7. Will the Leader of the House make a statement on the progress of accommodation assessments for Gypsies and Travellers under the Housing Act (Wales) 2014? OAQ51418

Yes. Earlier this year the Welsh Government approved the Gypsy and Traveller accommodation assessments undertaken by Welsh local authorities, which identified a need for 237 residential and 33 transit pitches across Wales. A total of £26.4 million has been allocated between 2017 and 2021 to address this need, and I expect local authorities to deliver against the need.

Cabinet Secretary, we still have a problem with occupation of illegal sites, which causes great distress to neighbours around those sites, because they're not provided with the necessary facilities and infrastructure. There is still, obviously, a fairly slow identification of official sites that are appropriate to attract Gypsies and Travellers in places that they would want to settle for a while. So, can you give us any further information on how you're assessing these responses that you're having from local authorities on how they're going to implement this Act?

Yes. We have an annual review of how the local authorities are progressing. All 22 local authorities have responded to the request, and the findings of the first review show that good progress is being made in almost every area across Wales. A formal review of the Gypsy and Traveller accommodation assessment guidance will be undertaken in 2018, which will inform thinking about the next round of assessments after that. I'm aware of a number of issues that have been highlighted in various local authorities around Wales. I'm currently aware of 10 areas that have highlighted specific issue. I will be doing a tour of all of those areas to make sure I thoroughly understand the issues identified and that we can work with the councils in question to make sure that people's needs are met. When people are camping on unsatisfactory and not specific sites, then clearly that's not in the best interests of the people in the camps, and nor is it in the best interest of any of the people providing services or living around them.