Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for calling me to speak in this very important debate, which looks at how we're faring in Wales and looks at the legislative programme. I'd like to congratulate the Government on the progress that has been made. I'd like to focus on a couple of issues.

Housing is one of the biggest issues I deal with in my constituency office, and I'm sure that is true of many of the Assembly Members here. Having a secure home is one of the fundamental building blocks in society and I know that the Welsh Government has done a lot of work in this area. I particularly welcome the fact that we have ended the right to buy this year—in January this year—which will keep the much-depleted stock of council housing for those who need it most. I think that was a very bold, progressive measure for the Government to take, and I hope that it will result in more of the stock remaining now in local authorities' hands.

I also welcome the efforts to prevent homelessness, and I note that the annual report says that more than 16,000 households in Wales have successfully been prevented from becoming homeless. I know this legislation has been much admired in other parts of the UK and has been adopted in some, because putting a duty on local authorities to prevent people becoming homeless, I think is obviously the key—to get in there before it becomes too late.

One cause of homelessness is the insecurity of tenure for tenants in the private rented sector, and I know that the Government is discussing getting rid of section 21, the so-called no-fault evictions clause. I think it's very important that the Government does press ahead with this because rented accommodation was where we used to expect students and maybe young people in their first jobs to live, but now it has in many cases become the place for families with children and for older people and disabled people to live. In fact, there are 460,000 people in Wales living in the private rental sector, and obviously I think that we as a Government must make sure that they should not be in constant fear of being evicted without good reason. There's also evidence that section 21 disproportionately impacts on women, who are more likely to have dependent children and who will be experiencing in some cases poor housing conditions, and also fear revenge eviction if they complain. I know that the Government has tackled that particular issue.

So, I hope, as I say, that the Government will press ahead to get rid of no-fault evictions, because as things stand at the moment families can be evicted after six months, with a consequent disruption to family life and children's schooling. I also welcome the target to provide 20,000 more affordable homes over this Assembly term, and I'm very pleased that Cardiff council is building the first council houses in a generation to help tackle the waiting list in Cardiff, which is nearly 8,000 people.

However, I do think it's very important that we make sure that these new houses are built sustainably. SPECIFIC, which is based at Swansea University, came—I think it was last week—to the Assembly to tell us about the provision of active buildings, which use solar energy that is integrated into the building and storage technologies to provide heat, power and transport at the point of use. So we do now have the technology to build energy positive buildings, and I believe that all buildings built in Wales that are publicly funded should be active buildings. So, it's huge progress that these technologies have been developed here, and I do believe that we should ensure that all public buildings should be active buildings.

I'd, finally, like to turn to children's rights and I welcome the progress on children's rights that's been made in Wales. I think Wales has led the way, really, on children's rights, appointing the first children's commissioner in the UK, having school councils in school, passing the rights of children and young persons Measure, which means that we should be considering children in all the legislation that we plan. And I'd also like to welcome the progress that is due to be made on the issue of the legislation to prohibit the use of physical punishment of children. As the First Minister knows, this is something I've campaigned on for many years, but I'm very pleased that this Assembly, this Government, is now planning to actually bring this to fruition.