review, which hasn't arrived again, but, hopefully, we'll be in a position in due course to have that kind of longer look at public finances and be able to give some multi-year settlements and provide certainty where we can.

As the Minister has said, John Griffiths has raised a very important question. I think one of the most shocking things, certainly looking back at this in the future—this pandemic—will be the way that it has disproportionately affected those across society and those suffering from pre-existing social and health inequalities. Minister, you've mentioned free school meals, you've mentioned social housing; there are health inequalities as well, such as diabetes, lifestyle choices, obesity. So, there's no single silver bullet, is there, to actually deal with this issue, moving forward? So, in terms of this budget and future budgets, how are you going to ensure that all of these different strands are brought together, so that there is an overview, so that—hopefully we won't see another pandemic like this in the near future, but these inequalities are pre-existing anyway—these issues are ironed out, so that poorer people aren't affected disproportionately in future when health issues like this arise?

Nick Ramsay's right that inequalities have been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, and we have seen those people who were already disadvantaged become more so as a result of the pandemic. I think the work that we've done to support the third sector in this financial year has been really important in terms of expanding our reach into communities. We, in this financial year, have provided £26.5 million in our third sector response to the COVID-19 crisis, and that was delivered through multi-agency approaches involving the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the 19 voluntary councils working alongside their statutory partners. So, over 270 organisations have been supported under the voluntary services and emergency recovery fund, enabling nearly 9,000 volunteers to reach out to over 975,000 beneficiaries, and those funds cover a range of support, including advice provision, access to food parcels, medicines delivery and so forth. So, I think that our response to this crisis has created a really strong network upon which we can build in future years.