The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Lesley Griffiths, and amendment 2 in the name of Darren Millar. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected.

Item 7 today is the Plaid Cymru debate on child poverty, and I call on Sioned Williams to move the motion. 

Motion NDM8165 Siân Gwenllian

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Regrets that child poverty rates in Wales are the highest in the UK.

2. Recognises that the current cost-of-living crisis is exacerbating recent trends which have seen child poverty rates increase in Wales, despite the Welsh Government’s pledge to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

3. Notes that the Welsh Government does not currently possess a strategy on tackling child poverty, despite repeated calls from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and other child poverty action groups for specific and urgent focus and action in this area.

4. Calls on the Welsh Government to develop a child poverty strategy, underpinned by statutory targets, as a matter of urgency.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Child poverty exists in every part of Wales. It not only exists, but it stains our communities, because child poverty causes serious and lifelong harm to the outcomes of those who are our nation’s future, and the longer a child remains in poverty, the more profound the harms will be.

How many times have we heard the shocking statistics that create those harms repeated in this place, in debate after debate, quoting report after report? But we must keep repeating them. We must give child poverty the absolute focus that it calls for, and retain that focus, and sharpen that focus, because the levels of child poverty that we're now seeing, exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, are so worrying. There isn’t a single council ward anywhere in Wales with a child poverty rate below 12 per cent. That’s over one in 10 children in every single ward. Think of that. Picture those children. And the levels are even higher, of course—much higher—in too many of our communities.

But we must also remember that this isn’t a new issue. And what is now being repeated—rather than just the statistics—by those who campaign against poverty, like the Child Poverty Action Group, who advocate for children and young people, like the children’s commissioner, who interrogate how the Welsh Government is responding to tackling poverty, like Audit Wales, and by us in Plaid Cymru, is that we need a new strategy to drive this most important work, a strategy with targets, to give better focus, co-ordination and to drive the work that needs to be done to eradicate child poverty.

This has been a long-standing call, many months before the cost-of-living crisis and energy crisis deepened even further these appalling levels of child poverty. It’s disappointing to see the Government’s amendment, which smacks, really, of political defensiveness. It really does miss the point of our motion, which is to echo these calls for a strategy with targets to make sure that we're doing the absolute best that we can, with the resources and powers that we have, to achieve the aim we all want to see—that no child in Wales suffers the harms of poverty.

Yes, there's been investment. But that’s why we need to measure its effectiveness against strategic targets, ensuring money is being spent where it's most needed, where it can have the most impact. We need better evaluation, better co-ordination of efforts, and avoidance of duplication or short-termism. Without it, there is inevitably a well-intentioned but scatter-gun approach, leading to instances like the 2018 baby bundles pilot scheme, delivered in partnership with Barnardo’s, which delivered positive outcomes and reduced stigma of new parents by creating a baseline and ensuring that every parent could provide the basics needed for a new-born baby. But this was not rolled out more widely. Barnardo’s, who also support calls for a new child poverty strategy, stated that, at a time of huge financial pressure on most households, this could have ensured that all new parents receive some tried-and-tested, effective support for their young families.

As for the mention in the Government amendment of its current child poverty strategy, let’s remember that we are talking about the one adopted over 10 years ago, revised in 2015, and which Audit Wales termed out of date. And of course, its central target—to eliminate child poverty by 2020—was dropped. So, an update report on a targetless, out-of-date strategy doesn’t really cut it, does it, especially when dealing with such a serious, devastating issue as child poverty.

That progress report arrived in our inboxes after 6 o'clock yesterday evening, accompanied by a written statement. Really? This should be at the forefront of Government business, and yet here we are, in the very last week of business before the recess, a last-minute report. No statement, no debate in Government time in the Chamber to herald what is at the centre of the Government’s amendment.

Turning to that report, it was very difficult to find any evaluation of actions laid out in the update—numbers assisted, impact on beneficiaries, outcomes achieved. Listing the actions and how much money has been spent isn’t sufficient. How do we know what difference has been made on the well-being and economic security of lower-income families with children in Wales? Has progress in any of these areas actually made a difference to overall child poverty rates?

There will be a refreshed strategy next year, but there’s no mention of targets, and, given the answer the Prif Weinidog gave yesterday to my colleague Peredur Owen Griffiths regarding the need for a child poverty strategy, I must say I’m slightly worried about that too, and the Government’s commitment to it. The Prif Weinidog said that he wanted his

'civil service colleagues and those we work with to be focused on...those practical actions that make a difference in the lives of Welsh citizens. Writing strategies is not something that is going to put food on anybody's table or help anybody to meet their fuel bills this winter.' 

No, I agree that writing strategies doesn’t feed hungry children or wash their clothes or keep them warm, but, as I said earlier, it’s essential to be able to focus, target, evaluate and drive work across Government.

Melanie Simmonds, head of Save the Children Cymru, recently wrote about coming across a Save the Children report published 15 years ago, around the time she joined the charity. It was called ‘Listen Up!’, and based on research conducted with 100 children and young people aged between five and 16 who lived in areas of high deprivation across Wales in 2007. ‘It sadly resonates’, she says,

‘with what we are hearing from children and families we work with today’.

The children who took part talked, she says,

‘about missing out on many aspects of childhood including social activities. They felt excluded and bullied because of the clothes they wore. They described the impact of poverty on children’s diets and how this could lead to poor health in later life. And they talked about how they instinctively knew when their parents felt sad because they couldn’t provide for their children.’

She then says:

‘Fast forward to 2022 and we’re hearing similar heart-breaking stories of children as young as seven being upset at school and telling their teacher that they heard their mum crying because there is only a tin of beans in the cupboard. We’re hearing from another mum left with just £50 to feed a family of four after paying her bills and not knowing what else she can cut back on.’

‘We have also heard of parents who have had to send their children to live with other family members over the school holidays because they can’t afford to feed them, and of children who missed out on trips to places such as Barry Island over the summer simply because the bus or train fare was out of reach.’

Children, she says, are paying the price for the cost-of-living crisis, which is unacceptable, and urgent action is needed. She goes on to ask what can be done. She rightly points out the duty of the UK Government to increase benefits, scrap the benefits cap, ensure wages keep up with costs. But she also calls on Welsh Government to present what she calls

‘key targets and milestones to provide an urgent, co-ordinated approach to tackling child poverty at a local and national level allowing public and third sectors to work together.’

Audit Wales in its recent report also notes

'there is currently no specific target for reducing poverty in Wales', recommending the Welsh Government 

'set SMART national actions;

'establish a suite of performance measures to judge

delivery and impact;

'sets target for alleviating and tackling poverty'.

The children’s commissioner is also unequivocal. She calls on Welsh Government to set ambitious targets to tackle child poverty. She says:

‘Without targets it's very difficult for me to do my job and hold the Welsh government to account and really see how well they are doing or how poorly we are doing.’

So, how would targets help? Writing about the argument for setting targets, Dr Steffan Evans of the Bevan Foundation says they would

‘provide the Welsh Government with an opportunity to develop a clear and coherent vision’, measure progress and also make scrutiny better. He, however, rightly also warns that successive Welsh Governments

‘have developed various child poverty strategies and set itself the target of ending child poverty by 2020’, but no significant progress was made. But lessons must and can be learned, says Dr Evans, which would lead to setting new targets that could have a real impact on poverty levels—targets that could reflect what is achievable with devolved competence, as this would allow the Welsh Government to be held to account for how effectively it’s implementing its own policies, and we would agree entirely with that.

Most importantly, he says

‘Too often in Wales we have fallen into the trap of setting aspirational targets or developing strategies and documents that set out well-meaning goals and values but with little detail as to how these will become reality. Any poverty targets should therefore be set alongside clear and focused commitments by the Welsh Government on the practical measures that it intends to adopt to meet them.’ 

This is crucial advice. This is what our motion is about. I look forward to hearing contributions. 

I have selected the two amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be deselected. I call on the Minister for Social Justice to move formally amendment 1, tabled in the name of Lesley Griffiths. 

Amendment 1—Lesley Griffiths

Delete all and replace with:

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the significant investment of the Welsh Government in tackling child poverty and that in line with its current child poverty strategy, the Welsh Government will this month publish its update report and will be publishing a refreshed strategy in 2023.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally. 

I call on Mark Isherwood to move amendment 2, tabled in the name of Darren Millar. 

Amendment 2—Darren Millar

Insert as new point 3 and renumber accordingly:

Welcomes the action being taken by the UK Government to help alleviate cost-of-living pressures faced by households in Wales.

Amendment 2 moved.

Diolch. We support the contents of this motion. Speaking here in 2019 in support of a motion calling on the Welsh Government to produce a tackling poverty strategy, budget and action plan, I noted the statement by the Children's Commissioner for Wales then that

'Welsh Government has a Child Poverty Strategy which outlines its long-term ambitions, but at the moment there’s no clear plan', and,

'Welsh Government should write a new Child Poverty Delivery Plan, focusing on concrete and measurable steps'.

I also quoted the finding by the Equality and Human Rights Commission that

'poverty and deprivation still remain higher in Wales than other British nations', and the statement by Oxfam Cymru,

'It’s not the case that anti-poverty strategies don’t work; it’s about how those strategies are targeted.' 

To be clear, child poverty in Wales has been rising since 2004, when I first raised this with the Welsh Government. It had already reached the highest level in the UK before the credit crunch in 2008, the year it rose to 32 per cent in Wales. Latest figures show that 34 per cent of children in Wales are living in poverty, whilst the UK figure fell to 27 per cent. The primary reason for this remains that Wales has had the lowest growth in prosperity per head out of the UK nations since 1999, that Wales has the lowest employment rate in Great Britain, and that pay packets in Wales are the lowest amongst UK nations. And all this despite having received billions in supposedly temporary funding, designed to support economic development and reduce inequality between nations and regions.

The Welsh Government's child poverty progress report, conveniently published last night, states that the UK Government continues to hold the key levers to tackle poverty, revealing, once again, a mindset focused only on treating the symptoms rather than tackling the causes, and dodging the reality that the Welsh Government has been responsible for matters including economic development, education, skills, housing, health and social services in Wales for almost 24 years. It is silly to simply deflect blame by claiming that austerity was a political choice. The Welsh Government endlessly demanding more money could learn from Denis Healey, Alistair Darling and, yes, Liz Truss, you can't buck the markets. 

By 2010, the UK budget deficit was the worst in the G20, behind only Ireland and Greece in the European Union. Dublin had to ask for a rescue package worth €85 billion from the EU, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for austerity measures. After initially trying to buck the markets, Greece had to implement severe austerity measures as part of an EU, ECB and IMF rescue deal. The Labour UK Government's March 2010 UK budget statement recognised that the scale of the deficit meant the UK didn't have enough money, with Chancellor Alistair Darling admitting that Labour's planned cuts in public spending would be deeper and tougher than in the 1980s.

Austerity was therefore inherited by the UK Government in 2010, and failure to reduce the deficit risked bigger imposed cuts. As every borrower knows, you cannot reduce debt until income exceeds expenditure, and the UK Government had almost eliminated the deficit when COVID-19 hit. Without this, the UK could not have raised the £300 billion borrowed to see us through the pandemic. Given that current inflation rates are higher in 23 European countries and 16 of the 27 EU member states than in the UK, with today's news hopefully showing that the UK peak is over, that the IMF has forecast that half of the eurozone countries at least are heading for recession, and that the UK's central bank interest rates are lower than in many major economies, only a very silly billy would claim that the current cost-of-living crisis was made in Westminster. Despite the UK Chancellor's need to address the gap between projected public finances and the requirement to reduce debt as a share of GDP, the UK Government has taken a range of measures to help alleviate cost-of-living pressures. I move amendment 2 accordingly.

We now need a Welsh Government child poverty strategy, focused on concrete and measurable steps, and including a coherent and integrated Welsh benefits system, incorporating all the means-tested benefits it has responsibility for. We need real action based upon the Local Trust 'Left behind?' report in England, which evidences that poorer areas with greater community capacity and social infrastructure have better health and well-being outcomes, higher rates of employment and lower levels of child poverty compared to poorer areas without, and a growth plan with the business and third sectors and our communities, to finally build a more prosperous Welsh economy. Diolch.

More than one in three children across Wales live below the poverty line—that's 10 children out of a class of 30—and in some areas, the rate is even higher, and unfortunately, the situation will only deteriorate further as the cost-of-living crisis continues to affect increasing numbers of people. Wales has a higher child poverty rate than other UK nations, and although the Minister is right to say in the child poverty progress report that a number of the main levers to tackle poverty, such as powers over the taxation and welfare systems, are the responsibility of the UK Government, this does not mean that the finger can be pointed solely at the UK Government when it comes to  the lack of here progress in Wales. Even in the more affluent local authorities, at least a quarter of children are currently living below the poverty line. It's a serious problem in all parts of Wales.

The Welsh Government’s own statistics, published earlier this year, indicated that between 2016 and 2019 a child in Wales had a 13 per cent likelihood of being in persistent poverty. Furthermore, 31 per cent of children were living in relative income poverty in the 2017 to 2020 period. This figure had increased from the 28 per cent previously reported, and represents the highest percentage figure for all of the UK nations.

Poverty affects every aspect of a child’s life. At school, it can lock children out of opportunities to participate, to learn and to thrive. In every school in Wales, an increasing number of families are struggling to afford the basics. Poverty rates have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and now, with the subsequent cost-of-living crisis, many more families need support. Eighty-eight per cent of NEU Cymru members say that the child poverty experienced by their learners has deteriorated since the start of 2020, and a survey undertaken by them showed the dire effects of poverty on students: 92 per cent of learners showed signs of tiredness; 86 per cent struggled to concentrate; 71 per cent showed signs of hunger during the school day; 31 per cent showed signs of ill health; and 23 per cent experienced bullying because their family is in poverty. That's happening in Wales in 2022. Every child deserves equitable access to education, but schools alone cannot provide all of the support that these learners need.

As we've discussed several times in this Siambr, the cost of the school day causes many issues for learners from low-income families. Families are regularly asked to contribute towards the cost of school uniform, trips, charity fundraising, school meals and snacks, and to provide equipment and resources for particular projects. And although support is available, it doesn’t go far enough, meaning that schools either cannot do some things that would enrich the lives of their pupils, because their own budgets are under pressure, or those learners who cannot afford to participate lose out.

There are heartbreaking stories across Wales of children not showing their parents letters from school because they don’t want to cause them extra stress—they don't even talk about a trip. I visited a school in my region recently, and the school parliament told me that they'd decided that they wouldn't undertake many of the activities that they would usually undertake because they knew that that would cause stress for parents. These are primary school children deciding not to put their parents under stress because of the cost-of-living crisis.

Research shows that children and young people from less affluent homes are more likely to report higher levels of loneliness, are less satisfied with their lives, and are less likely to enjoy going to school. It is a cause of great concern that the social exclusion felt by low-income learners is frequently heightened by other forms of inequality, with lower income children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and black communities more likely to report that they are lonely and unhappy at school, compared to white Welsh and white British children of a similar socioeconomic status.

Child poverty also leaves clear gaps in educational attainment, something that I discussed with pupils from Llanishen High School when they visited the Senedd yesterday. I heard from them, and their teacher, that the cost of transport is a barrier to some pupils attending school, and that this affects the attainment of the most vulnerable pupils. I have raised this issue several times over the past few months, but the problem persists and is, indeed, getting worse.

It is clear that what we are currently doing isn’t working and isn’t going far enough. Not only do we need a strategy, but we need defined targets that will be closely and consistently monitored if we are to tackle this problem. A commitment was made in the past to eradicate child poverty by 2020. In 2022, the situation is worse than ever before. Every child and young person deserves better.

Like many adverse childhood experiences, poverty impacts a young person in many ways, from their health and cognitive development to social and educational outcomes. The consequences of this can stay with a person all their lives. That's why it's so unforgivable that most vulnerable families have had to bear the brunt of Tory austerity measures over the last 12 years. The introduction of universal credit has left millions of people worse off, and we've also seen the devastating impacts of the bedroom tax, the two-child limit, and the frozen local housing allowance. These can no longer be dismissed as tough but necessary decisions. The Tory party continues to make political choices to protect the very rich, whilst one in three children across the UK are living in poverty.

We've also seen a race to the bottom with employment standards under their watch. Well-below-inflation wage increases and zero-hours contracts have caused in-work poverty rates to increase. The Welsh Labour Government has done what it can to mitigate the impact of these policies. Our party believes in universality, that nobody should be left behind, and that's why Wales is leading the way with universal free school meals, free childcare from two years of age, free school breakfasts, free prescriptions, the pupil deprivation grant scheme, and the council tax reduction scheme. These policies put money back into people's pockets, and, believe me, this is needed now more than ever. Investing in early years and education remains one of the most powerful levers to tackle inequality, embed prevention, and invest in our future generations. 

The Welsh Government budget contains an additional £320 million up to 2024-25 to continue its long-term programme of educational reform and ensure educational inequalities narrow and standards rise. This includes an additional £30 million for childcare and early-years provision, £40 million for Flying Start and Families First, and £90 million for free school meals, £64.5 million for wider schools and curriculum reform, and £63.5 million investment in post-16 provision. I welcome this dedication to investing in education and our younger people, but we must accept that the Welsh Government is limited in what it can do while the UK Government continues to underfund public services.

Wales has a more elderly population, greater rurality, poor transport connectivity, and a larger reliance on public service funding, with a third of people being employed in public services. Many of these, such as nursing and social care, impact more on women, who still today are often the main carer for children. Wales needs to be better funded. This was known when we were a part of Europe, as we were net beneficiaries. Wales received £245 million more from the European Union than what it paid in, and the overall benefit to Wales was around £79 per head in 2014. Since then, this funding has not been replaced. We need a fit-for-purpose, cradle-to-grave welfare system that ensures that no-one falls into the grips of poverty, and until the UK Government makes a u-turn on its path to austerity, this cannot be achieved. Thank you.

We are all far too aware of how common child poverty is in Wales. It's not a new phenomenon—it's an issue that is deep rooted here in Wales, and has been for far too long, and it continues to have far-reaching and damaging impacts. Wales has been on the top of child poverty league tables across the UK year upon year, which is a cause for national shame. With the current cost-of-living crisis and with food, fuel, and energy costs all rising exponentially, many families who managed to make ends meet are now being pushed into poverty.

In Mid and West Wales, recent figures showed the seriousness of the situation in our rural and coastal communities. Those several areas of Wales saw a fall in child poverty rates between 2014 and 2019. In some rural, coastal regions, child poverty continued to rise alarmingly. Of the six local authorities in Wales seeing an increase in child poverty rates, five were in rural or coastal areas, contrary to how the issue might commonly be perceived as a predominantly urban issue. This year, Loughborough University published new research on behalf of the End Child Poverty coalition. In Ceredigion, more than 35 per cent of children lived below the poverty line; 33.3 per cent in Powys; 34.4 per cent in Gwynedd; and 34.6 per cent in Carmarthenshire—all of these in my region. At 35.5 per cent, Pembrokeshire, a county whose house prices are amongst the highest in Wales and with a high prevalence of second homes, has the highest child poverty rate of all Welsh local authorities. Child poverty in rural areas is driven by low income and poor economic outcomes, lack of access to public transport and fuel poverty, poor public service provision, high rents, and lack of affordable housing, among other factors. Amid relative affluence in parts of Mid and West Wales, child poverty often hides in plain sight.

The Bevan Foundation highlights that figures relating to child poverty do not truly capture the impact of this deprivation and poverty on the lives of the children experiencing it. We know that when children grow up in poverty, the effects will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It is clear that the damage is done early. According to the Bevan Foundation, child poverty may later affect mental health, self image and self-esteem, physical health and education. It can also impact subsequent career paths, the ability to socialise normally, and it increases the likelihood of being involved in crime, as either the victim or perpetrator. Minister, while I understand it is the Tories in Westminster and their heartless programme of austerity that need to answer for worsening deprivation across the UK, it is the Welsh Labour Party who have governed in Wales since the outset of devolution. Having recently celebrated your party's centenary, is there a risk that failure to tackle child poverty may become the legacy of the Labour Government in Wales?

I urge you, Minister, to redouble your efforts using all of the powers available to you and this Government to tackle child poverty. Thank you.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Let's be clear: the fact that poverty exists is a complete and utter failure of the Government—Governments on both sides of the M4. It's a failure of both Parliaments, and it's a failure of an economic system, a system that benefits from and encourages maximum profit at the cost of people, because that's what we're talking about here—people. That's what's behind poverty figures—people and their families. The fact that 31 per cent of children in Wales are living in relative income poverty is nothing short of a crime.

Pre pandemic, we saw a growing trend in levels of household food insecurity. That trend has only worsened due to the cost-of-living crisis, deepening the financial hardships faced by many households across Wales. Food poverty is a major issue. The very existence, let alone the rise in the use, of food banks, as well as the increase in holiday hunger initiatives, is a testament to a failed system. That said, of course, we are rolling out free school meals to all primary school pupils, which is a step in the right direction. I visited Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Ogwr back in late November, my old primary, to see this policy in action, and I have to say, the neuadd and the meinciau were a lot smaller than I remember, but it was a moment of pride for me, knowing that Plaid Cymru pushed to make this happen. But we do need to go further. Poverty doesn't end when you go to comp or go to college. Fundamentally, having a meal at school should be part of the school day.

Whilst free school meals are one of the important steps we can take to tackle child poverty and hunger, there are glaring gaps in food security and nutrition, as many children struggle to eat adequately. In the past 12 months, 14 per cent of people in Wales had run out of food before they could afford to buy more. The 2022 child poverty progress report highlights this. Currently, food inflation has reached its highest in 42 years and it's predicted to rise further. Average prices for the cheapest groceries have risen more than other food items, meaning households before now buying the cheapest foods have seen their bills rise drastically, and have limited scope to trade down. This has also driven a rise in demand for emergency food provisions.

A substantial amount of teachers and school staff notice children returning to school hungry on the first day after the holidays. In July 2017, a foodbank in Swansea ran out of food due to holiday hunger. The Trussell Trust, where over a third of all food is distributed to children, say that demand for food goes up even higher during the holidays. The reality is we must abolish holiday hunger, and it needs to happen now. 

Llywydd, since my election in 2021, I have campaigned to increase the education maintenance allowance as well as to increase the threshold, and now more than ever this change needs to be implemented. The End Child Poverty coalition surveyed 476 young people about the cost-of-living crisis, and alarmingly, 97 per cent said they thought the rising cost of living was a problem for young people aged 16 to 25 today. The words of a 17-year-old in college in Wales were as follows: 'I can't use heating anymore, because it's too costly, and we can't find anywhere to live, since our rent contract is ending and rent has gone up exponentially. I hate struggling like this. It makes me feel like everything is just not worth living. I'm cold. Soon, my family will be in a crappy living situation, and I can't even appreciate other activities because I can't afford them.'

We should, of course, be proud of EMA in Wales, but we should also recognise that it is currently falling short. The cash support provided is not enough; it hasn't changed since 2004. According to the education Minister, it should be at about £54 a week today, rather than £30, meaning successive Welsh Governments have cut the real-terms worth of EMA by a third over the last decade and a half. This cut has deep implications, especially since thresholds for EMA have largely remained unchanged since 2011. This has created a major disparity among learners, as they now must be substantially poorer than their contemporaries back in 2011 to be entitled to support at all. 

I listened with great interest yesterday in relation to the additional £28 million to education. I would be grateful if the Minister at some point could give an indication as to whether or not some of that additional funding could be used for EMA. After all, the 2022 child poverty progress report states that tackling inequality is fundamental to Welsh Government's efforts to tackle poverty in Wales, specifically reducing educational inequalities. If the Welsh Government is truly passionate about taking the actions and decisions to reduce inequalities associated with poverty, then it could start by reviewing and revising EMA.

To conclude, Llywydd, experiencing poverty early in life can have a detrimental impact on life prospects further down the line. Poverty is the biggest challenge facing Welsh Government. It affects health, it affects attainment, it affects us all. Priorities—that's the aim of the Government, so we're told, especially with the budget it now has. In my view, tackling child poverty must be that priority. 

I have to emphasise the importance of this debate from our benches this afternoon. I'll focus on the clear connection between poverty and health issues. We are going through a very difficult financial situation at the moment, that's clear from the draft budget that was discussed yesterday, which has major restrictions placed upon it in genuinely hard times. And it's no surprise in that context that there is so much frustration as a result. But, more than ever, we have a situation where money is tight for the majority, with families in all parts of Wales having to find ways to save money over the coming months. But, for those living in genuine poverty, the next few months will be even more difficult. It's a problem, of course, that existed long before the cost-of-living crisis, but it is far, far more difficult now.

As we've heard already, Wales has the highest proportion of poverty levels amongst our children and young people throughout the UK. The impact that child poverty has on their health, not just today but for the rest of their lives in several cases, is very serious. A balanced and healthy diet can be very expensive, unfortunately, even more so during a cost-of-living crisis. Now, one in every four children is obese or overweight when starting in primary school, and almost half of those are, indeed, obese. And we are fully aware of the link between children living in poverty and obesity. There's nothing new in that. But, in looking at the figures, which are genuinely frightening, and then studying the plans of the Government, one sees that there isn't anything clear in place that tries to tackle these issues. There's insufficient focus on decreasing those figures, so we have to place much greater emphasis and attention to the preventative measures. That's a sermon that you hear from me very often here. 

The impact of obesity amongst our children and young people is greater health issues when they grow up, more pressure on our health service. Children living in poverty are twice as likely to be suffering from obesity or being overweight than a child not living in poverty. Now, the initial steps have been taken to tackle this, I would hope, through the co-operation agreement between the Government and Plaid Cymru to ensure that every child receives a healthy school meal. But, we do have to see far greater steps. We need to see a further strategy from the Government and a plan in place to ensure that healthy food and access to exercise, by ensuring that the resources are available, are available to every child within and without the school walls. That would be a genuine step towards tackling health problems in general.

Obesity has a genuinely negative impact physically on children in the long term—diabetes, type 2, cardiac issues, stroke and so on—but it also has an impact on their self-image, self-confidence and the mental health of individuals in general. And of course mental health issues can start for several reasons. The number suffering from mental health issues are increasing. We know that. And that increase has been even more prominent post pandemic. Around 12 per cent of year 7 pupils are suffering from mental health problems, and that level increases to 22 per cent by year 11. And, as evidence demonstrates, it's those children from those less affluent families, again, who suffer most. These are children who are twice as likely to be bullied at school, who are less likely to make friends or to retain a close circle of friends at school, children seeing their own parents suffering as a result of the difficult decisions that they have to make every day because cash is tight for them. And of course, that is going to have an impact on the mental health of the child. With more children living in poverty, it’s no surprise that the mental health figures are still increasing here in Wales.

To conclude, whilst our economic situation continues to deteriorate, the priority, of course, now is to ensure that the poorest in our communities are warm this winter, they receive food, and they keep well and healthy, but whilst dealing with that acute issue, we need to accelerate the work, to make it far, far more of a priority to take the preventative steps—the vital preventative steps—so that we raise the most needy out of poverty. We need a child poverty strategy with clear targets and ambitious targets, and we need that for our children in all parts of Wales.

The Minister for Social Justice now, Jane Hutt.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I do want to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this debate on this really important subject, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, which, we all fear, will drive child poverty rates here and across the UK even higher.

Llywydd, Wales has a child poverty strategy; we have had one since 2011, and Wales was also the first UK nation to introduce legislation to tackle child poverty, and this placed a duty on Welsh Ministers to publish a child poverty strategy setting out how we will tackle it, and to report every three years on the progress we've made in achieving those objectives. Yesterday, I laid our child poverty progress report for 2022 before this Senedd, and issued a written statement. And I've given a commitment, as Members will see in my statement, to refresh our child poverty strategy so that it reflects the current challenging circumstances and sets out a renewed undertaking to supporting those who need support the most.

We're already engaging with partners and stakeholders. Indeed, in our cost-of-living Cabinet sub-committee, which meets weekly, we engage with those policy advisers, and people with lived experience, including, for example, the Child Poverty Action Group—you mentioned their evidence today. But also, voices from children and young people and the children's commissioner engaged, and we got that lived experience of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. But a consultation on the refreshed child poverty strategy is now being taken forward, and we will be informed, in taking the strategy forward, by the research that we commissioned that’s been undertaken by the Wales Centre for Public Policy on what works in tackling poverty and looking at international comparisons, looking at ways in which we can learn from the evidence to take this forward, but also taking on board the findings of the recent report from the Auditor General for Wales, which looks at what more we could be doing if we are to meet the scale of the challenge with which we're faced.

The last three years have been unlike any that we’ve had to navigate since devolution, and many of our programmes came to a halt during the pandemic while others were escalated to address the urgent needs of people across Wales. In fact, we repurposed; we had new responses throughout the pandemic on all areas of policy across the Welsh Government. And, in fact, the progress report does, as you will read, capture the way that we refocused that funding and adapted our activity to meet the needs of people during the pandemic.

But this is an approach that we have continued as we respond to the cost-of-living crisis, which is having a disproportionate impact on families who are already financially vulnerable. As we heard yesterday from the Finance Minister in the statement about the draft budget—'a budget for hard times in hard times'—challenging, we continue to adapt our approach to ensure that we can continue supporting people through the cost-of-living crisis in the face of a perfect storm of financial pressures. And it was vital that that draft budget contained an additional £18.8 million to continue the support for the discretionary assistance fund, and it included funding to pay the real living wage for social care workers and additional support for our basic income pilot.

But the draft budget also will ensure that we can maintain all those other programmes in Wales, which put money back into people's pockets, from free prescriptions to universal primary free school meals—of course, as a result of our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru—support with the cost of sending children to school, and a 'Claim what's yours' campaign to ensure that people take up all the benefits that they're entitled to. It is important that I respond to the issue about statutory targets, which I appreciate you've put. The Welsh Government does set targets in relation to individual programmes that support families to prosper and thrive, and we do also use a set of child poverty indicators to measure our progress in achieving our child poverty objectives, and Members can see in our child poverty progress report the progress that we've made. Of course, that was published yesterday. And we recognise that calls have been made for targets in the delivery plan for tackling child poverty, and we're committed to having this as part of the development work as we consult and move forward.

But our best efforts continue to be hindered by decisions taken by the UK Government, and its wider policies on welfare support and inequitable funding. The pandemic, yes, has entrenched disadvantage for vulnerable households, and now the cost-of-living crisis is having a devastating impact on households that are already financially weakened. Families with young children are particularly at risk, as Carolyn Thomas has highlighted, and yes, Mark Isherwood, austerity was a choice and continues to be a choice of this Tory UK Government.

Mark Isherwood rose—

We will continue to support households. What are you doing, Mark Isherwood?

Are you not concerned that that approach makes you sound more like Liz Truss than Alistair Darling?

I wonder, Mark Isherwood, if you would join me in calling on the UK Government to abolish the appalling benefit cap and the two-child limit on child benefit. That is actually what's driving children into poverty, Mark Isherwood. Yes, we will do all we can to support households affected by the crisis, but the key levers for tackling child poverty, powers over the tax and welfare system, sit with the UK Government. The UK Government's mismanagement of the economy over the last 12 years—12 years—compounded by that disastrous Liz Truss mini-budget in September, has seen the UK Government once again slide into recession, and where are we? A decade of austerity has made the UK one of the most unequal societies in the developed world, and we enter recession in the weakest position of any of the G7 economies. I could go on—the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Bank of England, all recognising the disaster of Tory policies. Record levels of inflation—and let's face it, inflation hits the poorest people much harder than the wealthiest, much, much harder in terms of food and fuel prices.

So, I will finish my contribution, Llywydd, by saying: can we all join together in recognising what I've said in terms of moving forward with the refreshed child poverty strategy? Can we join together in this Chamber today and make three calls to the UK Government, a few practical actions that would have an immediate impact and positive impact on those who are most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, our children and young people? First of all, will you join me in calling on energy companies to absorb the cost of standing charges for pre-payment customers? They're particularly at risk of disconnection at this moment, as we speak, in our country. Will you also call on the UK Government to uplift the discretionary housing payment and local housing allowances? That will help protect vulnerable people at risk of homelessness and actually help Government save money. And also, will you also recognise that the arbitrary five-week wait for universal credit payments is the root cause of severe financial hardship and distress for many people? We call on the UK Government to stop that damaging and unnecessary wait.

So, finally, in the longer term, the scale of the undertaking to both prevent and lift people out of poverty in Wales is immense. We must do our part. We have to play our part—we recognise that as a Welsh Government—to support people, tackle the inequalities that blight people's lives, create a positive future for everyone. But we must see concerted action from the UK Government to do the same to prevent another generation of children slipping below the poverty line thanks to 12 years of austerity and the disasters of this UK Government in terms of the recession.

Sioned Williams to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd, and I want to thank all Members for their contributions to the debate this afternoon. I agree with the Minister for Social Justice that the UK Government holds key levers, not all the levers, but key levers for tackling poverty, those powers over tax and welfare systems. She said that progress in tackling child poverty in Wales continues to be hindered by decisions taken in Westminster, which influence levels of poverty in Wales and are being felt most severely by those who are already disadvantaged. I completely agree—another example of how Westminster doesn't work for Wales and is failing Welsh children. 

Mark Isherwood talked a lot about this issue. I don't really recognise his version of recent economic history, but I did agree with his point that this issue does have a long history here in Wales, and I did agree with his support for calls for a Welsh benefits system. Because Welsh Government must recognise that they do have tax-raising powers. They administer a range of social protection schemes, many of which were referenced in the progress report, that allow cash transfer to Welsh citizens, including, as Luke Fletcher spoke about, the educational maintenance allowance, the pupil deprivation grant. It's why we on these benches, and anti-poverty campaigners, want to see a coherent and streamlined Welsh benefits system. 

Rhun spoke about the terrible and worrying connection between poverty and health issues, and these are health problems that will happen now and for the rest of young people and children's lives. He talked about the importance of preventative work in this regard. Heledd Fychan talked about how poverty affects every aspect of a child's life, and Cefin talked about how it's a problem in every part of Wales, even surprising parts of Wales, places like Pembrokeshire, which we consider to be havens—pretty havens—with, as he said, too-high levels of second homes and astronomic rents, which push people into poverty. And I think the housing aspect of child poverty must be properly recognised. 

I agree that there have been welcome steps made, and many Members made reference to things like universal free school meals in primary schools. We'd like to see those expanded, as Luke rightfully pointed out. Poverty also affects young people. The Child Poverty Action Group have pointed out, through the survey Luke referenced, how young people and teens are uniquely affected by poverty—their transport costs, their equipment needs are higher. What the children of Wales who are living in poverty really need is a clear vision, clear measurable lines of accountability, so that we don't end up in the same place we did last time, and this need is urgent. 

The harms of poverty have already befallen too many of our children since the last progress report was issued, and those harms will stay with them, will hamper life chances, will affect, as we heard, their mental and physical health, and those harms are happening now. So, what is there not to gain by supporting our motion? The Welsh Government should put its political pride aside for the sake of our children.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] There is objection. We will, therefore, defer voting until voting time. 

Voting deferred until voting time.