Free school meals plea for all secondary pupils

Rocio Cifuentes says the rollout of universal free meals at Welsh primary schools has "taken away stigma"

The children's commissioner is calling on political leaders to address the problem of "deep poverty" in Wales in next year's Senedd election.

Rocio Cifuentes said increasing numbers of young people were growing up in families whose income is less than 40% of the average.

She has set out a list of priorities to address child poverty, including a designated child benefit payment for the poorest households and universal free school meals in secondary schools.

A target to eradicate child poverty in Wales by 2020 was dropped by the Welsh government in 2016.

The definition of child poverty is growing up in a household where income is 60% of the national average, the definition for deep poverty is 40%.

Speaking on Sunday's BBC Politics Wales, Ms Cifuentes said: "The evidence is showing us that not only do one in three children remain in poverty, and that has been a consistent figure over the past 20 years, but also a growing proportion of children are experiencing a very deep poverty which means they are so far from the acceptable minimum standards of living that their day to day lives are extremely constrained."

A designated child benefit payment for the poorest households, which has been introduced by the Scottish government, has been supported by Plaid Cymru.

Welsh government ministers have questioned whether they have the powers to introduce such a payment.

In recent weeks, the first minister has raised the issue of child poverty by calling on the UK government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

The UK education secretary, and candidate to be Labour's deputy leader, Bridget Phillipson, has also called for the cap to come to an end, and signalled the UK government could soon lift it.

Ms Cifuentes said: "I'm calling for a range of actions and measures to be taken as part of a package including further rolling out free school meals to secondary schools, making it easier for families to access the Welsh benefits their entitled to and also calling for public transport to be made free for children and young people.

"I'm basing this on the evidence that I've heard from children and young people.

"In 2022, my office carried out a survey of over 8,000 children and young people, and nearly half of them told me that they were worried on a day-to-day basis about their families having enough to meet their daily needs, including enough food.

"We have seen real benefits from the rollout in primary schools, and it's taken away stigma, and that is a huge aspect of child poverty that we can't ignore."