Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 11 July 2017.
Joyce Watson is right in saying how important discretionary housing payments are. In fact, it was very clearly highlighted in the Shelter Cymru campaign, which I’m sure we all heard about last week—the Waste Not Want Not campaign—highlighting their concerns and raising awareness that people could be entitled to additional help through the discretionary housing payment scheme. Clearly, from the outset, in terms of my response, we must recognise that the discretionary housing payments are non-devolved and they are administered by local authorities on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. However, working in collaboration with Welsh local authorities, we have introduced improved guidance, ensuring more consistent handling of applications, targeting those in greatest need, and of course, that must include understanding—. Clearly, the Welsh Local Government Association has an opportunity here to spread the good practice from those authorities that the Member has highlighted, who are not only spending to the limit, but some of them are spending more and deciding that this must be a priority, such as Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.