6. How is the Welsh Government supporting parents of primary school pupils in Islwyn with the cost of the school day? OQ58190

Well, Llywydd, in addition to free breakfasts, extra help through the pupil development grant access scheme and now free school dinners, parents in Islwyn will be supported through the National Music Service, helping with the costs of instruments and tuition. Those parents will know how much this is due to the sustained campaigning of their Senedd Member.

Thank you for that, First Minister. I am proud, however, that our Welsh Labour Government has rightly committed to delivering free school meals to all primary school children in Wales. A recent letter to the UK Government from teaching unions set out the benefits provided by free school meals, and it said:

'Every school day we see the benefits free school meals provide to those currently entitled. For many it is the only hot, nutritious meal they have in a day. A quality school meal helps improve children's concentration and behaviour during lessons. We witness, first-hand, the effect they can have on improving school attendance, on children's health, and academic performance.'

Locally, in my own constituency, Caerphilly's Labour council have been rightly praised for how they responded throughout the pandemic with their delivery of decent, healthy free school meals. But sadly, the cost-of-living crisis is putting more and more strain on families' budgets. While in Wales, our Labour Government is taking actions that will support families in places like Islwyn, the Tory UK Government, however, refuses to expand free school meal provision in England. So, First Minister, can you provide an update on the progress that is being made to deliver universal free school meals to primary-age children in Wales, and how else will the Welsh Government support parents in Islwyn with school costs through this cost-of-living crisis? Thank you.

Llywydd, I'm very pleased to provide an update on the £225 million that, as a result of the co-operation agreement, we will be investing in providing universal free school meals to primary-age students. The first of those schools will come on stream in September of this year, and then a lot of work is going on with other schools to make sure that the barriers to their participation—and they're often physical barriers: canteen kitchen facilities, and so on—that we are able to use the capital that we've also put aside for this programme to help to bring them on stream as well. When we're able to have universal free school meals in the Caerphilly local authority area, an additional 10,700 pupils will benefit from this development. And I'm very pleased indeed to be able to pay tribute to the work of the local authority in making that happen as quickly as we are able.

We will go on, though, as the Member for Islwyn has said, Llywydd, in doing other things that will help with the cost of the school day. The additional money that my colleague Jeremy Miles announced earlier in the year for the pupil development grant access fund this year, the fact that we will be providing free school meals during the summer holidays, and that we will go on expanding the services that we are providing in terms of early years education and childcare provision, all of which leaves money in the pockets of those families who otherwise would be having to fund those services for themselves. That strategy, which has been pursued by successive Governments here in the Senedd—the social wage, as it's known—means that collective provision reaches deepest into the lives of those people who need that help the most, and that is a strategy that we will continue to pursue through the rest of this Senedd term.