, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Diolch, Joyce, and thank you for your question, and absolutely, I do agree that that is important. The last few years have brought about some real rapid and unexpected changes, not least with the global pandemic, and that’s fundamentally changed how people…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Diolch. The new Welsh housing quality standard was launched in October 2023 and implemented from 1 April 2024. Social landlords are already working towards meeting this bold and ambitious standard. The first reporting on progress towards meeting the standard…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Diolch, Siân. You touched on some of the issues around people. As I said again yesterday, the numbers that we know in temporary accommodation, or people who are homeless, we hear the numbers and the figures, but it’s individuals behind this, and the stress…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Diolch, Siân. And I should have said in response to the first question, in terms of the number that was referred to in the Audit Wales report, you know, it is a complex picture. They've talked about finance, but there are other aspects to the supply that are…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you, Siân. Diolch. As I said, thank you again for your warm welcome as well—I look forward to working with you in this portfolio—and for the work that you've done in your previous capacity as well in local authorities. As I mentioned yesterday, I…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you, Peter. Again, thank you for all the work that you’ve done in your past life, before coming here, in local government. You talk about the resilience of local authorities, and I know again that people are working really hard within those local…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you for that, Peter. I think there’s an opportunity here also to pay tribute to all those people who work in local authorities and the officers who work hard, day in, day out, to make sure that those services are provided for our local communities. So…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Diolch, Peter. Thank you very much for the warm welcome and I look forward to working with you and other colleagues across the Chamber on this portfolio. I'm early into this—it's really the first month, I think, or the first couple of weeks anyway. We're…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you, Delyth. I understand, from all Members, the passionate views that they have on Blackwood Miners' Institute. I know there's been that consultation with Caerphilly County Borough Council that has been ongoing. As I said, the Arts Council of Wales are…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you, Laura. We understand how these are difficult decisions for local authorities. As I said, this is a matter for the local authority. I think there’s a conflation there about what the reserves are for, but we are aware of the situation. We know that…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you for the question, Rhianon, and I am aware of the situation that you’ve mentioned. The Welsh Government does recognise the key role culture plays within communities across Wales, its contribution in terms of health and well-being, economic impacts…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Our Transforming Towns regeneration programme provides a co-ordinated package of support, providing local authorities with the opportunity to invest in town centres across Wales. Individual towns can benefit by identifying the mix of interventions that best…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you, Mark. As I said, we’re working very closely with RSLs, and I think that’s an important partnership approach, as well as with local government, because we all want to see as many people gaining access to their entitlement, as they are. Community…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thank you for the question, Jenny—it’s a really important one, and I commend you on the work that you’re doing in your area in particular, and I’m sure other Members will be doing that as well to do everything we can to ensure that people claim everything…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
The regulatory standards set the Welsh Government’s expectations for housing associations. These standards require associations to provide high-quality services and safe homes, as well as requiring that tenants should be able to influence strategic decisions…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, John. Absolutely. We've talked about empty properties today and said that they can be and they are a blight on our communities, and it's something that people feel when they're walking down the street and seeing these empty properties and thinking…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Rhys. I appreciate the work that you've done in this area over many years and have seen as well. I think it's important to also remember that the programme for government makes a commitment to reform housing law and fundamentally reform homelessness…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Mabon. Unpaid carers do an incredible amount of work, we know, up and down the country, and many of them actually don't identify as carers themselves. They're supporting loved ones and it's really something we should—. They deserve every accolade that…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Laura, and I indeed know Paul Murphy well, and Pride in Pill, and the incredible work they do within my constituency. As a constituency Member, I've been out with Pride in Pill myself and seen their work with homeless people, and it is really…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Carolyn. Thank you for that. The planning system makes a major contribution to the delivery of Welsh Government priority areas, including green growth, affordable housing provision and addressing the nature and climate emergencies. The First Minister…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Sioned, for raising that. Actually, it was a few weeks ago that I had some discussions with my colleague Mick Antoniw and some Ukrainian refugees within my constituency and some other colleagues around some of the issues the refugees from Ukraine are…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Janet, and thank you for your welcome as well today. You're absolutely right in terms of the people in temporary accommodation—they're individuals. We say the numbers, and we hear the numbers, but it's important to remember they're individuals in…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Mike—thank you for those points. I completely agree that empty homes can be a real blight and nuisance on our communities, and it is something, as you say, we all face in our postbags. Not only can they attract anti-social behaviour, but they pose…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Diolch, Siân. Thank you for that series of questions. We're not accepting homelessness in Wales, and we are actively working to tackle underlying structural issues, as set out in our White Paper on ending homelessness in Wales. Prevention, as you mentioned in…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More homes towards ending homelessness
Thank you for those points in your statement and the questions to me. There’s obviously a lot in there, so I’ll try and cover as much as I can. We set a very deliberately challenging and ambitious target on our social homes and our housing targets. We’re…
