Julie James: I wish that I could say just 'yes' to that—I am looking at it. I'm about to meet with Crisis to talk through where we are with that, and I've commissioned a brief for myself. Housing is a new area for me, and I've only been in post for however many weeks it is—six weeks or something. So, I've commissioned a brief for myself around that report to understand where we are at the moment, and...
Julie James: We are looking to review the whole concept of priority. We've got a review ongoing at the moment, which I inherited from my predecessor in post, Rebecca Evans. I share entirely the sentiments that the Member is expressing there in terms of homelessness. It's a really complex problem, as she knows. I know that she knows that. I completely agree with the statement about warehousing and so on....
Julie James: It's a very, very difficult thing, isn't it, to know exactly what to do when you encounter somebody who is street homeless, and I do understand entirely the impulse that people have to do something immediate for somebody in those circumstances. The difficulty is that we know that, once people have a tent of that sort, they actually access other support services less well, and in a strange...
Julie James: Yes, I completely agree with that. There are a number of policy areas that we're hoping to pull together in a more effective way—so, the housing issues that you've already mentioned and that I've mentioned in the previous two answers. But, we've just done the review of 'Planning Policy Wales' in the middle of December, and that shifts to a more place-based approach, in general, to the...
Julie James: Yes, I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to do that. I don't think we can do it at the moment, and, frankly, I haven't asked the question at that level of detail, but I will—I'm very happy to do so. But yes, we absolutely will have a record of where we've lent the money and on what sites, and clearly what we're looking to do here is two things simultaneously: we're looking to...
Julie James: The Welsh Government has a strong track record in supporting small and medium-sized house building enterprises. We provide support directly and, where possible, provide advice to local authorities and other housing partners.
Julie James: The scheme is quite complex, and we are initially starting off on publicly owned land. So, there'll be a conversation to be had about the value of that land and how it's valued for the scheme. What we're doing is we're basically looking to smooth out the process for people who wouldn't have the resource to do that, so we're looking to have plots that are ready to build on so that they'd be...
Julie James: Yes. I am very pleased that, last week, the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd announced £40 million for Self Build Wales. Developed in collaboration with partners across the sector, I am confident this innovative scheme, the first of its kind, will be a huge success when it launches properly later this year.
Julie James: Part L of the building regulations, covering the conservation of fuel and power, sets energy efficiency requirements for new buildings. Part L is currently being reviewed with the intention to achieve a significant step towards zero-carbon new housing. A public consultation on proposals is anticipated this summer.
Julie James: A written statement setting out the future role of the community and town council sector in Wales was issued on 30 November.
Julie James: We are investing £90 million over three years to support innovative housing schemes across Wales. There are currently 45 innovative schemes benefiting from our investment. I will announce additional schemes successful in the third year of the innovative housing programme, from both the private and public sector, later this year.
Julie James: A range of grant programmes enable the adaptation of existing social housing to meet disabled tenants’ needs. We are investing for the future with specialist housing-led projects funded through the integrated care fund and by requiring that our new-build social housing is built to the lifetime homes standard.
Julie James: Provision of health services should be considered during local development plan preparation, providing certainty for communities, developers and local health board investment decisions. Planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Where necessary, health boards may be consulted on planning applications.
Julie James: Thank you for that contribution. I often have much to agree on with David Melding, and I appreciate the sentiments he expressed there. I, for one, am absolutely delighted that we've stopped the right to buy, and it's a matter of some discourse between us, but I understand his sentiments on it. From our point of view, the Act was necessary to ensure the protection of our vital social housing...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion. Following the consideration and passing of the Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Act 2018 by the Assembly last year, and subsequently its commencement Order, we will see full abolition of the right to buy in Wales on 26 January 2019. The consequential amendments and savings provisions regulations before you today will ensure that...
Julie James: Yes, the Member's absolutely right. We have put in place a range of engagement exercises with local authorities. It's a standing item on the partnership council, but in addition to that we've put in place a new engagement structure, the local government EU preparedness advisory panel, and we've also got an internal Welsh Government-local government EU co-ordination group. We agreed in...
Julie James: The Member makes an important point. At the partnership council that I chaired very recently to discuss the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit, this issue was very much a topic on the agenda, to ensure that, as I said in response to Leanne Wood, the supply chain is looked at in detail for the preparation of things like school meals or meals on wheels and those kinds of provisions—care homes,...
Julie James: Well, I very much agree with the tenor and the content of the Member's remarks. In terms of far-right activity, I did say briefly in my statement that we are reinforcing the community cohesion arrangements that we have in place. We already fund the regional community cohesion co-ordinators. They're very much part of the resilience fora and the preparedness, for exactly the reason that she...
Julie James: Thank you for that series of comments. The Member will not be at all surprised to discover that I disagreed with almost all of the first third of his remarks. I'm always very astonished by how sure people are what people voted for exactly. So, I don't know how you're so sure that people didn't vote to stay in the customs union and the single market. I, personally, am not sure of that. I have...
Julie James: The work to assess impacts and put mitigation in place is critical in minimising the need for a civil contingency response. For Brexit and for a 'no deal' Brexit, we are working through a range of partnerships, including the Wales resilience forum, the joint emergency services group and directly with the four local resilience forums across Wales. Specifically, we are building on our...
