Too many children in Wales are living in poverty, says Jane Dodds.
The Mid and West Wales MS asked at the Senedd about the Welsh Government's child poverty reduction targets.
She said she had “absolutely no idea” what the aspiration of the Government is in terms of reducing the number of children living in poverty.
Video from Senedd.tv
The Mid and West Wales MS asked at the Senedd about the Welsh Government's child poverty reduction targets.
She said she had “absolutely no idea” what the aspiration of the Government is in terms of reducing the number of children living in poverty.
Video from Senedd.tv
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NewsTranscript
00:00make a statement, please, on the Welsh Government's child poverty reduction targets.
00:04Y Llywydd – Y Llywydd, maeín rhaid llodi plant.
00:07Rhun ap Iorwerth AM, Brif Weinidog.
00:09Ending child poverty is very important to the Welsh Labour Government, and thatís why
00:12weíre investing more than £100 million a year in affordable childcare for three and
00:17four-year-olds, as well as £46 million in additional funding for childcare under Flying
00:24Start and free school meals.
00:26The policies of the Welsh Labour Government are vital to raise families out of poverty
00:31and will help to reduce child poverty.
00:34Y Llywydd – Y Llywydd, diolch yn fawr am yr adroddiad hwn.
00:35Thank you very much for that response.
00:36Y Llywydd – Y Llywydd, diolch yn fawr am yr adroddiad hwn.
00:37I have absolutely no idea what the aspiration of the Welsh Government is when it comes to
00:42reducing children who are living in poverty.
00:45If I go to Scotland, I know that they want to reduce child poverty there by 10 per cent.
00:50If I look at New Zealand, they want to reduce it by 5 per cent, and yet here we are in Wales
00:55with one of the highest levels of children living in poverty, and I have no idea what
01:01the Welsh Governmentís vision is in terms of reducing child poverty.
01:06On the other hand, if we look at organisations like Patriotic Millionaires UK, and theyíre
01:11exactly what they say on the tin, they say, ëraise taxes in order to fund our public services
01:18and help those living in the worst povertyí, like our children across the UK.
01:25So, I have two questions for you, First Minister, and they are ëyesí and ënoí answers.
01:30The first question is this.
01:32Will you tell Keir Starmer to tax the richest and scrap the two-cap benefit cap?
01:40And a question for you, ëyesí or ënoí, will you introduce targets on reducing child
01:46poverty?
01:47Diolch yn fawr iawn.
01:48Carwyn Jones AM.
01:49Well, thanks very much.
01:50Look, the decisions on taxation and how he presents those is something that Keir Starmer
01:58has to determine for himself, and, obviously, we in Wales have our opportunity as well.
02:05We have decided in this proposed budget that we will not be taxing the richest in our forthcoming
02:12budget, partly because we donít have as many rich people as perhaps weíd like in
02:17Wales to be able to access the kind of taxation that would be helpful to our public services.
02:26We have made it clear in the child poverty strategy that we have very clear intentions
02:33here.
02:34We already have national indicators that will help us to measure our progress as a nation,
02:41and the monitoring framework, which will inform the next progress, is due to be published
02:47in 2025.