14. Will the Minister make a statement on the introduction of service charges for social housing tenants? OAQ(5)0011(CC)

I thank the Member for her question. The Welsh Government has not instructed social landlords to introduce new or additional service charges for their tenants. We have asked social landlords to separate rents and service charges where a renting pool system was applied. This is to increase openness and transparency for their tenants.

I was invited and attended a meeting in North Cornelly—thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary—however they were concerned that, within their rent, the service charges such as grass cutting and litter picking were included in their rent. They’d recently received from Valleys to Coast the introduced service charges for picking up litter. This has caused much dismay for these constituents, particularly as the neighbour next door may have purchased their house and wasn’t being charged likewise. So, Cabinet Secretary, charges such as these should not be introduced, particularly as they are levied against the poorest in society.

Well, as I said earlier, this wasn’t on the basis of introducing new charges; it was a breakdown of the charge that they were already receiving. So, your constituents could be very clear on what they were paying for or not. The process of them being now charged for grass cutting—. They were being charged for grass cutting before, but they probably didn’t know about it. It was bundled in as one charge, but now they are more aware. If the Member has specific issues she wishes to raise with me, I’m more than happy to take them up in my department.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary.