4. Will the Minister make a statement on the ability of Rent Smart Wales staff to respond to queries from members of the public? OAQ(5)0060(CC)

The Rent Smart Wales team has been under immense pressure, particularly in recent months, with the late rush of registrations. Inevitably, some queries have taken longer than usual to answer. I applaud the huge effort, though, put in by the team to manage demand, which includes recruiting more staff.

Cabinet Secretary, I heard your response to Bethan Jenkins earlier. When I raised this with the leader of the house recently, I was assured that you as Cabinet Secretary would look at this issue. With just one week to go, Rent Smart Wales appears to be, I would say, in chaos. It seems there are not sufficient staff to take calls. Some people are unable to make payments online and staff are completely overwhelmed by demand. This isn’t good enough, but do you think that it is right to bring forward legislation if you’ve not got sufficient resource to attach to it?

It’s absolutely the right thing to do. In fact, the Members opposite, I think, voted against the legislation so I’m not surprised you’re complaining about it now. Let me tell you about the staff. I’ve visited the facility, and I dare say I don’t think the Member has visited the facility, and to suggest that they’re in chaos is just completely rubbish. As of midnight last night, 11 months after Rent Smart Wales came into force, almost 50,000 landlords were fully registered with Rent Smart Wales, with 1,100 registrations being completed yesterday alone. I don’t think that’s an organisation in chaos. They’re doing a very good job. The fact is, this has been an 11-month process to register, so don’t come and claim to me that today the programme is in chaos—the Member wasn’t supportive of it when we introduced it; I’m not surprised he isn’t now.

I’m really surprised to hear the Minister say that it’s not in chaos, really. I think that’s, basically, perfectly evident. As you’re stood here today, more than half of landlords have not registered. So, my question is: will you extend the deadline to avoid criminalising decent, hard-working people?

Well, you’re—. ‘No’, is the answer to the Member’s question, and I haven’t said we’re going to criminalise them, either. You’re making that up again, as you do on your leaflets, generally.