The next item is the statement by the Minister for Housing and Regeneration on tackling rough-sleeping and homelessness. I call on the Minister to make her statement—Rebecca Evans.

We all need a decent home if we are to realise our potential and enjoy basic well-being. Thousands of households have avoided homelessness through the preventative approach required under our Housing (Wales) Act 2014 legislation, which is the envy of other countries. But we still have much to do. We have all seen people living on the streets, and, clearly, the numbers have grown. Talking to people I meet, I hear distressing accounts of family breakdown, domestic violence, mental ill health, financial problems, substance misuse and bereavement. These issues lead to people losing their homes, but then they can then create a vicious cycle, leading to rough-sleeping. All too often, people become trapped in this situation, and their trust in services may be undermined, and their lives become more chaotic. The rough-sleeper national statistical release was published last week, showing the results of the November 2017 count. The figures show that the two-week estimate is up 10 per cent compared to 2016, and the one-night snapshot shows a 33 per cent increase. This is disappointing in the face of our efforts and investment, but not unexpected, and I believe it largely reflects the increasing effects of continued austerity, increased in-work poverty, and welfare reform.

The £2.6 million announced last summer is funding a range of innovative projects, supporting the needs of rough-sleepers. The PATH programme, designed in partnership with Public Health Wales, Cymorth Cymru and the Welsh Local Government Association, seeks to establish a psychologically informed approach to housing advice and support services. There has been an overwhelmingly positive response to this training programme, to help professionals in the sector enhance their ability to engage meaningfully with people with the most complex needs. By the end of April, we will have provided training to 1,000 support staff across Wales.

We are funding 10 housing first pilot projects. The evidence of success from housing first approaches is well documented, but it's not a solution for everyone. However, it can be the route to stable housing and getting lives back on track. The Wallich, for example, has been providing a housing first service in Ynys Môn for some years, supporting people with complex needs to access and sustain their tenancy. We have funded research, which will report over the next few months, evaluating the impact of Part 2 of the housing Act, and the impact of legislation on former prisoners. Shelter Cymru will be reporting on the experiences of rough-sleepers in our cities, and this evidence will add to the body of knowledge such as the recent Crisis report on what works in their homelessness monitor.

We have a firm foundation for our next steps, working with stakeholders to develop policy, practice and guidance, drawing on the best international evidence, backed up by our own action research. We have the funding in place to invest in programmes and approaches that make a difference. Local authorities will have an additional £6 million in their revenue settlements. I will work with local government to ensure this delivers the secure long-term funding for which the Wales Audit Office recently called. A further £2.8 million is being channelled to local authorities to build on statutory prevention work, with a focus on improving access to the private rented sector, application of trauma-informed practice, strengthening services to people with mental ill health and/or substance misuse problems—including improved joint working between housing and mental health and substance misuse services—and action to prevent youth homelessness and reduce rough-sleeping. Talking to front-line workers, I repeatedly hear the message that the roof is the easy bit. People need help to overcome debt, deal with the effects of domestic abuse, poor mental health and substance misuse. And these issues, if not resolved, result in repeat homelessness.

Today, I am pleased to be launching two new policy documents. The first sets out principles for taking housing first forward across Wales. The second is an action plan to reduce rough-sleeping. And these are living documents. They will form the basis of dialogue and action across the sector. They will change as we acquire more evidence of what works, and they can build on successes. We have developed our housing first principles working with stakeholders, including the Wallich and local authorities. There is strong evidence that housing first works, but it works best where the core principles are adhered to: housing with no strings attached, ready and available support services, and a small fund to help meet individual needs. The principles document sets these principles out, and my officials and I will work with key partners over the coming months to explore how we can best use existing resources to support delivery of programmes based on these principles.

The action plan reflects my determination, and that of our partners, to significantly reduce the number of people forced to sleep on the streets. This plan has been developed in partnership with stakeholders such as Shelter Cymru and members of Rough Sleepers Cymru. It is a dynamic working document, subject to continuous review and change as necessary. The document covers a spectrum of activity, supporting people to engage with services and get off the streets as quickly as possible. It also addresses wider issues such as a review of priority need and our guidance on cold weather plans.

Rough-sleeping is one aspect of homelessness, and we can only truly address the issue if we have a system that offers secure housing for all. Building market homes and expanding social housing stock can only go so far to achieving this objective. I will work with the private rented sector to find innovative ways to harness their supply and meet demand. I will also be looking at how we continue to reduce the number of homes lying empty. The funding announced in the budget is welcome, but we must spend it carefully. I have deliberately not laid out how every penny will be spent. I intend to review progress and the evidence from the pilots alongside the research reports due in the spring and summer. I will also work with partners to consider what is needed most to develop our approach to rough-sleeping.

We all recognise the challenges in delivering collaborative services. It will require new ways of working and significant cultural change. I believe we have a good track record of delivery on homelessness prevention. This Government will continue to provide the leadership to ensure we deliver a reduction in rough-sleeping and end the need for people to sleep rough. Thank you.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

Can I welcome the fact that the Welsh Government is now moving to adopt a housing first policy, or at least to extensively pilot it? It's something the Welsh Conservatives have been urging for some time, and I'm pleased to see it.

I do have some specific questions, however. First of all, how many of the pilots will be on a county basis, or are they on a smaller scale? I think we need to know how comprehensive the pilots will be in the areas where they are applied. I would urge us looking at a county level to really see whether this type of policy is going to work if we roll it out across Wales. I would like more detail on when the pilots will be evaluated so that we can make that determination, because many of us believe, from the evidence that we've observed, that this offers the best hope for the future.

Surely the Government now needs to review its attitude to the Supporting People fund. It's at the heart of the housing first approach, the support services that people receive, and you will know that those in the sector, like the Wallich, have been urging an urgent review and a reversal of Government policy in this area. I must commend the Minister. You did say in touching on this subject that putting a roof over someone's head is the first vital step but it's not the most challenging thing. In sustaining that improvement, it's the support that people get. So, I just want to know how coherent the Government's approach is. Obviously, if you're going to re-badge it and call it something else, I'm not particularly bothered, but at the moment there's been a reversal out of this type of approach by the Welsh Government.

Can I say, Deputy Presiding Officer, that I think we do need a target date for ending rough-sleeping? We know that, in Manchester, they've set a highly ambitious target of 2020. The UK Government target is for mid-2020s—2027, I think. I would like to see a more ambitious target than that, but it's perhaps somewhere in between—maybe an interim target that we could initially establish. And if we do see successful policy development here—and you will get widespread support, I think, for the innovations that are seen to be working—then we could, perhaps, advance that target and really be a leader in this sector, as Manchester at the moment are hoping to be.

Regarding the independent private sectors, I will give you credit for at least, in the statement, mentioning this because it is an important part of the solution, and I would like to know if you've been having any direct discussions, particularly with the private sector, because you do refer to the Wallich and other charities like Shelter, but I do think that private providers are going to be part of the solution as well, and I'd like to know what sort of discussions you're having. And I'm not quite sure of the rationale behind what you're saying in terms of you not intending to spell out the budget in great detail. I mean, the one advantage of being more candid on your spending commitments is that you will give much more information to the independent private sectors, so that they can then plan their services in terms of expansion for the future.

Finally, on house building, I'm not going to rehearse the whole argument. Of course, we need more supply, and for that, given that we're talking about medium and longer term targets here—well into the 2020s and even beyond—you do need to return to the assessment of housing need, and I think the Holmans projection is the one we should be adopting and working towards fulfilling, and I'd urge you to do that as soon as possible.

I thank you very much for those questions and for your welcome of the housing first approach. I certainly recall it was the first question that you asked me about when I came into this portfolio, so I'm glad to be able to be making some progress on this, I think, very much shared agenda of promotion of housing first.

We've approved funding for a number of projects and they are with local authorities. So, Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Conwy and Swansea have already recruited staff teams and are already moving tenants into accommodation using that housing first model. But as a condition of that funding, local authorities do have to provide us with feedback on the development and the impact of each of those schemes, and we'll be using that information to update and take forward the principles as we seek to move things out further across Wales, because both of the documents launched today are very much living documents and they'll be changing and responding to the evidence that comes forward to us and to the things that we're hearing as the housing first principles are rolled out. We know it's worked well in areas of America, and we know it's worked well in Finland, but there might be specific issues that we need to look at addressing in Wales, which is why we've got the principles, which are very much embedded in our policy and in our legislation that we have already—our Housing (Wales) Act 2014, for example, and our approach through the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to have all policy with the individual at the centre and always giving the individual the opportunity to have that voice and that control in the decisions that are made about them and ensuring that those decisions are made with them as well.

With regard to the Supporting People funding, I've been really clear that I am in listening mode at the moment. No decisions have been taken with regard to the funding for the second year. We're looking closely at the pathfinder projects that are taking place in seven of those local authorities that have the full flexibility across those 10 grants, and also the other local authorities with a 15 per cent flexibility as well, to see if it does give us the improved services for people who are experiencing or who do need support in order to maintain their home.

As I say, no decisions have been made. I've been listening carefully to individuals in receipt of Supporting People. Cymorth Cymru recently held a series of round-tables across Wales. I was pleased to attend the one in Carmarthen where I heard from people who spoke about the impact that Supporting People's had on their lives, and talked quite powerfully, really, about where they thought their lives would be if they hadn't had the support of Supporting People. So, there's no doubt at all that Supporting People is an important initiative that does have a huge impact on the lives of some of our most vulnerable people. I've also met with and had visits with a variety of organisations, from the Wallich, Shelter, Caer Las and others in order to try and understand the different projects that are taking place locally, because, obviously, the breadth of people and the breadth of vulnerabilities that are supported is quite something.

With regard to a target date for ending rough-sleeping, I think there's an inherent problem, really, in the data that we have for rough-sleeping. In my introduction I talked about how the two-week figures showed an increase of 10 per cent, whereas the one-night snapshot showed an increase of 33 per cent. It's extremely difficult to measure rough-sleeping, which is why I'm really pleased that the Wallich is undertaking some work to have a much more comprehensive look at the individuals who are rough-sleeping to take forward more of an individual casework approach, so that we do understand the lives of those individuals, because there are only a relatively small number of people rough-sleeping in Wales. It's too many, but there's no reason why we shouldn't have a better understanding of each of those individuals and understand better how to support them off the streets and into housing, and deal with all of those other issues that we've talked about: mental health, substance misuse, domestic violence and so on as well.

I'm really keen to see what we can do to encourage the private rented sector to take more individuals who are coming straight off the streets. There's some really good work being done again by the Wallich in Bridgend in this regard. I've spoken to the National Landlords Association and other organisations representing the private rented sector and I've been really clear that I am keen to hear their ideas. I'm keen to hear from the private rented sector and from landlords themselves what they see as the barriers to taking people who are more vulnerable. Sometimes it is a case of bonds, and we've had very successful bond schemes for many years now, in which Welsh Government provides the bond for the individual, so lessening some of that risk for the landlords themselves.

In terms of where do we take funding next? I would expect some of the future funding priorities to be around access to the private rented sector, but also application of those trauma-informed practice and psychologically informed environment ways of working, and strengthening the delivery of services to people with mental ill health and substance misuse problems, alongside improving the implementation of the national pathway for homelessness services for children, young people and adults in the secure estate, because we know that homelessness amongst those groups of people can be particularly acute as well.

I hope I've addressed as many of those questions as possible.

Thank you for the statements today. I'm pleased that there is extra funding over coming years for homelessness prevention and reaction. In the past, there has been focus on preventative measures, but perhaps there has been an eye taken off the ball to the growing extent of the crisis, with those slipping through the gaps of the services that are meant to be preventative.

However, reading through the action plan outlined today, I've immediately noticed one glaring problem, which is a major contributory factor to people falling through the gaps of preventative services, and that is that there's no clear commitment to remove priority need. As I've said in this Chamber before, we won't properly tackle the problem of street-sleeping while perceptions and, in fact, procedures remain that deter and deny permanent housing and accommodation to those who need it.

I understand there is a commitment to consider modifying legislation in 2020, but I think this is too far away and we need to have that consideration sooner so that we can legislate sooner still. And that is something that we need to look at because it is a huge contributory factor to rough-sleeping. People from across the sector—I've also done the visits you've done—are saying that removing priority need is something that would really help them. When I asked them what their wish list is, that is at the top of their wish list. 

I do welcome the plans for pilot projects throughout Wales for housing first, and I've also heard some of the successes via our committee visit to the Salvation Army recently. But I will say, and I hope it's just the guiding principles that are coming here—and I hope that's what you'll confirm because I do think it's quite vague in relation to funding. I hope the statutory element that you're going to release afterwards will come up with more meat on the bones because I'd like to know, for example, how it's going to be funded. It says you would expect local authorities to make the decision. Is it more or less an opt-in, opt-out-type agenda? And you say that it won't suit some people. From looking at research, if you do housing first properly, it could be rolled out as a flagship policy, not just as an option for housing associations, or for whoever is providing. I do think that it could be that effective if we put out a bold statement to that aim. 

But I'd like to be confident, for example, that the numbers of new homes outlined in the affordable homes strategy will be enough to be effective. If housing first needs, for example, more housing—how will you be able to accommodate that if the numbers are not high enough within the strategy already announced?

I'd also like to touch on some of the extra money announced, and again, as I've said before, there is a lack of detail here, but I hear what you're saying—that you want to keep some of the money back to be flexible, but I think, in particular, it's relating to the youth homelessness announcement by the First Minister before Christmas. I've already pointed out, but I think it's worth saying again that I don't think it's appropriate to put these statements out in the public arena before they come here. I understand that that money is for 2019-20, so I'm really confused as to why a statement was made last December for money that will be made available later on down the road.

I've also had housing associations and others telling me that they want to get involved in the youth homelessness partnership. There was a photo of you and the First Minister alongside Llamau and the future generations commissioner, but other people didn't know much about it, and when I clicked on the link, it clicked over to Llamau as opposed to the Welsh Government's website. And when I've gone on today, again, there's not any information as to who is part of it, how you can be part of it, or how people can shape that. So, I'm getting those requests from the third sector, so I would love it if you could explain to me fully, today, how people can get involved in that youth homelessness partnership. 

My final question is: you've referred twice to mental health and substance misuse—again, fundamentals to this whole agenda—how are you going to improve mental health provision? Because, again, when we went to the Salvation Army a few weeks ago, they were saying that they had to wait and wait and wait, and by that time, their health had deteriorated. So, how can we make sure that when people in these quite intense situations want mental health support, they can get it?

I thank you for those questions. I do think it's important that we keep our eye, both on the preventative side of things but also on the sharp end of homelessness, if you like, in terms of tackling rough-sleeping.

Our preventative approach has been very successful. Since the housing Act came into force fewer than two years ago, 13,000 families or 13,000 households have avoided homelessness as a result of the actions taken in response to the legislative requirements under the Act. So, I think that demonstrates that the Act has been very successful in terms of preventing people losing their homes or becoming homeless. But, obviously, there is still much more work to do as well.

In terms of priority need, you'll recall that, in the debate that we had, which enveloped this subject, over the last month or so, I did indicate that I am prepared to review the legislation on priority need and how it works for rough-sleepers and some vulnerable groups in particular. I think we need to ensure that any action and any decision taken, though, has to be evidence based, which is why I'm looking forward to the independent evaluation of the implementation of the Housing (Wales) Act, and that's been commissioned from the University of Salford. 

We have another piece of work, which is due early this year, from Wrexham Glyndŵr University on looking specifically at the impact of the legislation on prisoners and those leaving custody. And also, Shelter Cymru are undertaking some research in Wrexham, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport, reviewing the experiences of rough-sleepers, so talking to people on the streets, giving us some insight into what's led them to rough-sleeping, and how their situation could've been avoided. I think all of these pieces of research are going to be really important in terms of how we take forward the agenda in terms of priority need.

I'm really keen that it has to be evidence based, because we know that the situation in Scotland, for example, where there has been a blanket removal of the remaining concept of priority need, has had some unintended consequences, for example pushing increasing numbers of households into inappropriate accommodation for extended periods of time. So, I would be keen to avoid that, so any action that we do take with regard to the removal of priority need does have to be evidence based. That said, I'm very sympathetic to the concept of it, because I see things through the lens of the social services and well-being Act, which is about looking at the individual and their needs; it's not about looking at the individual as a category or as a box that they might fall into. So, I'm sympathetic to it, and it's something I very much want to explore further.

The funding for housing first has come through a funding stream of £2.6 million, and that was essentially to provide, I suppose, the opportunity to kick-start some of this, but I want to see housing first as very much a part of the normal way in which we would be dealing with people who are experiencing rough-sleeping. So, it really is a move to see how we can make this part and parcel of the package that we offer to people who are rough-sleeping, rather than specific pilot projects. I think we're at the start of a journey, rather than at the end of a journey on this at the moment.

We're all on the same page, as well, on the need to be building more houses more quickly. I'm very keen, as I've spoken about before, to see how we can unlock the potential of the small and medium-sized enterprises sector, which has been hard hit in recent years. I've had meetings with the Federation of Small Businesses and others to explore the barriers to building amongst SMEs. It's not the complete answer, because they're not going to be building at the kind of scale that we need, but I do think they are important players in this as well.

I'm looking, as well, to see what we can do to unlock some of the stalled sites that we have across Wales in terms of bringing forward land for housing, looking at Welsh Government land—what land can we be bringing forward from the Welsh Government to support house building as well? So, there's a lot of work going on within that particular area, as well.

The youth homelessness agenda and the £10 million—you're right that that funding does relate to 2019-20. As I've said before, I'm keen to hear all ideas as to what we really need to be doing to tackle youth homelessness. I was there at the launch of the End Youth Homelessness campaign, the launch of the coalition, over in the Wales Millennium Centre. It was very clear at that launch that this wasn't just about Government, it's not about one or two organisations, actually, it's much wider than that. It's about the housing sector as a whole. But, at the launch, it was very clear that this coalition needs to be involving local businesses, it needs to be involving charities beyond the housing sector, so I'm very keen to be involving as many people as possible, because youth homelessness is something that we should all be concerned about. So, if there are organisations and individuals who've expressed their concerns to you that, perhaps, they're not being as involved and that their enthusiasm and their offer isn't being used, then I'd certainly be keen to be approaching them to see how we can work together as well.

You also mentioned the issue of mental ill health as well, and we know there is a strong correlation between mental ill health and homelessness. I think around 40 per cent of homeless people are likely to be using accident and emergency services as their first point of accessing the health service, which tells us that, actually, a huge number of people don't have any kind of ongoing, long-term support from the health system. So, we clearly need to be taking forward work on that, and it is an objective within our mental health delivery plan to enable people with mental ill health to have fair access to housing and related support, and to promote access to mental health services amongst people who are homeless or vulnerably housed. So, that's a piece of work that we obviously need to be putting a great deal of effort into, and it is a piece of work, also, that housing first obviously dovetails very well with, in the sense that it is about getting the roof over somebody's head first and then build around them that package of support, in order to help them move on with their lives and deal with the many issues that, as we know, people on the streets often face.

Of course, it's not only rough-sleepers who are homeless. There's a number of people, probably not many miles from here today, who will be sofa surfing tonight—moving from friend's house to friend's house, and many of them end up on the streets when they run out of friends. I don't mean that unkindly, but that's what actually happens. They use the good wishes and goodwill of their friends for a certain period of time, that runs out, and then their ability to have a roof over their head runs out.

There's also a number of people who are inadequately housed, living in cold, damp and unhealthy conditions, and all these things have a huge effect on health. The 1945-51 Labour Government put health and housing together, because they knew how important housing was for people's health.

There are a lot of voluntary organisations involved. In Swansea, we have the Sisters of Mercy, the Wallich and Caer Las, all being involved, all doing a phenomenally good job, but we still have people who will be sleeping on the streets of Swansea tonight.

What causes homelessness? Debt, and universal credit can only make this worse, but also people on flexible contracts—or what I call exploitative contracts—where they're okay when they're working the hours they've worked regularly, but when they go back to their basic hours, which are somewhere between nought and six, all of a sudden they find themselves unable to pay their rent. Many of them, if they are unwell, will obviously go back to having no income at all, and trying to find their way through the benefits system, having been working irregular hours, means that eventually their landlord will evict them.

There's a drug and alcohol problem that is having an effect, and a number of people on the streets have drug and alcohol addiction. I think, in some ways, that's what the user needs to kill the pain of sleeping rough. I think that we can judge people for doing these things, but if we were actually sleeping rough at night, something to kill the pain may well be an advantage to us. Because we'll all go back to nice, warm houses with central heating, then perhaps thinking about those who don't have those advantages really is something we need to do. 

No-one should be sleeping rough. There's no reason why anybody should be sleeping out on the streets. There is, of course, a shortage of social housing, and this is where I disagree with Bethan Jenkins: increasing the demand side does not increase the supply side in housing. Giving more people a right to a house doesn't create one extra house. There's a desperate need for more council housing, and that is the answer to the housing crisis: council housing. Now we've done away with the right to buy, councils then don't have that sword of Damocles over their heads, that they build 10 houses, five get sold at a discount, and they end up making a loss on those houses. They can now build, and we need to be encouraging councils to build.

I've got two questions for the Minister. The first one is: what support is the Welsh Government giving to councils to build council houses, which I believe is the route out of dealing with homelessness? The second is a much more short-term problem: what financial support is the Welsh Government giving to build more night shelters, which should improve the lot, if not make right the problem, for people who are sleeping rough? These are capital rather than revenue costs, and we perhaps ought to be looking at using capital, even some of that loan capital we've had, in order to do some of these things, which will be of benefit and may actually raise money in order to pay it back.

Thank you very much for those questions. Mike Hedges is completely right to point out to us that, actually, when we're talking about homelessness, we're not talking only about rough-sleeping, although that is the most visible part of it. Estimates suggest that there might be 30 people sofa surfing or in other kinds of temporary accommodation for every person who we see sleeping on the streets. When we ask people what the reasons are that they became homeless, actually, a lot of the time, it is because a parent or a friend or a relative was no longer willing to accommodate them. So, for many people, although they might have a roof over their head tonight, it is a precarious one, and their situation could change at any time.

I also was pleased that Mike mentioned that we shouldn't be judgmental about people who are rough-sleepers and people who we see on the streets, because I'm very keen that we do take a trauma-informed approach, and that we consider adverse childhood experiences. Any person I've spoken to who has been in a homeless situation, or who's experiencing substance misuse, actually the kind of story that has led up to them being in the situation they're in now is something that very few of us would be able to cope with, so I think that it's quite right to highlight the seriousness of the issues that do lead to rough-sleeping and drug and alcohol abuse as well.

I completely agree that we do need to be building more council houses. I'm keen, also, that we ensure that those councils that are ready to build, able to build and ready to go can do so. I know that some of our local authorities are at the top of their borrowing cap now, and the borrowing cap is set by the Treasury. So, there are two pieces of work going on there: one around seeing what we could do, in partnership and in agreement with local authorities, to move some of the borrowing that hasn't been used by some local authorities over to local authorities that are at the top of their borrowing cap but can still do more and are still wanting to do more. And, also, seeing what we can do in order to ensure that the borrowing cap, which was raised in England—that we also get a similar relative rise to our borrowing cap as well. Those discussions are going on at the moment.

In terms of night shelters, we have provided funding for an additional 40 bed spaces across Newport, Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff, and they'll be coming online over the coming weeks and months. However, we also know that, on any night, there are empty bed spaces in night shelters, and this is a particular concern to me: that there are people who would choose to sleep rough rather than use a night shelter. The reasons for that are diverse. For example, some people don't want to abide by some of the stricter conditions that might be laid down in some of the night shelters. There will be other people who have been banned from night shelters on the basis of previous behaviour. Others don't want to go to night shelters because they see them as areas where there is substance misuse of various sorts, and they want to stay away from all of that. In other cases, there might not be opportunities for couples to stay together or for people to take pets, for example. So, there is a wide range of reasons why people don't engage with night shelters. I do think there's a piece of work for us to be doing there, with the sector as well. I hope that that work that Shelter is doing, talking directly to rough-sleepers, will give us some of the answers as to what can make night shelters more attractive, especially on the coldest of nights.

Thanks to the Minister for today's statement. We've been having an inquiry into homelessness on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. As Bethan Jenkins mentioned earlier, we did have a site visit to the Salvation Army hostel just down the road from here, in Bute Street, which was a very instructive visit as we did get to speak not only to the staff, but also to several of the residents, many of whom are former rough-sleepers. Of course, it was only a small group, but I think common themes emerged fairly strongly. These seemed to tell a tale of early family problems, in many cases, which lead to early abuse of alcohol and drugs. When the residents begin to go on programmes where they are able to detox, several of them began to realise that the substance abuse was actually masking mental health issues.

I know this has been mentioned several times today—the mental health issue. Mike Hedges mentioned the possibility that some people start to abuse drugs and alcohol once they become homeless, and indeed this may be the case in some instances, but certainly, I think the experience that I took on board from the site visit was that it's probably more likely that the substance abuse and alcohol abuse led to the homelessness. That probably comes first.

I think the crucial thing, which you have tackled in your statement today, is that there are these intimate links between mental health, substance abuse and homelessness. So, a persistent problem that you are going to have in dealing with the homeless issue is that you will have to work alongside the health ministry in getting resources directed towards mental health provision so that the homeless can access them. I know you've acknowledged that. So, to move to questions, how closely are you working with the health Minister in this regard? And in terms of the new funding that you're announcing, can you be more precise on how much is actually going towards mental health provision?

I think that, in many respects, tackling the homelessness problem means crossing portfolios for you, Minister, in some important respects, not only with the health Minister. There's also possibly the training aspect, which you've touched on a few times today. Because when we went to the hostel, other issues that were raised by the staff at the hostel included the need for continued resources so that more staff could be trained to deal with the complex needs of homeless people. As well as the detox programmes, there are also programmes being run dealing with teaching the residents basic skills that could eventually lead them into employment. I think it's good that you have mentioned several times in your statement the training aspect. Do you see any benefit in interacting more closely with the skills Minister over issues like this in terms, for instance, of accessing resources?

Finally, there have been comments—not today, but comments in general—that the homeless issue is really only discussed in politics once a year, and that is in the run-up to Christmas. There is some extra funding provision at that time of year, it becomes a media issue and, of course, we do have a lot of volunteers active at that time of year. But now, we are in February and we're in the midst of another cold snap. I note that you mentioned cold weather plans in your statement, so could you expand a little on how these cold weather plans will work? Diolch yn fawr.

I thank you for those questions, and I'm really encouraged that the committee is undertaking a piece of work into rough-sleeping in particular, and looking at homelessness more widely. That's really important because I hope I've been clear that both of the documents that have been published today are live documents. So, I'll be keen to be looking at the recommendations that the committee might be coming forward with, in terms of reviewing and adapting those documents to the best evidence and the best ideas that are coming forward throughout.

It is a complex picture in terms of which comes first, in terms of substance misuse and mental ill health. But I think that what's important is that we do ensure that all of our services that are there for people who are rough-sleepers do come from a trauma-informed approach. That's why the PATH project, which Public Health Wales has been leading on, is so important, because that's been offering training to front-line professionals—over 1,000 of them now—in terms of how to take that trauma-informed approach and to consider the story of the individual and what got them to that place and what can be done to assist them.

Some of the projects that are being funded by the additional £2.6 million of funding that was announced this financial year are specifically to support people with mental health needs who are experiencing homelessness. So, that includes training for outreach workers in Wrexham, for example, so that they're able to support and assist people with a mental health support need, and funding for a link worker between health and homelessness services in the Vale of Glamorgan as well. So, there are some specific posts that are being funded as a result of that.

More generally, in Welsh Government, I've been keen to make that link—coming, as I have done, from the social services portfolio into the housing one—between my former responsibilities and my current ones. So, we now have a member of staff within Welsh Government who is specifically looking at housing and health—so, looking across the piece, really, in terms of what we can be doing with our capital funding through the intermediate care fund, for example, and in terms of policy as well to ensure that we are fully linked up and using all of the potential, really, that good housing has for the promotion of good health as well.

My former responsibilities also included substance misuse, so I'm keen to highlight the fact that, within our substance misuse delivery plan, we do have specific actions there in order to develop support for people who are rough-sleeping and people who are homeless. Welsh Government invest almost £50 million a year in this agenda, and our area planning boards will have a specifically important role in terms of tackling substance misuse locally, and that will extend to people who are homeless and rough-sleeping as well. Many of the projects, such as the Huggard centre, which the committee visited, are very much fully linked in with substance misuse services.

I'd also point out that we've commissioned a review of the substance misuse treatment framework good practice framework for the provision of substance misuse services to homeless people and those with accommodation problems. That will be completed in the spring in order to, again, make sure that we are linking up with all the best and latest evidence in terms of substance misuse and homelessness.

Thank you. I have three more speakers, so I will extend this session. But that's not an invitation for the three speakers to go on at length. So, it is a question and a—well, a relatively short question and a relatively short answer from the Minister, and we'll get the three in. John Griffiths.

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I welcome the Government statement and action plan. As we've heard, rough-sleeper numbers do appear to be increasing in terms of the counts that are taking place. That's why I'm very pleased that the committee that I chair, the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, is doing a piece of work on rough-sleepers. We've already made visits to Solas in Newport and the Salvation Army in Cardiff to hear from staff and service users. I think it's clear that there are complex issues involved, as we all know, and there is a great deal of vulnerability and danger faced by those sleeping on our streets. So, it's absolutely right that we have more focus and priority for these issues.

The committee inquiry will look at the effectiveness of the legislation and the causes, the services provided, including emergency accommodation, the scale and adequacy of data—and I think there are quite a lot of questions around that—and of course the steps required to deal with the issues. We will also look at the action plan with the input of stakeholders and, of course, question the Minister in due course on the detail and on how she intends to take the action plan forward.

So, I guess, really, what I’m really looking for today, Minister, is just confirmation of what you’ve already said, really, that you will be keen to work with the committee, that the action plan is an evolving and developing document, as new evidence, new circumstances, emerge, and that the work of the committee will be one part of informing future policy and strategy on these crucial issues.

I thank you very much for that. I am very, very pleased that the committee is taking a good look at this particular issue, and it is important, because, as we've probably seen through the statement, there are questions, and some of the questions we don't have the answers to yet. For example, that question as to why, even on the coldest of nights, there are empty bed spaces in some of our hostels and other provisions.

I was at a local surgery, one of my surgeries in Gower, on the weekend, and a lady came in and said that last year her church had provided 10 beds during a cold period for homeless people and they were full, but, this year, those 10 beds, not one person turned up for them, and, even though we understand that the scale of homelessness has grown and it’s been very cold, equally, there seems to be a mismatch in terms of people’s willingness now, I suppose, to engage with some of those services that are being provided. So, I think that the fact that the committee is looking at this particular issue, alongside others, will be very useful in terms of helping us map out the way forward.

You referred to the borrowing cap. Would you agree that when the borrowing caps were first introduced, following exit from the housing revenue account by agreement with local authorities, it was expected that those would be devoted primarily to helping the stock transfers that had not met the Welsh housing quality standard to achieve the Welsh housing quality standard? How, therefore, are you ensuring (a) that the Welsh housing quality standard is not given a lower priority to delivering some much-needed new social homes, and (b) that local authorities are all working in accordance with the agreement made with registered social landlords through the Welsh Government late in 2016 to ensure they work together with their combined resource to maximise the number of new social homes they can provide?

Thank you very much for that question. It’s good to hear the Welsh housing quality standard mentioned. All local authorities are working towards meeting the Welsh housing quality standard by 2020. All of them have confirmed that they are on track to do that, so I think that’s really positive. I suppose the challenge for Government will be to say, 'Well, what next?' You know, what will be the next step in terms of what we are requiring from local authorities and RSLs in terms of raising the game of the standard of accommodation that we do have in Wales.

One thing that I am considering in terms of the way forward has to be about retrofitting in terms of our decarbonisation agenda and the role that housing can play in that. If we are to meet some of our very stretching targets in terms of decarbonisation then housing and dealing with some of that has to be right at the centre of that agenda as well.

But, in terms of Welsh Government investment in housing, it has to be housing that is of a good quality, which helps us deal with decarbonisation but also provides people with a decent, warm, affordable home.

Thank you very much.