00:00will happen pretty soon.
00:02Jane Dodds AM, First Minister.
00:07Would you please outline the Welsh Government's current strategy to reduce the number of children
00:12in relative poverty?
00:13OAQ52321 Jane Dodds AM, First Minister.
00:15Our child poverty strategy, which was launched in January this year, sets out our long-term
00:20ambitions to tackle child poverty and to mitigate the worst impacts of poverty here in Wales.
00:26It also notes how we will work across Government and with partners to maximise the impact of
00:31the levers available to us.
00:33Jane Dodds AM, First Minister.
00:36Thank you for that response.
00:37We will know that, over the past six years, we have seen a startling increase in the amount
00:42of larger families who are living in relative povertyó43 per cent of children in households
00:48of three or more are now at risk of relative poverty.
00:53That represents a staggering 100,000 children here in Wales.
00:59The two-child benefit cap is a key factor driving that crisis.
01:04This policy, widely criticised as being cruel and a violation of children's rights by numerous
01:10civil society organisations, including the Children's Commissioner for Wales, affects
01:15over 11 per cent of childrenó65,000 children.
01:20In Brecon and Radnorshire, nearly 1,000 children are living in families affected by the two-child
01:26benefit cap.
01:28This week, the Child Poverty Action Group said that 10,000 children have fallen into
01:35poverty since Labour took office in Westminster.
01:40I'm calling on you, as the First Minister, to raise this once again with the Prime Minister,
01:44and perhaps you could do that on Friday in your meeting with him.
01:48But I'm also just reflecting on the fact that my party, when we were in government
01:53in the coalition, made mistakes, and I'm very clear on record as saying that one of those
01:59was playing our role in austerity.
02:05First Minister, I'd like to call on youówe are all adults here and we should be able
02:09to acknowledge that people make mistakes.
02:12I'm calling on you to make a statement that it is a mistake to putó
02:16Y Llywydd, allow the Member to finish her question, please.
02:24There are too many noises off today from all directions.
02:28I wasn't actually expecting that one just now, but I do want the Member to finish her
02:33question.
02:34Please do so.
02:35Y Llywydd, just in Bradegar, it is one more sentence.
02:37I'm calling on the First Minister to say that she believes that the two-child benefit
02:41cap and the failure of the Labour Government not to scrap it is a mistake.
02:47Diolch yn fawr iawn.
02:49Thanks very much.
02:50Well, I think there are lots of people within the Labour Party who are very uncomfortable
02:54about it.
02:55That's the truth of it.
02:56But there is a £22 billion black hole that is difficult to fill, and what we've got to
03:04do in Wales is to do what we can to support children living in poverty, and that's why
03:10things like the free school meal support is absolutely fundamental, so that at least they
03:16are getting a hot meal once a day.
03:18So, there is some support there, and, obviously, we have a huge number of other areas where
03:24we give support, in particular to those vulnerable families.
03:29We gave about £5 billion-worth between 2022 and 2025.
03:33That's not a small amount of money to give support to some of the most vulnerable people,
03:40and so, where we can, we will provide that support, but the kind of quantities of money
03:47that you would need is simply beyond the ability of the Welsh Government to support.
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