Jane Dodds calls for urgent action on child poverty in Wales

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Jane Dodds has questioned the Welsh Government about its efforts to cut child poverty.  The Mid and West Wales MS said at the Senedd that the latest childhood poverty statistics for Wales paint a disheartening picture of stagnation.  Video from Senedd.tv

Transcript

00:00 Secretary, what measures is the Welsh Government taking to set targets for the reduction of child poverty?

00:06 We are developing a framework of indicators and measures of child poverty, informed by

00:11 Professor Rod Hick from Cardiff University and our external reference group. A policy

00:16 progress report and evidence from those with lived experience of poverty will also be provided

00:21 at the next progress reporting point in 2025.

00:25 Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary. Sadly, the latest childhood poverty statistics for

00:31 Wales released last month paint a very disheartening picture of stagnation. Twenty-nine per cent

00:38 of children now live in relative poverty, representing 190,000 children. The Bevan Foundation's

00:46 recent State of Wales report laid bare the harsh reality that children remain the demographic

00:52 at the highest risk of poverty, with those from households without full adult employment

00:57 as well as those in rented homes facing even greater risk of deprivation. We cannot be

01:05 complacent about these figures, nor accept the lack of progress. Behind these numbers,

01:10 as you say, lies the lived experiences of children who are literally suffering. These

01:16 figures show the urgent need for measurable, clear targets to reduce child poverty, as

01:24 recommended by the Equality and Social Justice Committee in the report last November. I am

01:30 very disappointed to hear that these will not be with us until 2025, because it takes

01:35 time for us to have those targets in place. Could you, Cabinet Secretary, commit to creating

01:43 clear, quantifiable targets urgently for reducing child poverty? Diolch yn fawr iawn.

01:50 Angela Burns AM: Thank you. Well, I can certainly assure Jane Dodds and all Members that I am

01:55 not complacent. Obviously, I've just come into this portfolio and, as you say, unfortunately,

02:01 we have seen a rise in the number of children in relative poverty. It went up 1% from the

02:07 previous year. So, I can absolutely assure you there is no complacency on my behalf or

02:12 on behalf of the Welsh Government. I think it's really important to recognise that the

02:17 levers that we do haveóand we don't hold all the levers, obviously, to enable poverty

02:22 to be tackledóit's really important that we do everything we can with what we have

02:27 as a Welsh Government. I've had an initial conversation with the First Minister around

02:31 how, as a Government, we make sure that every Cabinet Secretary and Minister contributes

02:37 to the way that we tackle poverty. I met with the Bevan Foundation myself on Monday of this

02:42 week, because I'm very keen to hear about the research that they have done to make sure

02:47 that the schemes and the funding that we have and that we use specifically to tackle poverty

02:54 is absolutely going to the correct places. You'll be aware that the child poverty strategy

03:00 was launched by my predecessor, Jane Hutt, who's just walked into the Chambra in January,

03:06 and we have not committed to targets there. I have looked at countries that have targets,

03:11 and I've looked at best practice from countries that don't have targets. I think, for me,

03:17 the biggest thing that comes out about tackling poverty is ensuring that we have a compassionate

03:21 and fair welfare system. So, I've looked at New Zealand, for instance, where we don't

03:27 have the lever in relation to that, but they do. So, I'm very keen to look at what best

03:31 practice we can have that. Again, my predecessor committed to having an academic help inform

03:38 us around child poverty strategy, and I mentioned Professor Hick, who is advising on the developing

03:45 of the monitoring framework.

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