Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 11 January 2017.
The Sun’ newspaper will do what ‘The Sun’ newspaper does, if it merits the actual phrase of ‘newspaper’ being put after it. But, could I welcome both the question that’s been put and the positive way in which the Minister has responded? And, whilst some would argue from the right and the left, who are supporters of this approach for different reasons, that you cannot actually pilot it but you need to just do it, I would draw his attention to some interesting work that was done in 2013 in central London, where the equivalent of a minimum universal income was given to 13 homeless individuals, without conditions, with no conditionality, in the hope that something positive would happen. And, of course, the sceptics said ‘Well, that’ll be squandered and wasted.’ A year later, 11 of those were not only in homes, with accommodation, but many of them were actually in work as well. Now, I think this is an interesting area for us to explore, for us to examine, and potentially in future, as we see it evolve in other areas, for us to look at in Wales as well in one form or another. So I welcome the open-minded response that the Cabinet Secretary has indicated.