Questions now from the party spokespeople. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Bethan Sayed. 

I'm tempted to go on this again, but, no, I won't; I'll just annoy people here. [Laughter.] It's now two years since the establishment of the Valleys taskforce to tackle poverty in the Valleys. Can you give us an example, a clear example, as to what one thing, as part of these discussions, has changed Government policy since this Valleys taskforce has come into being?

I've made a series of announcements over the last year. I will be making a further announcement before the summer recess on the work that's been completed as part of the delivery plan we published in November last year. The Member asks for a single example. I would point to the seven strategic hub developments that we've announced across and throughout the Valleys region. 

Thank you for that answer, but isn't the reality of the situation that this is another Welsh Government scheme to kick the can down the road so you don't have to deal with the consequences of your inaction on poverty and inequality? You have a smaller budget and no control over welfare, and this Government seems to have no willpower whatsoever to even try and get various devolution of welfare, despite a Labour-controlled Chair of the equalities committee saying that we should have some powers over the administration of welfare. A serious Government, with a real appetite for solving inequality and poverty, would jump at the chance to have some influence over welfare, but not this Welsh Government it seems. Isn't the truth that the Valleys taskforce has become another method for you to look at the issues and talk about the issues as opposed to delivering on these particular matters?

I think many of us who represent Valleys seats would hope that Plaid Cymru would engage in this process rather than simply search for sound bites and press releases. Let me say this: in terms of the investment—[Interruption.] In terms of the investment—[Interruption.] In terms of the investment that we are making throughout the communities of the Valleys of south Wales, we have set out—. We have set out an ambitious programme for investment in the people and the communities of the Valleys of south Wales. We published a delivery plan, which has clear targets and objectives in it and timescales. We will be held to account by the people for the delivery of those ambitions. And let me say this finally to the Member for South Wales West: the plan that we published in November wasn't a plan that was written in Cardiff Bay or Cathays Park. It wasn't written by civil servants or even by Ministers. It was written by the people of the Valleys, in communities that we met, we discussed, we debated with week after week, month after month, throughout the time that we have been delivering in this way. And what we've done is to deliver a plan that isn't for the Valleys, but from the Valleys.

Thank you for the answer, but let's take a look at the record for a few minutes, shall we? Communities First—scrapped, with no replacement scheme, so the budget can be funnelled into bottomless pits in the revenue support grant or go into other areas that are currently struggling for funding, such as health boards. The child poverty strategy—scrapped, so you can avoid having to take any responsibility for failing to achieve the goals. We've even seen school uniform grants scrapped and moved, which could seriously undermine the Supporting People grant. The Independent, in March, branded Wales 'poverty stricken', with 700,000 people in relative poverty. It is a scandal. This Government was criticised last year, again, by the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee for rejecting poverty targets, as you said that poverty was for all departments. Yet we don't seem to have much action from individual departments on this issue. If poverty is an issue that crosses across all departments, then surely it needs a detailed and targeted strategy to tie all of these things together. The truth is that tackling poverty has dropped off this Government's agenda—there is no appetite to tackle the ingrained structural barriers that have entrenched poverty in many places, and you're instead hoping that taskforces and poorly funded third sector initiatives are enough to make it look like something is being done. This is not something to put into a press release, but something to be taken seriously. Considering the fundamental flaws of Communities First, I would have hoped that you would have learnt from that.

I would very gently suggest that the Member, rather than read pre-prepared questions, listens to my answers, and engages on that basis. My suggestion to—[Interruption.] My suggestion to the Member for South Wales West would be to read the delivery plan, read the commitments we've made, read the ambitions we've described, read the objectives we've set for ourselves, and then question us on whether we achieve those ambitions or not. You asked for a strategy—we published one last November; my suggestion to the Member is that she reads it.

The Conservative spokesperson, Mark Isherwood.

Diolch, Llywydd. Well, it's essential that the Welsh Government should be supporting voluntary sector providers delivering key front-line early intervention and prevention services, which I know you agree support thousands of lives and save millions for statutory services. But, equally, it's essential that, when the Welsh Government provide financial funding, due diligence is in place regarding financial and HR controls. Given your responsibility for the voluntary sector in Wales, and the fact that Mind Cymru received almost £1.6 million of Welsh Government funding over the last three years, what action have you taken since BBC Wales published last month claims from former workers at Mind Cymru of bullying, systemic bullying, often involving staff being isolated and undermined—a vicious circle of a drop in confidence had detrimental effects on performance, leading to further criticism; subtle bullying—it felt as if an employer was playing mind games; being made to feel isolated and worthless after reporting feeling stressed to an employer; and many more people from local Mind offices contacting BBC Wales since, reporting and echoing concerns about the culture that they claim was damaging and unsupportive?

I did see those reports, and, like the Member for North Wales, I was very disturbed by what I read and what I saw. The issues are, of course, a matter for Mind Cymru to resolve, rather than for this Government. And if they're unable to resolve those matters, then clearly it would be a matter for the Charity Commission to take those matters up. The Welsh Government is not a regulator of charities in Wales.

Well, I fully appreciate that, but you'll be as aware as I am, from your time in this Assembly, of the number of occasions when Welsh Government has supported third sector bodies financially that have suffered similar allegations, and ultimately the Welsh Government has been held to account for its failure to intervene. Given the financial commitment that the Welsh Government is making, I hope you will confirm that you should at least be making some enquiries not only from the charity but from the alleged victims to establish what is actually happening with your money. Because I'm told that one of the triggers for the alleged bullying is when staff at Mind Cymru or local Mind offices across Wales talk publicly or talk to the likes of us about where the funding raised for Mind in Wales actually ends up. I'm told that of the £41.3 million going to national—that's UK—Mind to March 2017, only £1.2 million was directly spent on the network of 130 local Minds across England and Wales, delivering projects at the coalface in their communities, and that, having obtained moneys from grant providers like the Welsh Government and others in direct competition with local Minds, they're then top-slicing management fees, creating posts for people in offices and then only offering work to a handful of local Minds for not very much money when the local Minds that provide services are struggling for funding.

As I emphasise, and they've asked me to—or certain people have asked me to—emphasise, Mind Cymru is an office of UK Mind, and the money that's being raised in Wales from organisations like the Welsh Government—nearly £1.6 million over three years—is being used to compete with local Mind projects, such as peer support groups, putting the whole network at risk.

The Member's raised a number of different issues. Clearly, the delivery of those services is a matter for my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for health who is in his place and will have heard the questions and will have taken note of those matters. I will repeat to the Member that, although he raises some very serious issues and I don't wish in any way for him to believe that we don't take these matters very seriously, these are matters that are properly the responsibility of, in the first instance, the charity itself and then the regulator of that charity, the Charity Commission. If he has concerns about specific issues where public funding in Wales is being misspent or has been mis-allocated in any way, then clearly he should raise those matters with the Welsh Government and provide the supporting evidence for that. I'm sure, were he to do so, then the relevant Minister would be very interested in seeing that information.

Well, clearly, I am using this opportunity to raise these matters with the Welsh Government. For confidentiality reasons, I can't disclose what further action might be taken and what information might be within that further action that I'm privy to. I am sharing the information I'm authorised to share at this point in time. Again, what action, given that you're responsible for the voluntary sector in Wales, do you take to ensure that moneys raised in Wales to support local charities actually stay in Wales for spending by those local charities? I'm told that people don't realise that all the local fundraising by Mind Cymru goes initially to their UK body, not to their local Minds, that the fundraising events advertised as raising money for Mind produce income that all goes to Mind national, which are unrestricted funds that Mind then decides how to spend, and they say they can't commit a direct benefit to local Minds in Wales. In fact, out of their total budget, last year's Mind expenditure on the network totalled just £4.3 million, or 20 per cent of their charitable expenditure. And, as I said at the beginning, only £1.2 million of that went directly to local Minds.

You are the Cabinet Secretary responsible for the voluntary sector. We have a brilliant network of 20 local Minds across Wales struggling to survive because the money being given for good reasons by people in Wales to support them is leaving Wales and only a fraction of it's coming back to deliver those services locally. Surely, Cabinet Secretary—and I hope you'll agree—this is a matter of concern for you as well as your wider Cabinet colleagues.

I'm grateful to the Member for raising these matters in the way that he has done. Can I say this to him? The way that Mind organises its business is a matter for that organisation, not a matter for this Government. Each funding stream will have a series of grant conditions attached to it, and I have no information available to me that Mind is not meeting the obligations that it has undertaken on behalf of Welsh Government. I will say, Presiding Officer, if the Member does have any issues that are causing him significant concern—he clearly does have—then it may be useful for him to put that in writing so that we can understand what those issues are and we can understand what action may potentially be taken in order to address those matters.

UKIP spokesperson, Gareth Bennett. 

Diolch, Llywydd. Good afternoon, Minister. You made a statement last week on low-cost housing in Wales—low-cost home ownership, I should say, it was specifically—and we had an interesting discussion, I felt, after that and several issues were raised. One of them was the possibility that rents in the social housing sector in Wales are in some cases going up quicker than those in the private rented sector. So, I wondered if you saw that as a particular problem at the moment.

I thank you very much for that question, and I can confirm that rent within the social housing sector is one of those specific issues that we've asked the review of social housing to look into. As far as setting rent levels for next year is concerned, Welsh Government has asked Heriot-Watt University to undertake a piece of research in order to advise us, and I specifically asked the university to consider affordability amongst the work they're doing there and to hold round-tables of tenants in both north Wales and south Wales in order to get an understanding from social housing tenants as to the issues that they're facing with regard to affordability of rent.

Thanks for that answer. I think that's a good initiative, and particularly the consultation with the tenants, so I look forward to the outcome of that. Another issue that we did touch on last week—you actually raised an example of good practice that was going on with a particular housing association, Melin Homes in Newport, and you particularly cited the use of apprenticeships. Now, there have been concerns raised by the construction sector that not enough young people are being trained to go into house building and that does sometimes impede the progress of house building in Wales, as in the UK as a whole. Now, do you see that your department has a role in replicating the good practice of Melin Homes, particularly in terms of their use of apprenticeships across Wales?

I thank you for that question. We're very keen to replicate the success of Melin Homes and to provide RSLs with the opportunity in order to undertake the kind of work that Melin Homes has been doing. This is one of the reasons why passing our registered social landlords Bill yesterday in the Assembly was so important, because it does allow RSLs to continue their work, which isn't just about building homes, actually; it is about creating jobs and opportunities within communities as well. I was interested in the Federation of Small Businesses's recent research, which they circulated to Assembly Members, which demonstrated the kind of wages that young people can be earning if they do enter the construction sector and work within that sector, starting off as an apprentice potentially, and, actually, those kind of wages were really attractive, and I think that it would be quite an eye-opener for young people to consider the kinds of careers within construction. I'm also keen to see what we can do to support more young women to consider a career in construction, and this is something that the Welsh Government has been working on as part of its STEM subject work.

Yes, I think it's correct that a lot of people can actually earn more money, potentially, by going into things like construction rather than, perhaps, going down the route of university education, because there is a limited financial advantage of having a degree today when so many people actually possess university degrees. So, given what you've just said—and I tend to agree with the general thrust of what you said—how far are you liaising with the education Minister, and also perhaps Eluned Morgan, the skills Minister, in co-ordinating an approach so that perhaps more youngsters are encouraged to go into things like construction going forward? 

I thank you for that question. I would say that there is always value in learning and the experience of university, but we do need to be doing more to ensure that there is parity of esteem between academic and more practical skills as well. So, there's certainly work to do there in terms of perceptions about careers in construction and other areas, and I can confirm that I have been working closely with Eluned Morgan in her employability role in order to ensure that housing does provide a platform for young people to have the opportunity to enter the housing and construction industry, and actually do so in a way that offers them progression and good job opportunities and prospects for the future.