Poverty

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 5 October 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 1:36, 5 October 2022

Thank you very much, Peredur. Of course, that report by the former equality and local government committee was an important report, with recommendations that we agreed to take forward. And I hope that you were able to see the report that was produced, which we commissioned—it's a review from the Wales Centre for Public Policy—to understand the best levers and means that we have to address poverty in Wales, clearly, as so many of the tax and benefits policies, which have such an impact on poverty, are so key. The report was actually published last week, and I hope you will have seen that. And I think what was interesting about the report is that it had four key areas that we are focusing on and mobilising a Wales-wide response in terms of tackling poverty. And the first one is reducing costs and maximising income. Now, I won't go into all of the responses in that report, because it looked at evidence from across the world—it included the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, the London School of Economics, the New Policy Institute—to ensure that we can, with our powers and levers, make the right decisions in tackling poverty in Wales. But I do believe that the focus at the moment is on the cost-of-living payments and what we're going to do in terms of, as you say, the assault on the poorest people in Wales as a result of the UK Government's most recent so-called mini budget.