Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:42 pm on 22 June 2016.
I thank the Member for her question. It’s something that my officials alerted me to as soon as I became Cabinet Secretary. The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the local housing allowance, which is a non-devolved matter as the Member knows. But this is again a reflection of what I said earlier; the fact is that the UK Government are making alterations to the welfare state, which have an impact on devolved services. So, this doesn’t stop the pressure in the system—it just moves the pressure. The unfortunate part of this is that people are involved in this whole process. The Welsh Government did raise concerns with the UK Ministers at the time regarding these changes, and we continue to raise the issue of impact assessments with the UK Government.