I have a few points to make. Firstly, the co-operation agreement and what it sets out to achieve is something that I am actually quite proud of, especially when it comes to free school meals. And it has to be said, to say that the budget doesn't deliver at all for people in Wales is quite out of touch. Is it perfect? No. But, take it from somebody who was on free school meals, that policy alone will go so far in helping families with children who are living in poverty. Have no doubt about that. And it was delivered by Plaid Cymru and Welsh Government, working together. 

I appreciated the response that I had from the Government to a written question on 10 January relating to the front-loading of support for free school meals. The start date for commencing free school meals was highlighted as September 2022. I hope that the Government is looking at how we might be able to speed up this process, specifically rolling out free school meals earlier. The Minister has given a three-year budget this time around, which I appreciate limits flexibility, but is there some way of front-loading the allocated funding? The need is now, it's in the present, amplified by the cost-of-living crisis, and I would very much appreciate hearing whether this is something the Government will consider.

Secondly, the Minister will be aware of my desire to see the education maintenance allowance go further, and I appreciated her response to me in spokespersons' questions last week, when I raised the prospect of expanding the EMA. I want to re-emphasise how much of a lifeline the EMA is for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially when we get to post-16 education. We generally accept that education is the best route out of poverty, and retaining students post-16 will have that desired effect of giving further opportunities and skills to those from disadvantaged backgrounds. I know that the Minister herself sees how important the EMA is to those students, and I hope she can give an assurance that if the Government has further funding that it will look to expand the EMA as a priority.

Finally, we note the spending on the climate and nature emergency in the budget, but I am finding it difficult to understand how we can reconcile this spend with the threat to the budget of the future generations commissioner, as Jenny Rathbone indicated, who has played a vital part in advising and ensuring that the Welsh public sector does its part on issues such as decarbonisation and the green transition for future generations. The Public Accounts Committee recognised that,

'The Future Generations Commissioner’s budget has not given her office sufficient capacity to provide public bodies with the levels of practical and sector-specific support that they have called for to implement the Act.'

So, if the Government is serious about making this world-leading approach work, recognising the implementation gaps that exist is all important. Shouldn't the Government be ensuring the commissioner has enough resources to do the job? The commissioner's office budget is already one of the lowest office budgets for any commissioner in Wales, and the specific point that is concerning, just to be clear, is that the future generations commissioner's budget means that they can't carry funds over to the new year. And from my understanding, this is problematic because doing so has been a large part of how her office has operated. This could prevent the commissioner from being able to continue advising public bodies, leaving only enough resources to carry out the statutory duties in terms of monitoring. I'd be very grateful if the Minister could give the Chamber some clarity on that point.