2. What action is the Welsh Government taking to protect people on low incomes in the face of the cost-of-living crisis? OQ57618

Diolch, Delyth Jewell. As the cost-of-living crisis intensifies, we have doubled the amount of the winter fuel support scheme payment, from £100 to £200, and extended our funding for foodbanks, community food partnerships and community hubs.

Diolch, Weinidog. I'd like to ask you specifically, please, about some more information on the round-table that you're going to be hosting next week, which I really do welcome. I know that the Government agreed to convene that following a Plaid Cymru debate in the Senedd. I'd be grateful if you could give us some more information, please, about the sectors and the groups that will be represented. And—this is something that came up, actually, with one of your colleagues yesterday in the Chamber—could you please give us more of an assurance that the voices of people who are going to be most deeply affected personally by these cost increases will be heard as part of that round-table? As well as that, if I may, quickly, Minister, I've had constituents—I'm sure that you will have had the same—contacting me, asking what the Welsh Government intends to do with the Barnett consequential from the English council tax discount. I appreciate you've said that you're working on ways to ensure that the support reaches the people who are most vulnerable. I assume this is going to be discussed as part of the round-table too, but could you give us an indication, please, about when you'll be in a position to make an announcement on that? Thank you.

Thank you very much for that very helpful question, because I can now give you a full response on the plans for the round-table summit next Thursday, 17 February. We have invited all of the organisations that are at the sharp end of tackling poverty across Wales. Obviously, that includes those not just in terms of food poverty—the Trussell Trust and other foodbanks and community food organisations responding to the challenge of food poverty—but also those responding to the challenges of fuel poverty as well, and including those advisers who are important to us, such as the Bevan Foundation, to ensure that we take on board their evidence. The lived experience is crucial. I met with the child poverty action group last week, and the cross-party group on poverty was extremely helpful, bringing us right to the heart of what's happening in communities. But I'm also ensuring that the whole of Government is engaged with this. So, I'm bilaterally meeting all Ministers this week. We have a cross-Government working group, to look at every portfolio, in terms of what they can do to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. This is for the Welsh Government a commitment with partners. This morning, I met with the single advice fund givers, Citizens Advice, Shelter, EYST—all of those partners who are working at the sharp end, delivering advice and guidance—and the discretionary assistance fund as well. So, I will be able to report on all of this. I will be chairing the summit, alongside my colleagues the Minister for Climate Change and the Minister for Finance and Local Government. In terms of the funding, we're confirming the detail of the funding that will come to Wales as a result of the announcements by the UK Government, but at the same time, as I've said, developing plans on how we can use that funding to support people during the cost-of-living crisis, and discussing the crisis and priorities—and that's crucial about the event next week—that are coming from those who are addressing and responding to that crisis on a daily basis.

Minister, the cost-of-living crisis taking hold across the UK is an extremely frightening prospect to many people in my constituency. Rural poverty is something many in urban Wales don't consider when making policies to counter economic hardship for many families on lower incomes who live in rural areas. There are ways in which we can counter the crisis within the devolution settlement. Your Government has partial control of income tax levels, and every year you can choose to vary these rates. So, what consideration has the Government made of cutting the rate of income tax for basic rate payers to alleviate some of the pressures being faced by those on the lowest wages in our society? Diolch, Llywydd. 

Well, as far as your Government is concerned, I wish that they would listen to the calls that we've been making to ensure that the costs that are placed on household bills, those social costs and, indeed, environmental costs, are actually met by general taxation. That is our call to the UK Government, and, also, that they increase the Warm Homes discount. The fact that they're actually announcing a rebate, which doesn't come in, as the First Minister said yesterday, until October, and then expecting everyone to pay that back is really insulting to those who are living at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis today. What we are doing with our Welsh Government is spending our money—you participated in the draft budget debate yesterday—and we may need to make sure that every pound of that goes out to deliver for those who are at the sharpest end. Where would the money come from, I have to say, in terms of those public services? We're certainly not going to go down your route. You need to persuade your Government in Westminster to invest through general taxation in the cost-of-living crisis.