Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 21 September 2022.
Well, the Member will know that it's the Government's hope as well that we can do more in the area of free school meals, but the extension that the Member refers to in his question is one where we would need to make the kinds of cuts in other parts of our budget that the Member invites me to specify that schools should make in theirs. So, the challenge is very, very significant.
As well as having the commitment and the compassion for making the difference, we also have to find the resources for doing that, and that's the challenge that I'm sure he recognises that the Government here faces, in the absence of a commitment from the UK Government to make good, effectively, the cut in the Welsh Government's purchasing power through the funding that we already have. As I said earlier, the level of support that is required for public services to deal with energy costs—and that includes our education system—is the kind of level of support that we need the UK Government to step forward and provide to all parts of the UK.