3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on progress in implementing the financial inclusion action plan? OAQ(5)0123(CC)

I thank the Member for her question. Since publication of the financial inclusion delivery plan in December 2016, we have progressed many of the actions, by working with partner organisations across all sectors. An annual update will be published in December 2017, setting out the progress we’ve made.

Thank you very much for that answer. As part of your financial inclusion strategy, credit unions are required to provide outreach services and education, such as school savers clubs. But when I introduced the Financial Education and Inclusion (Wales) Bill, one of the key things we identified after consultation was the availability of these services throughout Wales. There would be some schools that will be amazing at doing it, and a school down the road that wouldn’t have anything at all. What can you assure me will be done to work with credit unions, so that they are not struggling to provide these services, when, potentially, funding for them could be reduced? We need to ensure that organisations that go into schools can do so across the board, as opposed to just having expertise in one school and not in the other.

Yes, of course. I think consistency is really important. The professionalism of the service is important too. We’ve done a lot of work with credit unions. Credit unions have provided £20.4 million worth of loans to more than 25,000 financially excluded members between April 2014 and September 2016. The latest funding of £422,000 was made available in 2017-18, which will help credit unions continue the financial support for excluded members and deliver action plans within the financial inclusion strategy.

I will consider the Member’s point in regard to consistency in areas and see what advice comes back. But I did visit a great credit union in Jayne Bryant’s constituency in Pill only a few weeks ago where the young people were starting to save for fantastic things that they wanted to buy for the future.

The financial inclusion plan states that its vision is for a Wales where, amongst other things, everyone can readily access their own money, whether by automated or over-the-counter means.’

That’s a quote from it. Tomorrow, I have finally managed to get a meeting with the HSBC bosses in Maesteg, where they’re planning to close their branch there. I appreciate you can’t comment on individual potential closures, but I do want to be able to tell them what pressure you can bring to bear on them, so that they take notice of your financial inclusion plan, particularly in areas where the cumulative effect of closures has a disproportionate effect on individual communities, perhaps who aren’t even well linked to broadband.

Suzy Davies, you can take from me my support for your meeting tomorrow with HSBC. Tell them that I hope that they can continue to support your community and many communities across Wales. A bank is a very organised centrepiece of a community, and we should continue, as much as we can, to encourage them to stay in the communities that you represent and I represent.