5. 5. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Future Housing Needs

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 7 June 2017.

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Photo of Carl Sargeant Carl Sargeant Labour 3:24, 7 June 2017

Okay, I will withdraw that. Half the millionaires who aren't on the front row have written to me in terms of not applying new homes.

Llywydd, I'm particularly keen to see SME house builders enter and re-enter the housing building sector. And the number of new homes being built in the UK by SMEs has fallen from around two thirds in the late 1980s to more than a quarter. Now, I plan to make a further announcement in the near future on how we can strengthen our support for SMEs.

Llywydd, I mentioned earlier I want to see a step change in how housing is delivered. I believe there is an opportunity to adopt a new approach to design and delivery. That's why I launched the £20 million innovative housing programme to specifically support alternative and new approaches to building houses, which will help the need of the challenges that Jenny Rathbone has raised with me on many occasions. Alternative, modern methods of construction give us the opportunity to bring people into the housing industry with a different skill set, and new design and delivery can help broaden the labour workforce who can contribute to home building.