00:00 This is not a new problem, nor is it unique to Wales, but we have reached a critical junction
00:07 on this journey. The purpose of our committee inquiry was to critique the Welsh Government's
00:15 draft Child Poverty Strategy, with a view to influencing its final iteration of its
00:22 next 10-year plan to be published by the Government later this month.
00:29 Wales has traditionally had higher levels of child poverty than other areas of the UK,
00:33 but that seems to be easing slightly compared with other regions and countries. Easing the
00:37 problem though, as the committee argue, is certainly not the goal, and they want to see
00:42 the issue fixed. Children living in poverty are significantly more likely to develop additional
00:47 problems as adults and are more likely to continue to live in poverty throughout adulthood,
00:52 creating a vicious cycle.
00:54 In Wales, we still have less child poverty than in six of the nine English regions, after
01:00 housing costs are taken into account. Only Northern Ireland and London have seen a bigger
01:06 reduction in child poverty than Wales. But there is no room for complacency, because
01:12 the consequences are severe. The fact that not only are pupils on free school meals 28%
01:18 less likely to get a good GCSE than pupils who are not eligible, children brought up
01:24 in poverty are four times more likely to develop a mental health problem by the age of 11.
01:30 And adults who grew up in poverty as a child lose out, it is estimated, on £12 billion
01:37 in lost earnings as a result of their likelihood of being unemployed or in low employment.
01:45 Plenty of areas involved in tackling child poverty are the responsibility of the UK Government.
01:53 But at the same time, plenty are under the Senate's competency. Charities and other organisations
01:59 involved want the Welsh Government to look at what they can do to fight this, rather
02:03 than make this an issue of devolved powers and focus on what they can't.
02:07 The NSPCC sums up the frustration expressed by many others by wanting more focus on what
02:14 the Welsh Government can do to address child poverty, rather than a focus on what it cannot
02:20 do. Nobody disputes that many of the policy levers that will have the greatest impact
02:26 in terms of redistributing wealth and reducing inequalities are not in Cardiff, but reserved
02:32 to Westminster. But that does not alter the Committee's deep concern that the draft strategy
02:38 lacks the strategic vision needed to deliver the step change in tackling child poverty
02:44 we want for Welsh children.
02:47 Child poverty is a problem across the country, and across the UK and the world. Tackling
02:51 this issue creates opportunities for those children and for future generations to grow
02:55 and develop. This issue is pivotal to the development of countries, and Wales will need
02:59 to fix this sooner rather than later.
03:01 James P. Watkins, reporting from Wales.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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