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.