Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. May I thank Members for their contributions and echo comments already made that it's particularly good to have contributions from Members who are not sitting on our committee?

May I begin, then, with Janet Finch-Saunders and recognise Janet's right to differ on some points, but nonetheless thank Janet for her contribution to the report in general? Of course, it is absolutely right that Members differentiate their views and what they are able or not able to support during the proceedings at committee and have that recorded in the report, and all of us, I'm sure, are grateful for that opportunity at various times on various issues.

One thing that I think is absolutely clear, Dirprwy Lywydd, is that there is quite a broad consensus that recognises the importance of these issues: the plight of people sleeping rough on the streets, the progress that's already been made—and it is substantial—and, as was said, the new housing Act that we have, which is effective in addressing homelessness, but not so effective in terms of rough-sleeping, which is so complex and does present such great challenges. But we must recognise the general progress made, which is very important to prevention, including preventing rough-sleeping, but, I think, again, there is a consensus that more does need to be done by Welsh Government and, of course, a range of partners. And, yes, some of that is about effectively joining up across Government and joining up outside Government across Wales, and it was good to hear some of the examples that the Minister gave of the approach that's taken in Government on those matters. We had recommendations that I mentioned earlier that addressed that need for cross-Government working and joint responsibility, and I'm sure that we'll follow with interest how Welsh Government does take a true cross-cutting approach.

In terms of what Dawn Bowden said, I think it is important that we do see progress from the private sector, from the arts world, from education, as examples of what needs to happen for that cross-cutting approach to be a reality. It is a shared Government responsibility, but also shared by many other players in Wales that have a contribution to make.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I said in my opening remarks that priority need, obviously, is at the heart of the debate in many ways, and that was reflected in some of the contributions that we heard. I also said that it's controversial, as we know, and that too was reflected in some of the contributions that we've heard. We do recognise that there are difficulties, that abolishing priority need isn't something that could happen overnight, and does indeed have a cost, which must be factored into the equation and decision making. So, we do talk about a phased approach to abolishing priority need, recognising that it would need to happen over a period of time, and also that there were other things that could happen to address the issues short of abolition.

I do recognise the Welsh Government has commissioned research and wishes to wait for the outcome of that work before making any decisions, and I can see some strength in that view, but, obviously, we want to see urgent action taken. And, as I say, there are ways in which that action could address some of the issues short of abolition. One of those is the test of vulnerability. David Melding talked about the fact that people sleeping rough would, as a matter of common sense in most people's view, be seen to have priority need that needed to be addressed, but that isn't always the case, as we heard in taking our evidence. But that test of vulnerability that might give priority need to people sleeping rough is actually a harder threshold to cross in Wales than it is in England at the moment, because of case law in England under the Hotak case, as it's known, which puts a new interpretation on their legislation that doesn't apply in Wales. So, we suggest that we adopt, clarify and make clear that we would like to see the definition currently in place in England observed in Wales. So, the comparator for a rough-sleeper would be with an ordinary person if made homeless, not an ordinary actual homeless person. So, that is quite a significant difference that we would like to see adopted here in Wales.

Other matters that were very important to us, I think, were prison leavers, and, obviously, Government isn't minded to restore automatic priority need for those prison leavers. But I was pleased that Jenny Rathbone mentioned what Welsh Government does accept, which is the need to re-establish the working group on accommodation for prison leavers, because we did indeed hear that, often, there isn't timely notice that somebody is about to leave prison. It's particularly difficult when people are serving short sentences. People are coming out of prison without accommodation, and, obviously, they can very quickly fall back into real difficulty, and, indeed, re-offending, which then continues that cycle that we are trying to break.

I see that my time has very quickly elapsed, Dirprwy Lywydd. Could I just say, in closing, echoing what Dawn Bowden said, actually—I think there is a clear public view that it is a source of shame that in the UK, the fourth or fifth biggest economy in the world, we still see people in this extreme vulnerability sleeping on our streets, with life expectancy in their late forties. People do feel very strongly that whatever it takes needs to be done. And that's the spirit within which I'd like to see us move forward in Welsh Government and beyond: whatever it takes needs to be done to eradicate rough-sleeping. And as a committee we are determined to return to these matters. We will follow up our recommendations—we will ensure that that necessary action is carefully and strongly scrutinised.