Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 25 October 2022.
Diolch, Brif Weinidog. The latest research by the Bevan Foundation revealed that the number of people in households with one or two children who are having to cut back on food has nearly doubled since this time last year, with one in 10 families with one child, and one in five families with two children cutting back on food for children. So, that staggering number of 6,300 children who've been recorded as living in poverty in my home county of Neath Port Talbot, in the region I represent, has surely risen even higher over past weeks as everyday costs have soared. And we know this poverty causes health inequalities in our communities, something that 114 members of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have highlighted in their recent open letter to you, which warns that Wales lacks a focused and prominent strategy, setting specific targets to reduce child poverty and unequal health outcomes. Plaid Cymru have announced a people's plan which would make the pay packet go further, extend free school meals in secondary schools and increase education maintenance allowance. Brif Weinidog, will you heed the words of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and will you work with Plaid Cymru to protect Welsh children from poverty?