The next item, therefore, is the statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language, an update on free school meals. I call on the Minister to make his statement—Jeremy Miles.

Thank you, Llywydd. I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge yesterday's events and to pass on my deepest sympathy to the royal family.

Our programme for government is clear: we will maximise fairness for all and eliminate inequality at every level of society. Wales will be a country where nobody is held back and nobody is left behind. Within education, our ambition to help realise these aims has been evident, prioritising approaches that will lessen the inequalities created through socioeconomic disadvantage, and ensuring that all learners have the very best chances of success.

These ambitions have been no less prominent in our planning and in the speed of implementation of our commitment as part of our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru to deliver free school meals to all primary school pupils across Wales. We have committed to making sure that no child goes hungry in school. We announced our shared ambition in November and, in less than nine months, we have begun delivering for some of our youngest pupils across Wales.

But, Llywydd, this has been no small challenge. It has involved infrastructure audits of more than 1,000 schools across Wales and a capital investment of £60 million into school kitchens and dining facilities—a £25 million up-front investment supported by a further £35 million recently announced. It means that an additional 45,000 pupils are now eligible for a meal at lunchtime in their school, and by April next year, that figure will increase to 66,000. By the end of the roll-out, our £200 million investment will ensure that an additional 186,000 pupils across Wales will benefit from the offer of a nutritious meal while they are at school.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our local authority colleagues, as well as schools across Wales, for working with us to achieve this first milestone. It has taken significant partnership working and a team Wales approach, which is already benefiting thousands of pupils and immediately putting money back into their families' pockets.

We've worked at pace to develop an evidence-based initial unit rate per meal, which has allowed us to issue funding allocations to local authorities to begin delivery of universal provision. I have agreed that a review of the unit rate should be carried out using data on both fixed and variable costs provided by local authorities in order to develop a deeper understanding of real costs and, possibly, refine the unit rate for future years. That review is starting now.

We've also worked to ensure that our own policies, programmes of work and funding streams that rely on traditional free school meal eligibility as an indicator continue to work effectively. Over the summer, a national campaign has begun to promote free school meals, to encourage registration of pupils and, crucially, to make families aware of the additional wider support that we are making available to help them through the cost-of-living rises.

The vast majority of local authorities have confirmed that they are able to deliver to years 1 and 2, as well as reception, by April 2023. Eight authorities are already delivering to all of those year groups. A small number of authorities are yet to commit to that date, and we are working with them to overcome infrastructure challenges and to secure a firm commitment to the date from them. We will then publish roll-out plans across all local authorities for the first year of delivery. From September 2023, we will extend free school meals to all other primary school years. We don't want to hold anyone back, and I look forward to updating Members on our future roll-out plans.

Equity, well-being, and progression are at the heart of our strategic approach. Expanding our offer to all primary school children helps tackle the stigma that still is sometimes unfortunately associated with targeted support. It helps families who previously weren't eligible for free school meals but still struggle to make ends meet, and it levels the playing field for all primary children to sit together and enjoy the same meal, promoting their right to food and to education.

A nutritious school meal for all primary pupils is just the start. We are setting the scene to change the way that we eat in Wales, transforming school food culture and changing consumption habits. By creating an opportunity for all primary children to share and enjoy a meal together, we hope to reap the benefits of our investment in pupils' learning, in their social skills and in their longer term health. We know that our universal approach here is warranted. And we also now turn our focus to how we better use our levers to drive public procurement to support local food production and distribution, to benefit local economies and to better connect learners with the origins of the food that they eat. Our conditions of grant funding to local authorities for delivery of universal provision and our significant investment is providing a catalyst for this work to begin in earnest.

Finally, Dirprwy Lywydd, I wanted to update Members on our free school meal provision during school holiday periods. We should not forget that Wales has led the way in the UK throughout the pandemic in our delivery of food provision to those eligible for free school meals during school holiday periods. This has been supported by an investment of over £100 million to date. Our school holiday free school meal provision was due to finish at the end of the summer holidays this year. But working with our co-operation agreement partners, Plaid Cymru, in light of the increasing cost of living and the pressure that this is already putting on family budgets, today, I am pleased to confirm that, together, we've now been able to allocate funding to extend holiday food provision for pupils traditionally eligible for a free school meal until the end of the February half term next year. This means a further investment of £11 million to support some of our most disadvantaged learners. 

I will continue to keep Members of the Senedd up to date, Dirprwy Lywydd, on the progress of the roll-out of our primary free school meals commitment.

Thank you for your statement, Minister. I have three simple questions I'd like answers to. Minister, I understand and appreciate that new extra moneys have been made available to upgrade and expand kitchens, but the timing of the moneys given was of some concern to me. I was just wondering whether all the upgrades in our schools have been able to be made in time for the new term that has already begun, ensuring that schools do have the ability to deliver the increased number of those free school meals to all those who qualify. Is that the case, Minister?

And Minister, free school meals have historically been used as an easy marker to determine and identify those most in need. What is that replacement going to look like? How are you going to identify those children going forward? How will you ensure that no child is now going to slip through the cracks because of that change in identification?

Finally, Minister, how are you going to look to monitor the roll-out? I welcome this expansion, and I welcome that you recognise that this expansion of free school meals presents us with an opportunity to improve our school meals and to help local communities across Wales by ensuring that the produce is sourced locally where possible, and is as healthy as possible. In your statement, you say 'nutritious' meals twice, and you say that you want to change eating habits, all of which are very welcome, and I completely concur with you. But how exactly are you guaranteeing that, Minister? What work has already been done? And couldn't this have been done a lot sooner, because we've known about the roll-out of free school meals for some time now? Thank you.

I thank Laura Anne Jones for those three questions, and for her support for the policy. In relation to the first question on capital investment, she'll have heard me say that there has been a significant programme of investment in infrastructure upgrades. A lot of that has happened over the course of the summer, and the overall budget committed to that has now been increased to £60 million. The entirety of that work was never envisaged to take place over the summer; some of it will be taking place in advance of the April target date as well, so it'll be scheduled in that way. And there will, of course, be work that is done over next year's summer break as well in preparation for the roll-out in the second year of the programme. 

The work that was done over the summer has meant that most schools in Wales are now delivering; the overwhelming majority are delivering to reception school children, and she will have heard me say that many are also delivering to years 1 and 2 already in advance of the April deadline. There are a small number of schools where the works, for example, for their kitchen upgrades, haven't been completed. In those very small numbers of schools, there is a short-term interim arrangement in place for cold food, but high-quality, nutritious cold food, to be provided on a temporary basis, and parents of children in those schools have been notified of that. But there is, as I say, an ongoing programme of work that will continue into the second of these two years in any event. 

On the question of nutritious food, I think this is a really important opportunity for us as part of this roll-out, and, as I was saying in the statement, to connect children to the source and origins of their food. That fundamental insight is so important. It's also really important, by the way, as part of their broader learning as part of the school curriculum, and there are many schools in Wales that are already looking at how this offer can be used as part of their broader curriculum offer, which I absolutely welcome.

She will, I think, probably know that I've already announced our intention to undertake a review of the Healthy Eating in Schools (Nutritional Standards and Requirements) (Wales) Regulations 2013, and I'll be saying more about that shortly to Members. But what we have done in the interim, if you like, is to attach to the terms and conditions for the grant funding to local authority partners a set of interim requirements, pending that broader piece of work, which, again, requires—as you will not be surprised to hear—compliance with those regulations, but also local procurement and maximising, if you like, the opportunity for Welsh produce to appear on menus. So, that's already part of the arrangements currently in place, but there is a lot more that we want to do and a lot more that can be done. That work is under way. There are several work streams within the Government on food supply, on procurement, on the role of the foundational economy in this together with, as I was mentioning, the intended review of the healthy eating regulations. So, I hope to come back and talk further about that as this unfolds, but I do want to be very clear: I regard this as an important part of the offer. 

And finally, she mentioned how will we keep an eye, if you like, on the roll-out. There are very clear target dates in the roll-out both for the first and second year. The vast majority of schools will be able to meet those dates; some, as you know, are already ahead of them. Where there are challenges—and there is a small number of authorities that are not yet able to say to us that they are confident that they can make sure that all of their schools can deliver to years 1 and 2 in April—we are working with those on the very specific challenges that they have. Sometimes, it's about infrastructure and capital works. Sometimes, there are other reasons, but we're working with them and we're confident that we'll be able to resolve those questions, and then I'll be able to publish the overall timetable for each school. But I want to give them the opportunity of committing to that timetable in advance. 

Thank you, Minister, for today's statement, it's a very important update. Without a shadow of a doubt, it demonstrates the value of co-operation between our parties when we can achieve a policy of this kind in just a few months, and make an immediate difference to the pupils in receipt of free school meals and their families. Achieving this was a priority for us as a group and a party in our manifesto for the Senedd elections in 2021. And when discussions on co-operation began, we were determined to see this policy at the heart of the discussions, and it's good to see that the policy isn't just a paper exercise, but is now being actioned. 

After all, providing free school meals is one of the most important steps that we can take to tackle child poverty and hunger in Wales, by ensuring that children receive a nutritious meal free of charge as part of the school day, and that this should be extended, as you've mentioned, to include the holidays too.

While the new UK Prime Minister continues to prioritise putting more money in the pockets of big business and the wealthiest in society, it shows clearly that our priorities are different in this Senedd and that we are ready to co-operate here to tackle the crisis.

This policy could make the difference between a child going to bed hungry or not. That is how important it is. And today, I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks to those working in local authorities across Wales, as the Minister did, namely the catering staff, those who distribute and co-ordinate this provision, and recognise how important it is that we get this right for our children. Free school meals are a step towards improving people’s lives and making our communities fairer and more equal. For us, as a party, this is a first step towards provision for all age groups, and, even though the agreement covers only free school meals in primary schools, we continue to be of the opinion that this should also be extended to secondary schools. This is something that we will continue to prioritise until we have comprehensive national provision that extends to secondary schools.

Despite the good news that the provision of free school meals has now begun, as you've mentioned, there are some councils that haven't quite reached the target, such as Cardiff and Swansea; they've fallen behind. So, what additional support will be provided to those councils? Laura Anne Jones has also mentioned, of course, and you've responded in terms of nutritious food, and it's good to see the emphasis that you have placed in the statement and your response on nutritious food. Could we have further updates so that we can understand what the benchmark is across Wales at the moment—you say that you you've talked about procurement and so on—so that we can monitor progress on that particular issue? Because it is vitally important in terms of local economies as well to ensure that there is more distribution and production of local food as part of our climate crisis agenda and so on, not to mention local growth of food and supporting local businesses. That is very important.

And finally, I'd like to ask what work is being done to review the eligibility framework for free school meals to cover a wider range of children and young people? As the Welsh Government’s child poverty review found, not all of those who need free school meals receive them. Is it not vital that we broaden the eligibility criteria for free school meals as a matter of urgency, as a result of the cost-of-living crisis? Thank you.

I thank Heledd Fychan for those questions. This does demonstrate the benefits of co-operation. This is one element of policy where both parties had a shared priority and could reach agreement on this in the co-operation agreement that we have. And I also agree that this is a first step; we all want to see the policy extended as best we can. It's not fair to say that some authorities are falling behind. I mentioned two or three authorities who, today, cannot fully commit to the target in April, but I wouldn't describe that as falling behind; we have six months before we get to that point. There are two schools that I'm aware of who are providing cold nutritious and healthy food on a temporary basis, but that description of falling behind isn't necessarily fair. The target has been reached and pupils are receiving meals as we had expected.

In terms of the work that's ongoing in order to ensure that we look at the support and that that support is appropriate, that's been ongoing for some time. We're also working now to ensure that the eligibility criteria that have been used to date for all sorts of support that Government provides, that those will be impacted by the fact that you don't have to prove that you are eligible for free school meals in primary schools at the moment. And our work is ongoing with partners in developing new descriptions of that, so that we ensure, as Laura Anne Jones mentioned in her question, that nobody who's already benefiting from that misses out in future. One of the things that we are keen to ensure, as we extend the right to free school meals, is that we write to parents to remind them that, although they don't now have to be eligible for a free school meal, there is also a range of other things available for school pupils, and it's important that they apply for those too—school uniform, for example. 

But you will have heard the First Minister say earlier today that we're looking for all possible opportunities to ensure that any contact with the public sector does remind people that they have rights to benefits and other means of support, to ensure that they can take advantage of the broadest range of support available to them at a difficult time.

Free school meals for all primary school children will be known as a historic policy in this Chamber. This policy acknowledges that, despite the differences in background, when pupils enter the school gates they will be provided with equal access to food. Providing school meals prevents children from becoming collateral damage in an ever-changing economic situation that is completely out of their control.

So, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Bridgend County Borough Council catering services staff for their exemplary commitment to provide nutritious meals for our children during the pandemic. And I know that they are dedicated and they set themselves very high standards to deliver on the Welsh Government free school meals roll-out.

However, as you've mentioned, Minister, with any policy change, there are logistics and systems that need to be put in place and often come with complex challenges. As you said, it's not that they've fallen behind; it's just that Bridgend County Borough Council have done a thorough assessment, and there are five—just five—schools at the moment that just simply do not have the infrastructure in place to be able to roll this out immediately and in time with everybody else, even though they're working extremely hard. They have fully co-operated with the Welsh Government assessment process, and they realise now it's just five, and they think that probably kitchen pods would be the best solution to that. 

So, I know you've already mentioned this, Minister, but just, really, to ask you if there is any idea in terms of timeline and guidance around when that funding will be given, because, obviously, we all want to make sure that children are having quality and quantity. The meals that need to be made at—. Sorry. So many people need more meals now, so it's just about making sure that everybody gets equal and good nutritious warm food, especially over the winter. 

[Inaudible.]—that Sarah Murphy raises, Dirprwy Lywydd. And the question with which any Government in this situation wrestles, really, is, given the scale of the cost-of-living challenge that families are facing, there is a high premium on rolling out as much as possible across the system as quickly as possible. And that, at the end of the day, was the judgment that we reached, and, obviously, in agreement with Plaid Cymru. Does that mean that there aren't a small number of schools that aren't able to offer that full hot meal provision to all their reception—? So, there are, as I was saying, a handful of schools in that position. The funding, both the £25 million and the £35 million, has been allocated, so authorities know what it is from that pot of money—and they've known for some weeks—what it is from that pot of money that they are going to be able to draw on. So, that then supports them to do the work they need in order to be able to deliver the broader commitment.

I also wanted to be sure that no child currently having free school meals under the current—or the previous at this point—eligibility criteria would be any worse off as a consequence of rolling out the new extended arrangement. That was a very key principle for us at the heart of this. 

But I just want to reiterate, really, the extraordinary effort that all local authorities in Wales have made to deliver on what has been a really punishing time frame in all honesty, against a number of other very important priorities and commitments that we would all want them to be focused on as well. And to be able to be in this position after only nine months, I think—. I can't remember the exact period, but, when Scotland introduced equivalent arrangements, I think it was probably twice as long as that. So, to be able to be at this point in time over that short period I think is a real testament to the level of collaboration and commitment, actually, in all authorities to making a success of this policy. 

For me, knowing now, especially now given the cost-of-living crisis, that free school meals will be universal in primary schools is a moment of reflection, a moment to remember my own experiences in school, and a moment to remember as well the long battle to get to this point in the first place. I am proud that Plaid Cymru has never given up on this policy.

Looking at the current situation, we've heard from a number of colleagues today—Heledd Fychan, Laura Anne Jones, Sarah Murphy—that a number of councils are struggling to roll out free school meals and don't believe they'll meet the deadline the Welsh Government has set. Of course, this is a mammoth task and I'm very sympathetic with this. Looking close to home, Bridgend is one of those councils; the responsible cabinet member saying that some schools don't have the facilities. So, I think it's important the Welsh Government supports those councils as much as possible. I was wondering if the Minister could outline what support the Welsh Government has provided to councils like Bridgend so far, and what conversations has he had specifically with Bridgend County Borough Council. Within the county, we have some of the most deprived communities not just in Wales but in all of the UK, and it's important that we work to ensure that the council rolls out free school meals as soon as possible, and that they are fully supported by Welsh Government in doing so.

Sorry, I just want to be clear: authorities are not struggling to deliver on this policy. They've worked incredibly hard to make sure—

I'm not denying that at all.

They've worked incredibly hard to make sure that as many young people as possible are able to benefit from this policy, in accordance with a very, very short time frame, and that applies to all authorities in Wales. As I say, where there are a small number of schools that need still to make some infrastructure changes, they are complying with the policy in a different way: so, for example, providing the cold meals, as I was saying earlier, as an interim step to facilitate the roll-out of the broader programme, but that is in a way that is communicated to parents.

There are a number of authorities who are saying to us, 'We aren't yet able to commit to that further roll-out of years 1 and 2 in April', which is six months away from where we are now. We are working with those authorities to be able to—you know, where they have particular infrastructure challenges, to work with them to be able to solve those, so that we can get them to a position where they can also make that commitment. It's not a blanket position; it's particular schools in particular, in a very small number of authorities. But, as he will know, the judgment that you have to grapple with in this position is: do you only roll out when every authority can commit to every single school from day 1? Or, given the scale of the challenge, which I know the Member obviously recognises, I think the better judgment in this case is to make sure that the vast majority of children are getting it today, and to work over the interim period with other authorities to make sure that those targets are met as well, which is what we're all doing.

And finally, Rhianon Passmore.

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I very much welcome the statement from the Welsh Labour Government's education Cabinet member, and the further new additional investment for the extended school holiday period, so thank you very much. It is good news that the Welsh Labour Government is delivering on its programme for government in maximising fairness for all and eliminating inequality, and it is a sign of the Welsh Labour Government's ambitious plans that £35 million of new capital funding will support the roll-out of the scheme, in addition to the £25 million of capital funding previously allocated and a commitment of £200 million of revenue funding over the next few years. Also, I know from speaking directly to schools and pupils, parents and children across Islwyn, that these measures from the Welsh Labour Government are welcomed and greatly appreciated in these very dark times. I also welcome hugely the work of the WLGA in delivering, once again, real change on the ground. The Tory cost-of-living crisis, we know, will result in severe and negative consequences for the poorest communities in Wales. This is wrong, and it is not the role of any UK Government to harm and hurt its most vulnerable. Our Welsh Labour First Minister stated—

Can you ask the question now, please?

Thank you. Yes, I will. No children should go hungry. Minister, what assessment has the Welsh Labour Government made of the positive impact that the delivery of a nutritious school meal for all primary school pupils in Islwyn will have on educational outcomes and the well-being of Wales's youngest children? Thank you.

I thank Rhianon Passmore for that important question. I think there'll be a number of positive consequences in the lives of these young learners and their families. The first, immediate effect will be to contribute to alleviating, to some extent, aspects of the cost-of-living pressures that families are under. If you like, I think a longer term benefit will be both to be able to transform the role of food in our schools in terms of healthy eating but also in terms of the understanding of young people about food—the origins of food and nutrition and so on. And I think it will have the effect of raising the profile of healthy eating in schools more generally, but also it increases the range of food that pupils eat and it'll also have well-being benefits for individual learners, which will lead to educational improvement. And I think one of the key benefits of this universal policy, which we've heard a number of speakers raise already, is eliminating the stigma that often is attached to free school meals. And many people in the Chamber have spoken about that passionately from their own experience, and I think, given the pressures that families are under, as much as we can do to eliminate that stigma I think is really very, very important. 

Thank you, Minister. That brings today's proceedings to a close. 

The meeting ended at 18:00.