Hear hear, Jane Dodds. I completely agree with your final sentiment there. As we are all too aware from our own constituencies and regions, foodbank usage had been increasing for years prior to the pandemic, with the Trussell Trust reporting that the demand for foodbanks in their network increased 128 per cent between 2015 and 2020. During the pandemic, this has rapidly and significantly increased, with the Trussell Trust reporting an increase of 11 per cent in demand between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021, compared to the same period in 2019. In Wales, the Trussell Trust distributed over 145,828 emergency three-day food parcels to households in Wales over the past financial year. Let that figure sink in: 145,828 emergency three-day food parcels over the course of one year here in Wales.

In my own region of South Wales Central, I'd like to give just a few examples. Taff-Ely foodbank recently shared that from April to September, they gave out 1,163 foodbank parcels, and that 397 of these were for children. In October, the Vale foodbank noted that it had been open for 10 years, and during that time had provided 36,000 food parcels to local people in crisis. And please note the word 'noted', rather than 'celebrated' reaching this milestone, as there is nothing to celebrate in the fact that foodbanks have had to become so commonplace throughout Wales. I would hope that we are all united in the view that under no circumstances should foodbanks become an institutionalised fixture of Welsh society. 

These figures alone do not fully explain the scale of foodbank use in Wales, as the figures only relate to foodbanks in the Trussell Trust network, and not the hundreds of independent food aid providers and community groups also providing support, such as Rhondda Foodshare and the community pantry in Cilfynydd. And isn't is cruelly ironic that whilst 200,000 children and their families go hungry in Wales, we simultaneously have a huge issue with food waste, with approximately 500,000 tonnes of food wasted here in Wales annually? Globally, it is estimated that this is 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted or lost each year—a third of all the total food produced for humans. I was horrified to read in a recent article in The National by Leanne Wood that at a recent meeting held between UK Government Ministers and major supermarkets, Tesco admitted that 50 tonnes of edible food was being binned every week due to driver shortages.

Whilst previous Welsh Government initiatives have successfully helped to reduce food waste, I'm sure we all agree that there is more to do, and measures the Welsh Government could explore to tackle the issue include encouraging all Welsh businesses to commit to target, measure and act on food waste; urging businesses in Wales to demonstrate their social responsibility by signing the Courtauld 2024 commitment to tackle food waste and support redistribution; and also, we could include food waste as a factor in the Welsh Government's economic contract.

I'd like to conclude my contribution this afternoon with a reflection on why I'm supporting today's motion. Whilst dropping off a few donations to a foodbank—something all of us have undoubtedly done—can be a visible demonstration of support to tackle food insecurity and hunger, as politicians, this isn't enough. Today's motion commits all of us to do all that is in our power to ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food to eat. No-one should be going hungry in Wales in 2021. Neither should food aid be replacing the dignity and choice afforded to those on higher incomes, such as ourselves. Whilst thanking foodbanks and their volunteers for all that they do, let us also commit today to working to ensure that they do not need to exist. That will be a time to celebrate.