3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the progress being made in meeting the Welsh housing quality standard? (OAQ51196)

I thank the Member for her question. All social landlords are on track to meet the standard by 2020. Latest annual statistics show that, at 31 March 2017, 192,302—86 per cent—of existing social housing now meet the standard, compared with 79 per cent for a year earlier. Over 15,000 households now live in better quality homes than in the previous year.

Diolch, Cabinet Secretary. The figures released, as you said, earlier this month, show that 86 per cent of all social housing dwellings met the Welsh housing quality standard by 31 March, which was a rise of seven percentage points, unlike in England where there has been disinvestment. This significant investment by Welsh Government is having a significant and far-reaching impact and indeed transforming lives. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline how we can ensure that this progress is maintained and advanced across Wales?

Llywydd, this is a good news story for us as the quality of homes is so important to people’s well-being. It’s also vital for us in achieving many of our other goals as a Government, including improving the nation’s health and well-being. Investment in improving and building homes also has a huge potential to create jobs and training opportunities in areas like Rhianon Passmore’s constituency, and we look forward to continuing that support for organisations to develop housing quality standards.

Cabinet Secretary, I recently visited the Solcer house in Bridgend as part of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee’s work, and was very enthusiastic to see the prospect of building homes now that actually produce more energy than they consume. Now, that house costs roughly twice as much as a normal build house but is not yet done to scale, and I understand that social housing does offer an opportunity to develop these products at scale, and they’re aesthetically pleasing and very efficient and offer huge benefits to people, especially those who may be in fuel poverty also.

I agree with the Member—it’s rather unusual, but, in terms of this point, he’s absolutely right in making sure that—. Actually, this is a clever investment for the future. It may cost a little bit more but it’s an investment for lower energy bills or decarbonisation; it ticks all of those boxes. I will be making an announcement shortly on the innovative housing schemes and it’s a case of watch this space.

I do support the objective of upgrading social housing, I really do, Cabinet Secretary. But I would like to ask what analysis have you made of the cost to the social landlords of upgrading the houses and the likelihood of that cost being passed on to future tenants via rent rises?

This is all measured within the business plans for associations and local authorities. We provide additional funding to ensure that they are no worse off. But it’s about making sure that housing is fit for the future and many households across all our constituencies are benefiting from this investment from Government and from the sector itself.