6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the level of child poverty in Llanelli? OQ56147

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The pandemic is predicted to increase child poverty in Llanelli and across Wales. That impact would be made worse by premature withdrawal of the job retention scheme and any refusal to maintain the £20 universal credit weekly uplift beyond the end of March.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for his answer. In an earlier answer, he told us, and I would not disagree, that we can't trust the Tories, and when it comes to providing support for our poorest families and our poorest children, I don't believe we can trust them either. The First Minister makes reference to the threat of the withdrawal of the £20 uplift for universal credit, but given what he said to us about not trusting the Tories, can I ask him again to reconsider his decision not to seek the devolution of benefits, as has been recommended by a committee of this Senedd and by independent research and think tanks, because that would enable us, despite the financial challenges, to develop a system of our own that would be fairer when it came to supporting families in these positions? In the meantime, further to exchanges that we had last week, will he consider the practicality of extending free school meals to all those children whose families are in receipt of universal credit? If we can't get the devolution of the main part of the benefits system, is it not time for his Government to support those families in ways that are within this Senedd's current competence?

Llywydd, I thank Helen Mary Jones for those further questions. I am persuaded by much of what was said in the report provided by the committee of the Senedd chaired by John Griffiths about exploring the devolution of the administration of aspects of the benefits system. It was a very helpful report, and it helps to shape the thinking of the Welsh Government, and I'm very happy to go on exploring that with Members who are of a similar persuasion.

As to the point the Member makes about free school meals, the changes that we have made to free school meals entitlement during this term will extend eligibility to thousands more children over the next couple of years. Plaid Cymru's policy is to provide free school meals to every child in a family where universal credit is being claimed. I set out for the Member last week that, if those families have two children per family, that's a cost of £67 million a year, and that would rise to over £100 million a year. Those other costings I have been provided by officials in the Welsh Government whose job it is to help us administer the help we currently provide to families receiving free school meals. Those are choices that Governments can make.

But the last questioner, Llywydd, asked me to find Welsh Government money to help families who struggle because of the council tax. Plaid Cymru has a policy of providing £35 a week for free-school-meals children, again at a cost of many millions of pounds. It has a policy of providing free childcare from 12 months of age, at a cost of £950 million. It has a policy of free social care for everyone in Wales. When parties put forward policies, they have to be able to credibly explain to people not why something is desirable, but why it is also achievable within the resources that the Welsh Government has, and I'm afraid when you begin to add up that long list of no doubt desirable things, I think very many question marks begin to emerge about their deliverability.