Can I thank the Minister for her statement? By way of background, the private rented sector currently constitutes 11 per cent of the Welsh housing stock, with 71 per cent being owner-owned and 18 per cent rented from housing associations and local authorities. We all acknowledge there's a growing demand for rented accommodation, not only from those historical groups, such as students, but also from migrant workers, both foreign and indigenous, and increasingly from households unable to afford owner-occupation. The situation, of course, is exacerbated by the restrictive availability of social housing, given years of neglect in house building in this sector.

I must say, Minister, it's difficult to criticise the contents of this statement, as it outlines a very innovative, and, we believe, very effective way of increasing private housing stock available to rent. We also agree with the concept of local councils being the best vehicle to administer these innovations. The long-term guaranteed return to private landlords should be a very real incentive to them, as well as a release from the day-to-day running duties. And a loan facility to improve the property again must prove to be a great incentive to private landlords.

Just one word of caution is that it is imperative that the price at which the rentals are set must represent a good return on the private landlord's capital investment. I do believe, as others have said in this Assembly, that the stability that this may give to families to be able to know that they're in accommodation for some five years will have huge social impacts, not just for the family themselves but for society as a whole, because we know that if families are being moved from one area to another, as Mike Hedges has pointed out, it doesn't help with their education and many other things, and, of course, the health of those families as well. So, it impacts on that side of the argument as well.

So, at the beginning, I congratulated the Government and the Minister on initiating what promises to be a sound proposition to entice private landlords to let properties to those families who may not have previously been considered.