Now, in the wake of subscribing to the covenant, many local authorities developed new services, they established good practice, and they began partnerships with the third sector. And the centenary of the first world war has also helped to maintain a focus on issues and challenges facing the armed forces community here in Wales. The impact of the covenant was recently the subject of an inquiry by the cross-party group, and we published our report at the end of 2017. It documented and celebrated the significant progress that had been achieved since 2011, and many Members will have seen evidence of the outworking of the covenant in their own constituencies. I certainly have.

Llanddulas, near Abergele, saw the establishment of the UK's first veteran shed, which was established by Falklands veteran Martin Margerison, one of my constituents. The shed is now based in Colwyn Bay, it's had ministerial visits, and it provides veterans with the opportunity to get together, put the world to rights and to support one another with practical tasks and volunteering. Colwyn Bay is also home to the headquarters of Change Step, a Wales-wide programme that offers effective support for veterans across the country, including dedicated services for those in crisis, older veterans and people with mental health and substance misuse needs. It was established by the substance misuse charity CAIS, and it's got a team of veterans who act as peer mentors, using their own experiences to help veterans to navigate and confront the challenges in their lives. It works hand in glove, of course, with Veterans' NHS Wales, and I've been very grateful to Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion and the Welsh Government for the financial support they've extended to it. It's the only service of its kind in the UK.

Last year, also in Colwyn Bay, we saw the establishment of a Woody's Lodge, one of two in Wales. The other is in south Wales, here in the Vale of Glamorgan. I think David Melding has visited there in the past. Woody's Lodges are social hubs, they guide veterans to the help and support that they need and try to re-engage them with their families and communities, and the vision is to create an inviting meeting space for those who have served with the armed forces and the wider emergency services, where they can receive the support and the advice and connect with new and old friends.

The wider Conwy area is also blessed to host Alabare homes for veterans. Working in partnership with First Choice Housing, Alabare, which is a Christian charity, provides a home in Glan Conwy and two in Llandudno Junction for veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. And it's this issue of housing that I want to turn to for the rest of the time that I have available, because it's still an area that needs our attention. The issue of homelessness among veterans has been a topic that has been discussed in the mess halls of barracks, on frigates, and in air bases since the end of the Napoleonic wars in the early nineteenth century. And 200 years later, while we've made significant progress, I regret to say that there are still veterans sleeping rough on the streets here in Wales.

Now, the Welsh Government, to be fair, has worked hard to try to tackle this problem. In addition to its general homelessness prevention programmes, it's also focused additional attention on former military personnel. Housing is a key strand in the Welsh Government's package of support for the armed forces, and a national housing pathway specifically for ex-service personnel has also been developed. The third sector partners that established the Veterans' Gateway—a 24-hour Wales-based service that helps former servicemen and women to navigate their new lives as civilians—have also sought to signpost people to the support agencies such as SSAFA, and Alabare, which I mentioned earlier.

Now, estimates of the number of members of the armed forces community living in Wales vary, but some have suggested that it could be as high as 385,000. Now, the overwhelming majority of these ex-servicemen and women make the transition back to civilian life very, very well. But a small and significant minority struggle to adjust. And I think that the least that we can do as a society is to repay the debt of gratitude that we owe to these heroes by assisting them in securing a roof over their heads. Now, in recognition of this, the Welsh Government has taken some positive steps. Here in Wales, those leaving the armed forces are awarded additional preference for housing purposes when applying for social housing to local authorities. Local authorities are also encouraged to give additional preference for ex-service personnel who've sustained an injury, a medical condition or a disability because of their service. Homeless veterans are afforded additional priority need. Armed forces compensation scheme payments or war pension scheme payments are disregarded when applying for disabled facilities grants to adapt people's homes, and service personnel and veterans have priority status in the Welsh Government's homebuy and Rent First schemes, as do widows and widowers of individuals who've been killed during their time in service. Now, these are welcome moves, but they don't go far enough. Local authorities, for example, can consider giving additional preference to veterans and then decide not to, because it's just guidance, it's not a statutory obligation, and many social landlords, such as housing associations, fall completely outside of the guidance that is available. And there are other disadvantages faced by military families, which are also yet to be addressed. Shared ownership schemes and rent-to-own schemes do not afford any special privileges to those who've served in the military.

And then we've got the thorny issue of the local connection criteria that are often used by many social landlords. Many of them require housing applicants who have lived in an area to have lived in an area for a certain length of time in order to establish eligibility for a local housing list. But what if you'd been posted to a military base for a matter of just months before your service came to an end? That can disqualify you from receiving any assistance whatsoever, and it's wrong. Those leaving military accommodation are sometimes discriminated against because of this lack of a local connection and it can result in them being disqualified as being eligible for housing by those registered landlords. And it's not just those serving in the forces who are affected by this either. There are also their families and dependents to think about, because these rules also disadvantage the spouses and the civil partners of those in the forces if they lose their spouse or they suffer a relationship breakdown. Now, all of these situations I've mentioned can lead to a lack of appropriate support and a greater risk of inappropriate housing or homelessness.

Now, as I mentioned before, we've got some great organisations that are seeking to support those who are at risk, such as Alabare, but their support is also not available in all parts of Wales. As I mentioned before, they've established somehow some houses in the Conwy area. They've also got places in Wrexham and elsewhere, but, unfortunately, not all parts of Wales are covered by their services. And that's why, in answer to the question that my debate poses today: 'Housing our heroes: are we meeting the needs of our veterans here in Wales?', my answer is, 'No, not yet, but we're making good progress'. So, what needs to change? Well, I believe that we need statutory guidance that's applicable to all registered social landlords, not just local authorities. We need to crack this issue of the local connection criteria once and for all by waiving any requirements for a local connection for anyone leaving service family accommodation, including military spouses or dependents, and we need to honour our heroes by giving them additional preference in all Welsh Government housing schemes, including shared ownership schemes and rent to own. We also need to ensure that, where things do fall apart, there's a local supported housing scheme specifically for veterans to help them get back on their feet, and I very much hope that the Deputy Minister, with this new role, will be able to take some of these suggestions forward. Thank you.

I've given a minute of my time to Mark Isherwood; I should have mentioned that earlier, and I do apologise.