It is unacceptable, Llywydd, that many families with no recourse to public funds also are living in extreme poverty. Changing the eligibility criteria for free school meals in these circumstances would require primary legislation to be amended. However, I strongly encourage local authorities to exercise their discretion to allow the children of these families to benefit from free school meal provision, and to claim the costs of doing so from the Welsh Government.

It is also unacceptable to me that a child or young person should miss out on extra-curricular activities and experiences because of their personal circumstances. Our pupil development grant access scheme provides funding directly to families who need it most, to help with some of the costs of the school day—a commitment in both our programme for government and 'Renew and reform'. Therefore, I'm pleased to announce that the pupil development grant access scheme will continue for this financial year. I have increased funding for PDG access to £10.45 million. This will allow us to extend the grant for additional years, namely years 1, 5, 8, 9 and 11, at a rate of £125 per learner.

These actions build on those that we have already taken, and I want to acknowledge the work of our delivery partners in supporting the key actions we've been able to take during this time. Last year, we made available £60 million in additional funding for free school meals, based on the most generous weekly allowance in the UK. Our local authorities responded with speed and dedication, ensuring learners who most relied on free school meals did not go without whilst not in school. We were the first in the UK to guarantee ongoing funding for free school meals throughout the summer holidays, in response to the pandemic, and the first to announce provision would continue until Easter 2021. Building on that, I can confirm an additional £23.3 million to ensure free school meal provision will be available during all school holidays in the 2021-22 financial year. We've allocated £477,000 for the provision of free meals for students in further education over the summer.

Llywydd, I understand the intentions behind the motion's call to extend free school meal eligibility, but the context in which we are seeking to do so is that of the limited budget provided to Wales by the United Kingdom Government. If eligibility for free school meals were extended to all pupils and families in receipt of universal credit, we estimate currently that approximately half of the pupils in maintained schools in Wales would be eligible.

It became clear during the last election that Plaid Cymru, who bring the motion today, had not fully thought through what their policy would mean for the pupil development grant. We regard that as vital funding for our schools, to help support our most disadvantaged pupils. There is a link between free school meal eligibility and the pupil development grant. We estimate that this link would potentially represent additional PDG costs of around £168 million a year. I do think it's important, as Jenny Rathbone was saying, that in the interests of a fully informed debate, that when parties advocate particular expenditure, they also indicate how it will be met and where other budgets would be cut and to say so. But I understand from Sioned Williams today that the answer to that in part is that Plaid Cymru no longer advocate that pupil development grant funding should follow free school meal eligibility.

I would like to thank Plaid Cymru, having said that, for the opportunity to address this important matter today. Our review as a Government of free school meal eligibility criteria to ensure that those who need it most receive the support that they need is already under way and I look forward to updating the Senedd in the next term and engaging with those in this Chamber and beyond who share that objective. Diolch, Llywydd.