Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I'd like to begin my contribution by thanking Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this really important topic for debate today. Since my appointment, I have been absolutely clear that reducing health inequalities is one of my key priorities as a Minister. The links between where you live, your socioeconomic status, your life expectancy and how many years you can expect to live healthily are well-known and have been revealed by many Senedd Members today.

We know, as so many have stated, that people from the most deprived areas of Wales are more likely to live shorter lives than those in the least deprived, and that, sadly, they live fewer of those years in good health. I'm sure that all of us in the Senedd can agree that the fact that this continues to be a reality across Wales today is socially unjust, and it's something that this Welsh Government is absolutely determined to put right.

It's important to be clear that we are not starting this work from scratch. Over many years, we have worked to build a solid legislative and policy context to ensure that tackling health inequalities is hard-wired into the way that we plan and deliver public services in Wales. I think that one of the best examples of this work includes embedding the use of health impact assessments across Government and, through this Senedd, legislating to cast a healthier Wales and a more equal Wales as statutory goals in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

We have been proud to share our approach to tackling health inequalities through the framework of the Act internationally, as a lead partner of the recent joint action on health equity in Europe. This joint action saw 25 countries work collaboratively to address health inequalities. Members may also be aware that my predecessor signed a memorandum of understanding on health equity with the World Health Organization Europe region in 2020. Through our work with the WHO, Wales has established a Welsh health equity status report initiative and has become a global influencer and a live innovation site for health equity.

Now, in addition to establishing the right policy and legislative context, the Welsh Government has developed a number of key programmes to tackle inequalities, such as our flagship Flying Start programme. Flying Start reaches around 36,000 children under four years of age who are living in some of the most deprived areas across Wales. It works to ensure that they have the best possible start in life, which we all know is critical in terms of the window of opportunity to influence development and those longer term outcomes.

But despite the strides that we have made, COVID-19 has brought the true impact of health inequalities into sharp focus.