I’m very grateful for the positive contribution that the Member makes and thank him for his kind words. A couple of points, I would—. This was really quite difficult at the start of this process, because tradition is hard to break. We talked to the team and they said, ‘So, what are the parameters around innovation?’ which is sort of self-defeating. I said, ‘There are no parameters around innovation for the very issue of that. Let people come to us with options that are available.’ However, that in itself causes problems, because we’re awash with innovation now and at some point in time we’re going to have to pin down what is deemed as good in order to tackle the issues that the Member raises, particularly around the scale.

There are lots of added value, other than just building a home, from the things that we talked about in the statement and the Member raises: so, the environmentally friendly way that these modular units are built, the effectiveness of tolerance on wasting materials, et cetera, the skills associated with that, the made-in-Wales solution. And there’s something in this. When the big law firms or insurance firms are investing in large factories to build modular units, there’s something in that, and that’s why we should be getting into that space: a made-in-Wales modular solution actually that is a product of Wales, which could be global. Actually, some of our technology that we’ve seen across Wales is world leading, so I’m really encouraged by that. Working with Ken Skates and Julie James around skills, supply chain, all of that whole progression about delivering an end unit, is something that I’m really excited about.

The particular product that the Member turned to, homes as power stations, I think is a really clever, innovative solution. I’ve already met with the company and I’ve already said to them, ‘We want a stake in this.’ Not because we’re being selfish about the Welsh public pound here, but actually the return on the energy that comes back—. Yes, that may be good for the estate, and good for the tenant of the property, but it could be used as a revenue cost for developing more homes for the future. So, this is a great way—an opportunity—of reinvesting the money created in housing for futureproofing a solution for the long term.

The cost is, of course, an interesting one at the moment, and I’m prepared to take risks. I said that in the statement. Some will flourish and some won’t because of various issues. We’ve got to take an approach for the whole lifetime of the home here. What I do know is that energy prices will continue to increase, so we’ve got to do something about tackling those issues. Therefore, a positive energy developing property is something that we should think about investing in. I’ve been very clear to my team. We are going to be making about £1.4 billion worth of investment in the housing stock over this term of Government. I am saying to them, ‘At what point in time should I say that half of that or a quarter of that should be only investing in and developing this type of property?’ And when I’ve got that innovation project and product that is good for Wales, good for people, do I then—or the Minister at that point in time—say, ‘As we do with the private sector, we only build six types of properties, from starter homes to mansions, if you like, but this is what it is: it is a power house. If you want social housing grant, we will only pay out on that’? I think that’s brave, but it’s the only way that, (1) we are going to get scale, and (2) it’s deliverable in Wales for the people of Wales. I think that’s the right thing to do; it’s just finding the right project. This will give us the opportunity to deliver on that.

I think that what is really important is that, collectively, we send the message out that we are not talking about the prefab of the 1960s. We are talking about a very different style at the very high technical end of modular units that are being developed for people. A colleague of mine from a local authority said to me—. His words were, ‘Sargey, you’re not going to put my grandmother in a metal box, are you?’ I said, ‘Technically, yes, but it’s not actually a metal box as such.’ He said, ‘I’ll work with you on this.’ Actually, I’ve seen some of these projects. They are amazing. You would never know that they were modular built. They look traditional. So, we have got a clever Wales, and long may it continue. This project is just the start of something good moving forward.