Jane Dodds is calling for more to be done to address child poverty in Wales.

The Mid and West Wales MS said at the Senedd this week that no-one in the country should be left destitute.

She said: “Child poverty in Wales has barely shifted in a generation. It did drop slightly to 28 per cent, but has now increased to 31 per cent and is scheduled by 2030 to rise to 36 per cent - something I think we should all be deeply horrified by.

“One of the biggest barriers is childcare and access to free childcare. Low-income parents in Wales are spending nearly 10 times more of their income on childcare than those in the wealthiest families.”

Ms Dodds told Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies: “I'd like to hear from you what your plans are for free childcare.

“We want to see free childcare for 30 hours a week for nine-month-olds to four-year-olds across 48 weeks.

“What is the Welsh Government going to do to increase childcare to families on low incomes?”

Mr Irranca-Davies said he was pleased to see the focus that's being put on this issue in the run-up to the next election.

He said: “It’s building on what we've done already. We haven't just had a blanket approach to this. We’ve had targeted support that tries to deal with the inequalities.

“We’re also thinking about what the next stages are and how we phase that in in a credible way so that we can build on what we've already achieved.

“We do have to do more, not just on child poverty but on family poverty generally. There are many factors that contribute to those poverty indices, but we need to do more on that.”