The following amendment has been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Darren Millar.

We move on now to item 8, Plaid Cymru debate, the cost-of-living crisis—the effect on schools and children. I call on Sioned Williams to move the motion. 

Motion NDM7954 Siân Gwenllian

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that the cost-of-living crisis has a particular effect on schools and children.

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to increase efforts to ensure measures to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds in schools are implemented as effectively as possible by:

a) reviewing the effectiveness of statutory guidance on school uniform policies to ensure consistent affordability across Wales;

b) taking urgent steps to ensure school meal debt does not negatively affect pupils;

c) improving signposting of the pupil development grant—access;

d) working towards automatic registration of all entitlements to support uptake and income maximisation;

e) providing further support to schools to provide inclusive trips and activities for all and ensure consistent practice across Wales.

Motion moved.

Thank you, acting Deputy Presiding Officer.

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.

The Deputy Presiding Officer took the Chair.

Our motion calls for ensuring that school meal debt doesn't negatively impact a pupil, be that through stress, stigma or even having to go without food, as we have heard in some cases. Consideration should always be given to why school meal debt could have accrued. The reason is never within the control of the child, the child that it affects and harms. The child should therefore never suffer the consequences of that debt. This needs to go beyond guidance. This should be put on a statutory footing, as well as the financial sustainability of school catering services ensured.

Beyond the expansion of free school meals, some helpful initiatives to help pupils are, of course, already in place. But their effectiveness is sometimes held back due to the low take-up of numbers of those entitled to that help. This is an area where the Government could really make a difference. Targeted entitlements to meet the education costs of children and young people, like the pupil deprivation grant access grant and the EMA, the education maintenance allowance, help increase income, are key to addressing poverty. But research shows that not every eligible family receives what they are entitled to, either through a lack of awareness or because of the nature of the application process. One parent's words, contained in the Child Poverty Action Group report, sums this up well:

'I wish that there was a handout listing the places that we could get help but I feel that because we both work we wouldn’t qualify for the help anyway.'

There is therefore a common misconception that children are automatically ineligible for support such as free school meals and PDGA if their parents or carers are in any form of paid employment. It is also important to note that three quarters of children in poverty already live in a household where someone is in work.

The Child Poverty Action Group estimates that around 55,000 children in poverty are not eligible for free school meals, meaning that they are unable to access PDGA as well. Especially given the cost-of-living crisis, it is crucial that all families are receiving all the benefits to which they are entitled. Measures such as the employment of advice workers at schools, or adopting automatic registration and application-free passporting of entitlements would remove barriers and ensure uptake.

In adopting the new curriculum, schools should be required to ensure that no pupil need buy materials or equipment to take part in certain subjects. We need to reduce or remove these costs for all pupils. Education should be all-inclusive. You shouldn't have to pay to learn any subject at school.

The new curriculum blends many subjects into each other, meaning that costs and charges for resources could appear in subjects that used to be more affordable. The new curriculum and the commitment to universal free school meals in primary school present a golden opportunity to create a truly inclusive education system, but only if we face up to the issues and the barriers that are currently affecting children of families on low incomes.

I look forward to hearing the contributions of Members across the Chamber on this important issue, and urge every Member to support our motion. No child or young person should feel left out because of the economic pressures on their families. We must act to reduce the impact that poverty clearly has on learning and opportunities. Diolch.

I have selected the amendment to the motion, and I call on Laura Anne Jones to move the amendment, tabled in the name of Darren Millar.

Amendment 1—Darren Millar

Insert as new sub-point after sub-point 2(a) and renumber accordingly:

'ensuring that the move to universal free school meals does not negatively impact any children in Wales who would have received additional funding or support'.

Amendment 1 moved.

Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to start by saying that I'm grateful to Plaid for bringing forward this debate today. The cost-of-living crisis is something that we're all majorly concerned about, and it'll no doubt have an impact on learners and schools in the coming months. On top of the 22 years of failure from the Welsh Government to bring children out of poverty, with 200,000 children still being in poverty in Wales, it is important that we have this debate.  

We support today's motion laid before us, and I just would like to ask Plaid Cymru if they will accept and acknowledge our amendment as an addition to the original motion, as we believe that this amendment will make it stronger and reinforces the point that you're trying to make here today. 

Point 1 of this motion notes that the cost-of-living crisis has had a particular effect on schools and children. We of course have had the free breakfast schemes and the free school meals available in our schools—soon to be universal—and, as was raised in the Chamber earlier, we need to not only ensure these meals continue to be nutritious, but that they are actually available to all in all schools, and ensure that children can access the support that they need above and beyond the current free-school-meal identified children.

We all know that a mix of inflation, knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine and the exit from the pandemic is bound to have a drastic effect on our economy. So, many will be affected right now, and there needs to be a focus on supporting the most vulnerable families and children in schools so no-one slips through the net. A more targeted approach, perhaps, is needed, particularly due to the move to universal school meals. 

The current cost-of-living situation in Wales has increased stress and tension around family finances and significant consequences for children and young people, who are facing more mental health challenges as a result. This is only going to exacerbate the mental health crisis Welsh students are already facing, and it was only yesterday that the First Minister admitted that mental health delivery is way behind where it should be. 

The cost-of-living crisis is having a significant impact upon families across Wales and the wider world, like Germany and the USA, so not just the UK, with more and more families facing hardship, being on the edge or living in poverty. In the most recent UK-wide Barnardo's practitioners' survey, published in March 2022, 68 per cent of respondents said that the top issue they were concerned about in schools was the lack of support and resources, and 59 per cent cited mental health and well-being issues.

Point 2 of the motion calls on the Welsh Government to increase efforts to ensure measures to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds in schools are implemented as effectively as possible, so I'm pleased that the Minister for education has announced that the pupil development grant access scheme will be raised for one year by £100 per learner. And this is all well and good, but there needs to be greater awareness of the scheme, as again was raised earlier in this Chamber, and also the problem about it being accessible to all, due to the fact that you have to apply online for it.

It is great to see, finally, that the Welsh Government have now followed the UK Government in giving support to households by announcing measures to counteract the cost-of-living crisis that we all face. However, in the move to universal school meals, we must ensure that the pupil development grant identifying doesn't get lost in transition, and that we have a method just as effective for identifying those in most need.

Although this is a much needed and welcome start, there is still much more that needs to be done, like improving the signposting of the pupil development grant, as pointed out in sub-note 2(c). It is crucial that the Welsh Government work hard to provide further support for schools to include money for trips and activities, as was outlined by a Plaid Member earlier, for all, and to ensure consistent practice across Wales, as sub-point (e) mentions.

Currently, we have an unacceptable situation, where parents have to fork out huge costs for school trips and to go and play sport in other schools, or whatever it might be, and many other things that were mentioned, and it's not a situation that can carry on, because it does highlight those children who don't have a lot of money and then have to say that they can't join in those activities. And it's something that happens now, and I've seen it through my children going to school, and I've seen their friends not being able to do things, and it's not good enough, that situation—it can't carry on. And of course now it's exacerbated by the situation we're now facing.

I, myself, have really struggled as a single mother with my first child, so I'm all too aware that this Government needs to reach those areas that we're not reaching at the moment because of the postcode lottery of a lot of schemes that are available. Also, we need to ensure that as well as free-school-meal children, we are reaching those low-income families with working parents, who are so often overlooked. It seems that we've had initiatives over the last 22 years, yet, as I said at the beginning, 200,000 children are still in poverty, and it seems that we have in fact just put sticking-plaster solutions, rather than really identifying what's going on underneath. Thank you.

I, again, also very much welcome this debate. Firstly, I want to address the problems faced by schools. The local government settlement is a good one, but one year's increase cannot negate over 10 years of austerity. While school budget allocations in most councils are yet to be finalised, the expectation is they will go up in line with council expenditure. This is different to the increase in council support from the Welsh Government. Whilst the Welsh Government payment is a major part of council income, it is augmented by council tax fees and charges. With the expectation of low council tax increases, low fee increases and low increases in charges, it means council expenditure will increase by less—quite often substantially less—than the amount of money that has been given by the Senedd to the council.

And looking at school budgets, the vast majority of school budget expenditure is staff costs, including teaching staff and support staff. School budgets are affected by pay awards, leading to an increase in salaries for staff and increased pension costs. Schools will also be affected by increasing energy costs. In one of the schools where I chair the governors, the gas and electric cost this year was slightly less than £15,000. The expectation is it'll be over £30,000 in the coming year. It's a medium-sized primary school. It's an increase of just under 2 per cent of the total school budget. While school budgets will appear to rise substantially, the pressures mentioned will mean that there will not be as much for additional support for pupils, and I think that's one of the things we're looking at: the money is going in to support pupils. Schools exist for pupils; they exist to help them attain the best they can.

I support reviewing the effectiveness of the statutory guidance on school uniform policy to ensure consistent affordability across Wales. A number of parents have contacted me regarding school uniform, and the need to buy from either expensive suppliers or via the school, as opposed to lower cost stores. Even when it's exactly the same colour, when it's exactly the same everything else, the school ask you to pay what can be substantially more. Yes, I paid it; I was a college lecturer, I could afford to pay it. There were others who had children in my daughter's class who weren't college lecturers, who weren't well paid, who had difficulty paying it.

Perhaps the Minister can explain to me, when schoolteachers refuse to teach pupils because they're wearing the wrong clothing—and in one case I dealt with, the wrong colour black—how the school is not breaking the law, and why the Welsh Government is not using PLASC to cut funding to schools who exclude pupils on grounds of uniform is something I would like to see addressed. Children are being penalised. The child doesn't decide. A nine, 10, 11, 12-year-old child does not decide what colour coat they wear; they don't decide what colour jumper they wear; in fact, they don't even decide at the age of eight or nine what colour clothes they have. That is done by their parents. Punishing children for the activities of their parents is morally wrong and should be stopped.

I'm sure the Member tabling the debate will join me in condemning Gwynedd Council and the decision by the strategic head of Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle who warned parents and carers in a letter that their children would not be given school meals if their debts were not cleared. Punishing children for the activities of their parents; that is wrong. The letter suggested pupils would not be fed if they were more than a penny in debt. Fortunately after the furore and Welsh Government intervention that threat was withdrawn. How can someone think not feeding children was a good idea?

How could one think that not feeding children was a good idea?

I obviously support free school meals to all children in state primary schools, and await the plan to extend to secondary schools. The increase in energy costs and food costs will have a devastating effect on children living in low-income families. It is inevitable that some children will be cold and hungry during the next year. Spending a night in a cold bedroom, not being adequately fed and having to do your homework in the same room as the rest of the family, who will be watching entertainment on the television or listening to music, will adversely affect attainment. Many just-managing families today will become not-managing as prices increase and wages do not keep pace. It's at times like this that the loss of Communities First is felt, and the ability it had to provide a place for children to meet and do their homework. We're living in difficult times; we must do all we can to ensure that children are not the ones paying the price.

Just a bit of personal experience, coming from a relatively poor family: you do not bring home the notes given to you about trips; you do not take home notes about the things that are happening in the school; you don't take home notes about musical instruments available to be taught. All it does is upset your parents because they don't have the ability to pay it. You do not go to school on the no-uniform days, because you don't want to ask your parents for a pound in order to not have to wear a uniform. That's what life is like. And that is what life shouldn't be like. I speak from personal experience on this; I don't want other children to go through it.

We've talked in this Chamber about education being an equaliser; with a great education, no matter your background, in theory, you can and will achieve whatever you set your mind to. Now, there's a lot to say on this statement, not least on the specific topic that we're debating today.

Schools are assumed to be places of equity, where the potential of all is nurtured equally. And I don't think anyone would argue that this isn't the intention of schools, but barriers still exist, especially for children from low-income families. We've already heard of the issues surrounding access to entitlements; it's one of the reasons I believe in the principle of universality. We've heard about the importance of free schools meals—something I can attest to as being a lifeline for many families. But there are other factors to consider. 

One of which is the provision of EMA—again, a provision that I know from personal experience is a lifeline for many, and something that I've campaigned on since my election to this place. It is time the Government reviewed EMA, specifically the amount that's paid to students and the process of applying. Currently, the amount paid to learners is the same amount now as it was when I was in receipt of it. It's the same amount now as it was when it was first introduced in 2004: £30 a week. This means that we haven't seen an increase in just shy of 20 years, so it hasn't accounted for inflation at all. And the Bevan Foundation estimates that we would need to increase the payment to £45 for it to be the same value as it was in the mid-2000s.

On the process of applying, as we know, EMA is means tested and, as my colleague Sioned Williams has already established, entitlement take-up problems persist, caused by complex forms and the difficulties of understanding the process of applying. In Bridgend College, for example, on average, there are between 700 and 800 full-time further education learners who claim EMA, but there are very clear concerns expressed by staff at Bridgend College that, in reality, there are many more students who need access. EMA is a lifeline for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 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, but they need that support to keep going. 

Another area that I'd like to touch upon in this debate is the issue of transport, and how parents are often confronted with a choice of cost over their child's safety. This choice is crystallised for me by the amount of correspondence I get on a regular basis from parents in the Llynfi valley. In Caerau, a community that has consistency ranked highly on the index of deprivation, and often is in the top five in Wales, there are pupils who face a walk of 45 minutes to an hour to get to school along busy roads and in all weathers. The reality for many working parents is that often they don't have the luxury of being able to prioritise lifts, especially if they're commuting and especially if money is tight. This leaves no choice: either rely on public transport, which can set households back £15 a week per child, or rely on that child to walk if public transport isn't affordable, or it may even be unavailable in some places. With fuel costs going up, this cost is likely to increase, which demonstrates how things like reviewing EMA would make all the difference. And finally, if I may, Dirprwy Lywydd, speaking from my own personal experiences of growing up, this support is vital.

The reality is, if you'd have told me when I was primary school that I would be in the Senedd giving speeches like this, my first reaction would have probably been, 'Why on earth would I be doing that? Politics is boring.' But, I would not have believed it either way. When I came into comp, when I was in chweched Llanhari, although I was interested in politics, I still wouldn't have believed that I'd be here now. But that support that had been given to me from a young age through free school meals, through EMA, I maintain is one of the reasons why I'm here right now.

But today, that support, although improving through universal free school meals, for example, is still lacking. That is something that sits at the forefront of my mind, not since being elected, but since I left school. Rather than pull the ladder up or ignore the fact it's becoming tattered with a couple of those steps snapped here and there, I want to strengthen it. I want to make it easier for those students from similar backgrounds to mine, those who are me when I was their age, to make it in life. But it starts with all of us here. And I hope that all of us can look back one day on our time here and say that we prioritised the right things—this being one of them.

So, to end, Dirprwy Lywydd, from Luke in the mid-2000s, who was a couple of stone lighter and didn't have a beard: thank you, wholeheartedly, for that support. But from me, now, in the present, we must prioritise tackling the cost of the school day. It will change the lives of children from low-income families for the better.

It's good to follow that contribution from Luke. Dirprwy Lywydd, we do face a crisis, as we all know, a crisis in the cost of living. And sadly, as we also all know, it's likely to get worse and considerably worse; the cost of food, of fuel, of energy and many other things, it's a tremendous strain on the household budgets of those least able to withstand the impact. And particularly, it impacts on families and single parents, so, those children in school from those families are facing a tremendous struggle.

One thing I'd like to concentrate on, Dirprwy Lywydd, is that wider education enrichment experience that comes from young people having a full opportunity to recognise, discover and develop their talents, whether it's sport and physical activity, whether it's culture, arts and music, as well as academic and vocational. All our young people should have a full opportunity to develop that range of talents, but sadly, as we all know, that simply isn't the case. And lots of our young people, thankfully, do get a very wide experience in that way, whether it's mum's taxi, dad's taxi, or, indeed, grandparents' taxi, they are taken around to various classes and groups and sometimes every day of the week, they're going to activities that are helping them to develop and grow. As well as developing the particular skills involved, they also benefit from the social experience, team working and so on, and it's wonderful to watch that process taking place.

But for those children particularly from the more deprived communities, the cost of those activities is a real difficulty and sometimes parents, for whatever reason, are not going to take them around and neither is anybody else in the family, to have that experience. And that's why I believe that community-focused schools are so very, very important, because if those enriching experiences, wider experiences are available in school, in the lunch time or at the end of school, then, very often, those children will have that experience, and it's the only way that they will have that experience. And if those schools are also linked with outside organisations to provide opportunities, that, again, may be the only way that those children will have those particular advantages.

So, with that sort of background, I'm very pleased that the Welsh Government is prioritising community-focused schools, but I think that the frustration remains that it's far from consistent across Wales; it's good in some schools within local authority areas, but perhaps not across the local authority area. Some local authorities are very good, but others are not so good, and we really need that to be a consistent quality offer that provides those wonderful opportunities for all of our children, the length and breadth of Wales. So, now that we have this cost-of-living crisis, which is bringing these matters into even starker relief because of the cost of the activities involved as well as the difficulties for some families in taking their children to groups and classes, I hope that we do see a renewed sense of urgency from Welsh Government, our local authorities and our schools now, Dirpwy Lywydd, to drive forward progress and make sure that absolutely every school in Wales is truly and properly community focused.

The school day can contain many stresses. I'm not just talking about maths tests or rushing to finish homework on the school steps, I'm talking about children who go to school hungry and can't afford a snack at morning break, children who feel dread going through the gates because they're worried that someone might notice that they're not wearing the right shoes or carrying the right bag, who feel ashamed when it comes to discussing school trips, because they know they'll never be able to join in. Because, Dirprwy Lywydd, as night follows day, the scourge of poverty follows children into the yard and into classrooms. It means they don't have the right kit for gym or flashy pencil cases in lessons, and that badge of difference that hangs over their heads leads all too easily to bullying.

Over 3,000 children took part in a report by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales in 2015 about bullying. The report, called 'Sam's Story', showed the perceived difference is identified by children themselves as key in driving bullying. And whilst that difference can be linked to appearance, ethnicity or disability, poverty plays a horribly prominent role. The report writers asked children to draw an imaginary character called Sam who's experiencing bullying. I'll show the Chamber one of those images. You'll see that Sam has holes in his clothes and the clothes look either old or unwashed. He is displaying stereotypical manifestations of poverty. The commissioner's 'A Charter for Change' report found that those who've experienced persistent poverty are more than three times as likely to fall out with friends most days, over twice as likely to be frequently bullied, more likely to play alone, less likely to have good friends, to be liked by other children and less likely to talk to their friends about their worries. Poverty isolates children. It locks them in this isolated experience of feeling set apart. And, Dirprwy Lywydd, there are specific ways about how schools are run that compound that isolation and that lead to bullying.

Let's talk again about school uniforms. As we've heard, too many schools have an exclusive supplier, which restricts choice and means that the price can be extortionate. Many schools, as we've heard, enforce uniform policy so strictly, they don't allow a cheaper alternative skirt or trouser that is the same colour, for example. That can embarrass children, which is why we're calling for a review into statutory guidance on school uniform policies. There is something horrid in the thought that children are walking around wearing their embarrassment, so that they can be taunted about it by others. And school trips and own-clothes days, as we've heard, can make children feel excluded and different too. Support from the pupil development grant varies across different schools, not all of them are making the most of being able to do subsidised trips, and that means that the poorest children again get left out. And when all of their friends spend break time and after school chatting about what they'll do on the trips, planning outfits, those who can't afford to go feel like school isn't a place where they belong. It's meant to be a leveller, where everyone has equal opportunity. The word for 'school' in Welsh means 'ladder', but for so many children, that ladder is kicked away before they've even had the chance to start to climb it.

Just to close, analysis by the Wales Governance Centre shows the situation will only get worse, as we've been hearing. The average household will see energy bills go up by £693 a year in April, an increase equivalent to 12 per cent of disposable income for Welsh households in the poorest decile. And this is before taking into account the fact that inflation is expected to reach a 30-year high of 7 per cent in the spring. What will be the most likely things to go, even for families not in dire straits? Things seen as little luxuries will drop away: sports kits, pocket money, music lessons, trips. But these shouldn't be luxuries. They're the things that can open doors and enrich children's lives and that mean that just because you've come from a poorer background, your life can be every bit as glorious and joyful as those of your peers. I really hope that this debate will lead to change, because every child should feel able to be welcome and happy in school.

I call on the Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. May I begin by thanking Plaid Cymru for putting forward this motion today? The steps that have been outlined are ones that we as a Government are already taking. So, we are happy to support the motion moved by Sioned Williams as well as the amendment moved by Laura Jones.

We know that poverty can undermine the ability of children to learn, it can limit their opportunities in life, can prevent them from fully benefiting from education. As a Government, we are entirely committed to do our level best to get to grips with the impact of poverty on educational attainment. Our commitment in the co-operation agreement to extend the cohort receiving free school meals to include all primary school pupils is an important contribution in this regard. Our record in terms of providing free school meals to pupils in Wales is something that we are very proud of as a Government, and we've seen this as a vital component of ensuring high standards for everyone.

As part of the wider package of support to assist pupils who are struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis, we want to ensure that nutritious, healthy food is available to children and young people. An additional £21.4 million has been allocated in 2022-23 to help with the cost of school meals for eligible pupils during the Easter holiday, the summer half term and summer break this year. This is a measure in response to the pandemic and to the cost-of-living crisis. As being eligible for free school meals is the basis for a number of rights and to support offered nationally and locally, we are taking a number of steps to respond to the impact on these pupils as a result of the changes to the free school meal provision. But I want to be clear, Dirprwy Lywydd, that every child and young person who is eligible to receive other benefits at the moment, for example the PDG access, will continue to be eligible as they were under the previous arrangements, and this will be explained clearly to families so that they continue to receive the support that they have the right to receive to ensure that starting to provide free school meals to everyone will not have a negative impact on the pupils who'd have received additional support.

We acknowledge that the costs related to the school day, such as a school uniform, can, of course, be a financial burden. We are clear that school uniforms should be something that families should be able to afford.

In 2019, Dirprwy Lywydd, we became the first Government in the United Kingdom to make uniform guidance statutory to better support governing bodies in making their decisions on school uniform policies in respect of access, affordability and flexibility. We will continue to work with schools and governing bodies to ensure the guidance is effective in supporting affordability for families across Wales.

We agree that children and young people should not be disadvantaged by school meal debt. 

Would you ask schools just to set the colours that they want children to wear, rather than making it complicated?

I thank Mike Hedges for that suggestion. We are reviewing our guidance at the moment, and I'll make sure that point is fully taken into account in that review. I recognise the points he made in his contribution to the debate earlier on that subject.

We agree that children and young people should not be disadvantaged by school meal debt, and we have already taken action. In November, we wrote to all headteachers setting out our clear expectation that local authorities and schools should work in partnership with families when they're experiencing difficulties to find a solution to ensure that all children get a healthy lunch. Importantly, local authorities and schools were also reminded of their ability to use their discretion to implement variable pricing structures to better support children and families on low incomes who are not eligible for free school meals.

The PDG access grant is the most generous scheme of its sort in the UK, and I was glad to announce recently that the grant will now be available to every single school year group. Working with my colleague the finance and local government Minister, Members will have seen the written statement this week announcing an additional one-off payment of £100 per eligible people. The motion calls for improved signposting for the grant. We ran a successful, I think, national campaign to raise awareness of the scheme over the winter months to help families who may be new to benefits and not aware of the scheme. Local authorities also run their own communications campaigns to maximise take-up, and I remain committed to expanding on this good work.

The motion also calls for working today towards automatic registration. This is a goal I think we would all share. However, due to the interaction with the UK Government's tax and benefits system, this is complex and not something that is unfortunately able to happen immediately. But, as part of the income maximisation action plan, and working with local authorities, we've developed and published a best practice toolkit. This collates what works in helping to simplify and streamline the application process for devolved benefits, making them more accessible to people in need of this support. We will continue to work with local authorities to explore further ways to simplify and streamline the application process for Welsh benefits and identify options for increasing take-up.

We will continue to improve the awareness of Welsh benefits through delivering initiatives for both potential applicants and the front-line staff that support applicants, helping more people to access the support they're entitled to. We've published guidance for governing bodies on charging for school activities. The Education Act 1996 sets out the law regarding what charges can and cannot be made for activities. School trips linked to the curriculum are not chargeable. Welsh Government guidance on charging states that families in receipt of free school meals should not be charged for school trips. We'll provide continued support to schools on ensuring all trips and activities are inclusive.

Dirprwy Lywydd, these are just some of the actions we are taking in this area, alongside other wider initiatives, such as investment in the discretionary assistance fund and a further winter fuel support scheme, all to support families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. This Government has and always will put children and children's rights at the heart of everything it does, and I'd like to thank Plaid Cymru for the opportunity to consider these important issues in the Chamber today.

I call on Heledd Fychan to reply to the debate.

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Why are we here as Senedd Members if not to get this right? After all, politicians have been here before. I'm sure many of us remember that target of eradicating child poverty by 2020—something that was at the core of the 1997 election campaign for the Labour Government, and that was reinforced then by Tony Blair in 2002 and adopted also by this Senedd as a target. I remember in 2008, when I was working for a Welsh Government sponsored body, that that was a focus and priority of our work, and yet here we are, with a situation that is worsening. This is not about point scoring, but if we are to do anything in this Senedd term, then let's work together to ensure that these are not empty words and that they are repeated again in a decade, as the statistics continue to fail children, generation after generation.

I would like to thank everyone that contributed to the debate and shared some deeply personal stories as well. I think it's very easy sometimes for people to look at us as elected representatives and assume that we have a certain background. So, thank you, Luke, and Mike as well, for sharing your own personal experiences, because it is important that this Senedd also reflects the diversity of Wales, and we know that people are not able to have that fair start in life and have equity of access to all the opportunities at present.

Sioned Williams, in her opening remarks—. It was very emotional listening to the things that you were saying. I think one of the things that resonated with me was the key one—that the reason is never within the control of the child, and yet, too often, the repeated instances we had throughout this debate were about making that child feel that responsibility. Mike, when you spoke about not taking those notes in, of not putting your parents in that position—. Because often it's perceived as poverty being a choice or that people are at blame, but they're not, and I think we need to be realistic here about the fact that it is a political choice. We do have levers. I know we're frustrated here in Wales at times that we don't have all the levers to change this, but we can change things if we are determined to make those changes.

In terms of Laura Anne Jones's contribution—a reference again that a cost-of-living crisis in other countries exists. That may be the case, but we have amongst the worst child poverty rates in Europe, and I think just to say that there's a cost-of-living crisis elsewhere doesn't make right the fact that it exists here, and I think we need to do everything within our power, not just accept that there is a cost-of-living crisis, but accept responsibility for political decisions that lead to that. Because, after all, we have the statistics, we know the impact of not having that £20-a-week uplift maintained, and I think we need to be clear as well that even if that had been maintained, it doesn't mean that people wouldn't be living in a crisis. It would have made things a bit better, as it did during the pandemic, but it wouldn't have solved people from getting into debt, or from child poverty worsening, but not having it is making the situation even worse. So, we do need to be clear here, just because other countries may have a cost-of-living crisis does not negate the fact that there is a responsibility on the UK Government, and there are things we could change. The fact that the universal credit is not rising in line with inflation even—those are political decisions.

In terms of the inconsistency, that's something that's come through clearly in the debate—the inconsistency in terms of costs, in terms of how the guidance is implemented by schools. And I think, Mike, you mentioned in terms of it being morally wrong to shame any child. Of course it is, and it's incomprehensible that anybody would think that is acceptable. But yet, it is happening, time and time again. And I would like to echo the calls of my colleague Luke Fletcher in terms of the EMA—the fact that it hasn't changed since 2004. And yet, you ask anybody, transport costs have increased, the cost of textbooks—everything has increased, and I think that is something we need to look into as a matter of urgency. I think the fact that you're able to say, Luke, in terms of that impact personally there—it's right, we do need to think about making that opportunity available for everybody.

John Griffiths mentioned the cost of activities and experiences, and the fact of community-focused schools, and also mentioning the inconsistency across Wales and even within local authorities in terms of that equity of access to participation. And, Delyth, incredibly moving to have that portrait of Sam showing stereotypical manifestations of poverty. That's just heartbreaking, and the fact if that doesn't move us into acting together on this, what will? Because you're right, we need to ensure that everybody has that equity of opportunity and people aren't made to feel different. I remember my own school, seeing some of my friends being in a separate line for lunch because of having free schools, and immediately, the fact that that still can happen now, that differentiation, is just despicable.

In terms of the Government response, I am grateful to the Minister for outlining the support of the Government on this. Obviously, we do have a number of things in the co-operation agreement between both Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government that will make a real difference, including free-school-meal provision. But as I mentioned right at the beginning, if we are serious about eradicating child poverty and giving everybody a fair start in life, it does require each of us committing to that. Empty words have been said before. We are a new Senedd here, there's a renewed commitment. Let's take that responsibility, let's make sure that we're not saying the same thing in a decade and letting down another generation of children. Diolch.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? No. Therefore, the motion is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

That changes my pattern.