I move the motion, and I'm glad to open this important and timely debate before the Senedd. 

Education is considered to be, in that famous phrase, the greatest of equalisers. However, despite the best efforts of our teachers and support staff, poverty is an insidious creature. It creeps into settings where everyone should be treated equally, hampering attempts at levelling the playing field, leaving a damaging trail of inequity, exclusivity and stigma, stifling opportunity, harming the well-being of our youngest citizens. And as child poverty exists in every part of Wales, it is therefore present in every state school. There isn't a single council ward with a child poverty rate below 12 per cent. 

For the three-year period up to 2019, 28 per cent of children in Wales were living in households below the poverty line, roughly 195,000 children. By 2021, this figure had risen to 31 per cent. The cost-of-living crisis is set to make these shocking statistics even worse. The cut to universal credit and working tax credits has reduced the incomes of 40 per cent of households with children by over £1,000 a year. Even before the COVID crisis hit, with its detrimental and disproportionate effect on our most socioeconomically deprived communities, these children were at a higher risk of being in ill health, and less likely to achieve the top grades in their school than their peers from higher income households. We must seek solutions. The Child Poverty Action Group report on reducing the cost of the school day in Wales, published last month, gives voice to those who are made to feel excluded, unhappy or different because of their economic circumstances. We need concerted action to raise family incomes and reduce living costs, and a focus on changing practices that currently reinforce stigma and treat people in poverty in less favourable ways.

Today's debate is about doing this through the education system. We may believe that sending a child to school is free. However, as we will hear, it bears a daily cost. Families are routinely asked to contribute towards the costs of school uniform, trips, charity fundraising, school meals and snacks, and to provide equipment and resources for different subjects. This can expose children to the risk of stigma and shame when they're unable to afford even small charges for participation. While there is guidance for school governing bodies around many of these elements of the school day and of school life, much of it is not statutory, and its application is inconsistent. The consequences of many policies or ways of doing things are, of course, often unintentional, but that really isn't good enough. From an equalities perspective, from a human rights perspective, from a children's rights perspective, from a moral perspective, things need to change. 

The motion details just some ways that the Government could address this issue. My fellow Members Luke Fletcher, Delyth Jewell and Heledd Fychan will focus on specific measures, such as the affordability of school uniform, trips and activities, and the take-up of entitlements. The introduction of free school meals for all pupils in primary school through the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru demonstrates that great change to the way we approach and tackle child poverty is possible. Given the current economic climate, we should now ensure that the acceleration of the roll-out of free school meals in primary school is a top priority for the Government. We should also acknowledge that the larger goal is to build on that commitment.