[Inaudible.]—because during this COVID pandemic, what we have seen exposed are the searing inequalities that still exist in our society and the impact that they've had on the quality of life, the health and education of some of the poorest in our society.

Can I start by commending those in our communities who've done so much during the pandemic to ensure that, in addition to the financial support made available from the Welsh Government to families entitled to free school meals, they nevertheless raised funds to provide and deliver food boxes to those families to make sure the children did not go hungry? In Tonyrefail, Leanne Parsons and her team of volunteers from Tonyrefail Community School prepared and delivered hundreds of boxes every day all the way through the summer; Councillors Maureen Webber and Carl Thomas, local community activists in Rhydyfelin and Hawthorn, and all of the local food banks that have become so vital in recent years.

School meals are iconic. Under the previous income support regime, entitlement to free school meals was clear, but since the introduction of universal credit, there's been a replacement financial qualifying criterion of £7,400 net of tax and excluding any benefits received, and we do now need to review that. In Wales, we've ensured that almost 86,000 pupils receive free school meals or an equivalent of £19.50 per week. As more pupils return to school and as more families become dependent on universal credit, we must guarantee a principle that I believe we can all agree with in this Senedd: that no child in Wales should go hungry.

Now, I do want to commend the action taken by the Welsh Government, which has led the way in the UK by providing £50 million of funding to ensure free school meals during holidays and the further £23 million that has been put in place to extend this provision.

The motion tabled is very timely, albeit, in my view, too unspecific, because it does not give the clear assurances that we want to see and aspire to, and which can be delivered. The amendment establishes the principle that it is unacceptable for any child to go hungry. The final section of the amendment is the most important, because it is the clearest commitment to action. It commits the Senedd and the Welsh Government to reviewing all of the sources and policy options, including the income threshold, which is vital to fulfilling this principle.

We all know the cost could be around £100 million per year, so in that review it is vital that we focus on all the causes of poverty in our communities and ensure that any redirection of funding does not impact on other vital projects, such as the Welsh Government's free school breakfasts programme, which is just as important in ensuring that our children are not hungry when they come to school and whilst in school.

Llywydd, I'm sure we all aspire to the principle that one day school meals will become a universal benefit for all as part of the education system. Until then, despite the Tory financial austerity we are again likely to face, we must do everything we possibly can to maximise entitlement around this principle that no child should go hungry. This is a matter of absolute importance to all of us on the Labour side of the Senedd and in all other parties, I'm sure. I'm sure that it is something that we can all equally aspire to and unite around, so I welcome this clear commitment from the Welsh Government to enable us to achieve this. Diolch, Llywydd.