The Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee visited the SOLCER house in Bridgend last week. Not only did we learn the results of the performance of this fantastic house as a power station, which is now generating more electricity than it’s using for nine months of the year, we also learnt about five different retrofits that Cardiff University and the other partners had undertaken, in five very different types of housing. And, certainly for affordable sums, they were able to completely transform these otherwise very-difficult-to-heat homes, including one that was a void—had been void for many years—and is now attracting a premium rent because of the quality of the housing it offers.

So, I’m fully aware that Arbed has done a great job—over £70 million over several years, and some 20,000 homes, I think, have been improved—but I wondered if we could have a statement from the Government on how the Warm Homes programme of the Welsh Government is going to tackle or accelerate the strategy, now that we know how we can retrofit existing homes, given that 80 per cent of the houses that are going to be lived in in 2030 have already been built. Not only do we need to build energy-efficient homes, but we need to, obviously, tackle the fuel poverty that many of our communities are suffering. So, I wondered if we could have a statement on how we can accelerate that programme, in the light of new understanding of how we can go about it.

The second point I wondered if we could have a statement on is that there was, last week, a report on the take-up in different local authorities of council tax discounts for carers of disabled and very sick people by local authority. And there was a huge differential between one local authority and another—in some cases, up to 77 times the take-up. So, I wondered if it’s possible to have a statement on the take-up in Wales, by local authority, of the council tax discount for carers, so that we can see which local authorities are properly promoting it.