Labour must expand free school meals to all secondary pupils living in poverty

Failure to tackle child poverty in Wales is impacting children’s ability to learn.

Sioned Williams has again called on the Welsh Government to expand free school meals to children in Years 7- 11 from families in receipt of Universal Credit, with no cap on earnings.

In a Senedd debate on Wednesday 10 January, Ms Williams will also highlight the failures in tackling child poverty in Wales in relation to educational attainment.

Under their watch, one in three children live in poverty – a statistic which spokesperson for equalities, Sioned Williams MS says has remained “stubbornly high”.

In noting the correlation between child poverty and the education attainment gap for children in Wales, Ms Williams will cite the latest PISA results and national report which showed that 11% of learners in Wales had missed a meal because of poverty.

During the debate, Ms Williams will highlight several causes for this high volume of poverty, including the scrapping of child poverty targets, and insufficient support for families during the on-going cost-of-living crisis.

Spokesperson for social justice and equalities, Sioned Williams MS, said:

“The fact that one in three children in Wales live in poverty should be cause for national scandal. But when the targets for eradicating child poverty are  scrapped , and have delayed publishing a new child poverty strategy, is it any wonder that the number remains so stubbornly high?

“In Wales, we are fortunate to have hard working public servants – teachers, social workers, council workers -  and third sector workers, all committed to helping the development of our children and tackling child poverty. But time and time again their work is undermined by competing budgetary pressures and a lack of clear focus. 

“There is so much than needs to be done, including publishing and implementing a statutory target-driven plan to tackle child poverty, to help close the attainment gap and improve education outcomes.

“Providing more children with a free, nutritious school meal is one way to help level the playing field. 

“Tackling child poverty in Wales should be a priority to mitigate the devastating effects of poverty on attainment and give every child in Wales the best start in life.”