2. What action is the Welsh Government taking to tackle food poverty in Blaenau Gwent? OQ58183

Llywydd, I thank Alun Davies for that question. Sustained investment in community food projects, including foodbanks, together with schemes to alleviate holiday hunger, are amongst the actions being taken in Blaenau Gwent. As an area with high levels of in-work poverty, it will be at the forefront of our commitment to free school meals for all primary-aged pupils.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for that response. I think people across Blaenau Gwent and elsewhere are very grateful that they've got a Welsh Government that stands up for them. I'm aware that it was a visit to Blaenau Gwent that prompted the First Minister's thinking on issues around fuel poverty as well. But we are also aware that the Tory-created cost-of-living crisis is having a real impact—[Interruption.] Well, the Tories laugh about it, but they always laugh at poverty— 

We see them smirk. 

—and they always laugh when people are suffering.

We see them smirking.  

And that is why—and that is why—they're sitting where they're sitting, and they will continue to sit where they're sitting. It is important—it is important, it is important—First Minister, that the people of Blaenau Gwent have a Government that stands with them and by their side. Can you outline to us this afternoon how the Welsh Government will continue to support people who are being affected by this cost-of-living crisis? 

Well, I thank Alun Davies for that question, Llywydd. It was a pleasure to visit with him, back in April, the Star Centre at the old Sirhowy infants school in Tredegar and to see the fantastic work that was being done as a distribution centre for food in the pandemic generally and now to focus upon those whose needs are the greatest. But the Member is right, Llywydd, that it was a visit to Ebbw Vale by my colleague Jane Hutt, back on 13 May, that has led, within four weeks, to the Welsh Government being able to fund and organise a national fuel bank scheme, and I congratulate those people in Ebbw Vale who have been pioneers in this. And, as a result of their work, we'll now be in a position to provide that help right across our nation. That extra help will be targeted towards people with prepayment meters and households not connected to mains gas.

Standing charges, Llywydd, I think are one of the scandals of the energy industry, and particularly so for people on prepayment meters. When you run out of credit and you're unable to heat your home, that standing charge continues to rack up day after day. So, when you are able to find money to top up the meter again, you find that a significant part of what you've been able to draw together has already been spent. And we know that standing charges in north Wales are the highest in the whole of the United Kingdom, and are at the top end of that distribution in south Wales as well. That's why the scheme, unveiled by my colleague Jane Hutt, with nearly £4 million-worth of investment, and now working with the Fuel Bank Foundation, will allow us to provide emergency help for people who are at the very sharpest end of the fuel crisis, and is a very practical demonstration of the point that Alun Davies made—that here in Wales there is a Government determined to go on looking all the time for those practical ways in which we can make a difference in those people's lives.  

First Minister, the pandemic crisis has pushed many families in Blaenau Gwent and elsewhere into hardship and exposes the severity of the UK's food poverty problem, a problem that I cannot deny has been exacerbated by current increases in the cost of living. Last month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced a package of measures to help the most vulnerable people in Wales, including a one-off £650 payment to low-income households on universal credit, tax credits and legacy benefits, one-off payments of £300 to pensioner households, and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits. This new cost-of-living support package will mean that the most vulnerable households in Wales will receive over £1,000 of extra support this year. So, First Minister, will you join me in welcoming these measures, which deliver significant targeted support to those on low incomes, pensioners and disabled people—groups who are most vulnerable to the rising prices in Blaenau Gwent and throughout Wales? Thank you. 

Well, Llywydd, I'm glad for any help that goes to those people who are in the most difficult sets of circumstances. But let's be clear with the Member that the money going to people who rely on universal credit just about makes up for the cut of over £1,000 that was put into those households in September of last year. They're no better off now than they were then. The Chancellor simply restored what he decided they didn't need back in September. And this package, which is too little and too late, also is very badly targeted. The Member talked about the most vulnerable households. Does she know that, in Wales, if you have a second home, you will receive the Chancellor's £400 contribution to your fuel bill this winter? Does she think that that is a sensible use of public money, that we're putting £400 in the hands of people who can afford two homes when the people who can barely afford one home haven't got enough to manage on?