I thank David Melding for bringing forward this debate and for publishing his 10-point plan for tackling homelessness. I support any moves to improve the way we tackle homelessness and will work positively with any Government to ensure no person is left without the most basic human right of all: the right to a roof over each and every person's head, and a suitable one at that.

It's a right that has not been able to be resolved by 20 years of Welsh Labour Government. The answer is complex and requires significant forward planning. But, there again, UK Governments have also been unable to offer a solution. And whilst we can all cast a stone and play political football, it would serve no purpose. This is too serious an issue and we need positive change. We need for the UK Government and the Welsh Government to work positively together to bring about this change and to eradicate homelessness in the twenty-first century.

Looking at the housing crisis, the move to universal credit has played a negative part in homelessness. There are high numbers of veterans and ex-offenders sleeping rough because it can take up to five weeks or more to receive any benefit payments. The UK Government, whilst they were right to crack down on people cheating the system, their implementation was flawed and hurt those in genuine need. The needs of people who are homeless are many, complex and varied. It is not simply, 'A home and that is the end of it.' It is not. Again, I urge the Welsh Government to work with the UK Government to ensure that benefit payments begin the day someone is discharged from the armed forces or released from prison custody.

The massive rise we have seen in homelessness has to be tackled head on, and I therefore commend the Welsh Conservatives for their action plan, in the hope that it will help the Welsh Government adopt more ambitious plans of their own. Doubling the number of social housing being built is a good start.

I also welcome appointing someone who has been homeless to advise Ministers on housing policy. The Welsh Government has to admit their approach isn't working, and having a homelessness person to help them would help revitalise their efforts to end homelessness, as would adopting many of the proposals before them today. So, I urge Members to reject the Welsh Government’s amendment. Yes, there is good practice, but it does exist in small pockets around the country and is not nationwide.

We will be supporting most of the other amendments, which we feel add to the Conservatives' motion, but we will be opposing amendments 3, 6 and 9. With regard to amendment 11, I totally agree that the Vagrancy Act should be repealed. It should not be used to remove rough-sleepers, as was the case in Neath when the Labour-run council sought to remove visible signs of homelessness. But, that said, we do however need to tackle problem begging. We need new legislation passed by Parliament—which, given its dysfunctional current state, is unlikely anytime soon—to tackle problem begging. It's a sad fact that fewer than one in five people tackled for begging were homeless. Sadly, organised crime groups are preying on people's charity and taking vital funds from those in genuine need.

There is a cross-party desire to end rough-sleeping, and I ask if the Welsh Government has the vision and ambition to achieve the aim, because it requires working together. And when we work together, we can all put an end to this national disgrace, as Neil McEvoy so succinctly says it.