David Melding: Can I just congratulate Carers Wales, and indeed the Government, on the approach to having post-legislative scrutiny not done by us but done by a key charity? The findings really are quite sobering, saying that parts of the Act are not yet working as we would like. The Minister may have seen that only 45 per cent of those who responded said they'd seen or been given information to help them...
David Melding: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion in the name of Darren Millar. At the heart of this motion is the view that rough-sleeping can be ended as a systematic problem affecting the most vulnerable in our society and that building 40,000 more social homes in the 2020s will go a long way to ending homelessness in general. We believe these are now overriding priorities, and that is why we think the...
David Melding: This is a challenging area, Dirprwy Lywydd, and that's why I think we need a cross-party approach if we can achieve it. This area—in fact, I think housing in general, but particularly when we're looking at homelessness and rough-sleeping—is not about knockabout politics; it's about those practical measures that can achieve the objectives we all surely desire. And that's why I did try to...
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Could I thank all Members who've taken part in a very vigorous and, I think, constructive debate overall—some sharp edges; given the nature of the subject, that's probably entirely appropriate. Let me rattle through some of the contributions.
David Melding: Neil started with a walk through the streets of Cardiff, and I think that's a very evocative and appropriate way to start. I think the third sector are vital partners coming up with some good solutions. I don't have great sympathy with your remarks on that side of things, but I did think that tone of reminding us, really, of our own capital city was important. Leanne, I didn't mention...
David Melding: I'm pleased to give a broad welcome to this trial scheme in Wales, and I look forward to receiving the continual reports on its uptake from the sector. I obviously have some questions regarding how it will operate, and I have been in discussions with the sector. I note that the Residential Landlords Association have some reservations, particularly around the flexibility that landlords will be...
David Melding: First Minister, the Government, quite properly, has a range of sponsored public bodies that carry out vary specific tasks, and they're hugely important ones like the delivery of massive public services. What especially the latter needs, I think, is excellent governance at the board level, so that, in particular, the non-executive directors can ensure that the executive of those bodies are:...
David Melding: Minister, the roll out of smart meters—a UK programme, of course—but something that can be helped very much by Welsh Government, has stuttered recently. This is not the Welsh Government's fault, but it's important we get back on track, because particularly for those in fuel poverty, once we've switched completely to tariffs based on these meters and different rates through the day, it...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Diprwy Llywydd. Would you agree, Minister, that following your accusation that the private house building industry were creating the 'slums of the future'—comments you made earlier this year—that the Welsh Government has created a rather inhospitable environment for private house builders in Wales?
David Melding: Well, I'm glad you qualified those remarks and added some commendation to your appreciation of the sector, because I think you caused a lot of distress when you used that rhetoric about slums earlier this year. And the point is, we obviously need a housing market that brings together the public and private sector, large and small house builders, and national and local government in a positive...
David Melding: Having thrown a comment that I very much disagreed with at you, can I ask you to elaborate on what you were reported to have said to the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru in Swansea earlier this week? It's something I rather approve of. You said that: 'the "major flaw" with Right to Buy was not necessarily the selling off of council homes, but was instead not allowing councils to use the...
David Melding: I move my amendments in this group, which simply aim to change the designation in English of Assembly Members from 'Members of Senedd Cymru' to 'Members of the Welsh Parliament'. This was the aim of the amendments put forward by Alun Davies at Stage 2, which we in the Welsh Conservatives supported. I felt that it was appropriate that we once again put this option before Members at this stage...
David Melding: Well, I dare say that that's the very least you need to do now, but it doesn't give us a chance at this stage—the last stage, in effect, unless we have an extraordinary process and bring in a Report Stage—to interrogate the data. That's what I mean. But I do think we've already found the compromise, Rhun, I have to say, and that is for the legislation to state very clearly that we are...
