Due to the rapid rise in inflation, Dirprwy Lywydd, we know that, overall, our budget will be worth around £4 billion less over this three-year period than previously thought. Effectively, this is a cut to our budget. Without any additional funding from the UK Government or cuts to our existing programme for government and co-operation agreement commitments, maintaining EMA is where our ambition will have to rest for now. Despite our limitations in increasing the rate of EMA we have expanded the eligible cohort to include some of the most vulnerable young people in Wales. This includes those impacted by Brexit, family members of those with protected immigration status, and, more recently, the expansion to include young people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

All young people can apply for EMA at any point in the academic year, and where their family circumstances change, resulting in a drop in income, we encourage young people to apply for EMA with a current-year income assessment. Our schools and colleges work closely with their learners to ensure that they are receiving the support they are entitled to. Young people in receipt of EMA can also access a range of additional support. Schools and colleges can often loan ICT equipment and learning resources, removing the need for their EMA to be spent on essential course items. They may also be able to get free or subsidised transport during their course from their local authority. Over £6 million has been provided to further education institutes, y Ganolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the Open University in Wales for the academic year 2022-23 for the financial contingency fund. The fund aims to ensure that learners across Wales, including those in receipt of EMA, are not inhibited by financial constraints. For example, eligible learners can receive additional money towards course fees, course materials, childcare costs, food and other study-related items. For the academic year 2022-23, access to the FCF has been extended to include asylum seekers and any learner eligible under the post-16 funding eligibility for mainstream funding.

More broadly, all schools and further education institutions in Wales have been provided with funding to ensure learners have access to free period products and free meals during college holidays, a combined package of support worth over £1.5 million. Laying the foundation for post-compulsory education starts at the foundation phase, and we provide a wide range of support for learners as they progress through school. As per the co-operation agreement, £35 million of new capital funding has been provided to local authorities to invest in improvements to school catering facilities and £200 million has been committed for the day-to-day provision over the next three years to roll out free school meals in all Welsh primary schools.

To conclude, Dirprwy Lywydd, while we remain restricted in our ability to uplift the rate of EMA, as a Government we continue to respond to the current crisis with wide-reaching programmes of household support that seek to help our young people and their families on low incomes. We will continue to use every single lever available to us to support our young people and to ensure that money is never a barrier to accessing education.