2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:47 pm on 13 February 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie Morgan Julie Morgan Labour 2:47, 13 February 2018

There were two issues I wanted to raise with the leader of the house. First of all, it's once again the public inquiry into contaminated blood, and I think that the appointment of Mr Justice Langstaff has been welcomed by the families affected and by other Members of the community. I'm very pleased that the Westminster Government has really responded to the calls of the haemophilia society in Wales and to us Members that we have a full public inquiry headed by a senior judge. So, that's great progress, but, obviously, it's taken a long time to get here. But the next question, really, is how will the voices of people from Wales be heard during the process of this inquiry, and I wondered if it would be possible to have an update about anything that the Government can do to ensure that this will happen.

And the second one is about the introduction of universal credit and the problems that this is going to have for tenants in particular. I've only recently become aware that the new system will mean that an arrears payment rate could be fixed at 20 per cent of the claimant's total personal allowance, without any consultation at all with the tenants. So, I wondered if it would be possible to have a debate about this with the housing Minister to see if we could address this particular issue.