Rebecca Evans: I thank you for that question, and certainly we are expanding our approach to housing first, commissioning new housing first projects to help people into their own tenancies and increasing access to emergency accommodation. The previous Minister did provide some additional funding to improve and increase the capacity of emergency accommodation, particularly in the Cardiff area. But I agree...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for that question. As you'd imagine, tackling the issue of rough-sleeping is a priority for Welsh Government and a personal priority for me, especially at this particular time of year, as we're noticing the weather getting colder and we are actually seeing increased numbers of people sleeping on our streets. So, in 2016, Welsh Government improved the national rough-sleeper count,...
Rebecca Evans: The UK Autumn Budget changes mean the introduction of Universal Credit full-service in Anglesey will now be June 2018. I have not yet had specific conversations with organisations in Anglesey, but we will continue to work closely with local authorities to help them prepare for the roll out of Universal Credit through the Universal Credit Advisory Group for Wales.
Rebecca Evans: Meeting the housing needs of everyone in Wales is a core theme of Prosperity for All, reflecting the importance we place on this issue. The Private Rented Sector is an important partner in meeting this challenge. Following the Welsh Government’s consultation on the issue, I will shortly be making a statement on our approach to fees charged to tenants in the Private Rented Sector.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. The notice period between Royal Assent and final abolition strikes the right balance between protecting social housing stock and giving tenants reasonable notice that the rights are ending. Provisions within the Bill ensure that tenants will receive information within two months of Royal Assent. This gives them a further 10 months before final abolition to submit an application to...
Rebecca Evans: As we've heard, amendment 10 seeks to leave out the words 'or expedient' from section 9, which provides for the power to make consequential amendments. Section 9 confers powers on the Welsh Ministers to make consequential provision if they consider it necessary or expedient to do so, in consequence of a provision made by the Bill, or made under it. The word 'expedient' has its own meaning in...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. This group of amendments relates to the requirements of landlords in respect of the provision of information for tenants and prospective tenants. These amendments ensure that landlords, in giving the information to their tenants, have regard to their needs and provide information in an appropriate way. I share Bethan Jenkins’s wish to ensure that tenants receive clear and...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Llywydd. This group of amendments relates to section 8, concerning the Welsh Ministers' duties to provide information to landlords. Of course I share David Melding’s wish to ensure that all relevant parties are aware of abolition, and I commit to make every effort to ensure all landlords are aware of their duty in this respect. Indeed, Government amendments at Stage 2 revised...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Llywydd. The aim of this Bill is to abolish permanently the right to buy and the right to acquire in Wales. I'm afraid this amendment does cause the Government difficulty because it is complete abolition that provides a significant incentive for social landlords to invest in new properties, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be lost through the right to buy after a...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I would like, at the start of my contribution, to acknowledge and pay tribute to Carl Sargeant for his leadership in introducing this Bill, and for his commitment and his hard work in seeing it through Stages 1 and 2. I'd also like to thank Assembly Members and, in particular, committee members, for their constructive scrutiny of the Bill during Stage 1 and Stage 2 proceedings,...
Rebecca Evans: Formally moved.
Rebecca Evans: Long before I had the huge privilege of serving as Carl's deputy in Government, I worked for him here as his researcher while he was still on the back benches. Even back then, Carl put his own unique and colourful stamp on everything he did, and our office was no different. I'm quietly confident that our office was the first, and to this date the only, office to boast a fluffy white...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Llywydd. I move the motion. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, which was commenced in April last year, brings together local authorities’ duties and functions in relation to improving the well-being of people who need care and support and carers who need support into a single Act. The regulations before you today seek to make minor technical amendments to...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions and your broad support for the Bill. I would completely agree with you that this is a much wider cultural issue that we are dealing with here and minimum unit pricing is only part of the answer. The answer lies in a much wider suite of measures that goes all the way from education through to supporting families in the home where there might be alcohol problems,...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for those comments. And, of course, Jenny Rathbone has long been a proponent of this particular approach, and has lobbied the Government very strongly on this particular issue as well. So, I thank you for the work that you’ve been doing in preparation for this, for the introduction of the Bill. And you make an important point, which I think has been lost in a lot of...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for those questions, and also for outlining your support for this particular approach through legislation. I referred earlier to the modelling work that has been undertaken, which demonstrates that moderate drinkers, for example, would only increase their spending by £2 a year, but would decrease their consumption by six units a year. And, as I say, we’re having that modelling...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those comments and for reminding us at the start of your contribution about the importance of this legislation in terms of tackling health inequalities in Wales, and also some of the health benefits that we would expect to see from the legislation, not least saving 50 or more lives a year as a result of the legislation and 1,400 fewer hospital admissions in Wales as a...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for those questions and I do look forward to continued robust discussion and debate as the Bill moves forward to the scrutiny stages, and I’m sure that we’ll certainly be having a strong discussion in terms of the evidence base that underpins the proposals that we are making. I think it’s fair to say that it is a novel approach, and I think that we both would...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for those questions, and also for indicating Plaid Cymru’s long-standing support for this particular approach. In terms of how the minimum unit price itself will be calculated, that is expressed on the face of the Bill, and that’s by multiplying the minimum unit price at what it is set by the percentage of alcohol and by the volume of the alcohol being sold. The...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very, very much for those questions and for outlining the support for the aims and the principles of the Bill. I think that we all reflect on the previous public health Bill and the important role that scrutiny played in that, and certainly in strengthening the Bill and in testing the Bill, and I think that we can look forward to similarly robust scrutiny as this Bill makes its...
