Drakeford defends child poverty approach after criticism

Rocio Cifuentes: "The ambition is not there, the clarity, the detail, the actions aren't there"

The first minister has insisted the Welsh government is "committed to an ambitious approach to child poverty", after its plans were criticised by the children's commissioner.

Rocio Cifuentes told a Senedd committee that the draft child poverty strategy lacks "ambition, clarity and detail".

She said she was being "forthright" due to the "strength of feeling" from young people she had been in contact with.

Mark Drakeford said "nothing" had "motivated me more" than the issue.

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More than a quarter (27.9%) of children in Wales were living in poverty in 2021-22, according to data released earlier this year.

Ms Cifuentes was giving evidence to the Senedd's Equality and Social Justice Committee, on Monday, as part of its inquiry into child poverty.

The Welsh government has been consulting on its child poverty draft strategy, which aims to reduce costs, maximise the income of families and support well-being.

Welsh ministers also want to ensure effective cross-government working on the plans.

The Welsh government does not have powers over welfare benefits, those rest with UK ministers.

The children's commissioner said: "I am being so forthright because of the strength of feeling of all the children and young people that I've come into contact with."

"The ambition is not there, the clarity, the detail, the actions aren't there."

She said the lack of detail on "actions, timescales and deliverables" means that there was no way of holding the Welsh government to account.

"We are in a time of crisis, we need a coherent robust child poverty strategy.

"It's a list of policy initiatives which doesn't really spell out what, how, when or who will actually deliver against those different policies in order to reduce and eradicate child poverty."

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

Welsh ministers decided in 2016 that ending child poverty by 2020 was not achievable

During Tuesday's First Minister's Questions, Mr Drakeford said there was "nothing that has motivated me more" than the issue.

But he said a Labour government at Westminster "committed again to reducing child poverty" was needed to make the progress he wanted.

"In the first decade of devolution [1999-2009] child poverty in Wales fell by a quarter and was falling year-on-year with a government in Westminster determined to join us in doing the things we wanted to do," he said.

He accused Conservative UK ministers of being "determined to do the opposite", creating "additional headwinds for the things that we want to do".

Mr Drakeford was responding to Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who highlighted his government had reacted to Ms Cifuentes criticism by emphasising that the "major levers for tackling poverty" lay with UK ministers.

Mr ap Iorwerth urged the first minister to "finally concede that the full devolution of welfare would give Wales the meaningful levers to drive down levels of child poverty".

'Pipe dream'

Mr Drakeford rejected the suggestion.

"I continue to believe that one of the strongest cases for the United Kingdom is that in the right hands, it acts as a great engine for redistribution," he said.

Following the exchange, Rhun ap Iorwerth said Labour ministers in Cardiff were "quick to point the finger of blame at Westminster, who hold many of the levers needed to tackle poverty, but the first minister is on the record as saying he'd rather Westminster decide our welfare system".

The Plaid leader said that when it comes to eradicating poverty "we have to be able to do this ourselves".

The Welsh government needed a "reality check" and to "stop holding on to the pipe dream that Westminster can somehow fix this for us", he said.

Earlier, Welsh Conservative social justice spokesman Mark Isherwood called for a "coherent robust child poverty strategy".

"With over one in four children in Wales living in poverty, Labour must work closely with the children's commissioner to deliver a more comprehensive plan in order to reduce and eradicate child poverty," he said.