Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:47 pm on 13 November 2019.
I absolutely share the Member's concerns regarding the additional pressure and burden often felt and placed on families particularly at this time of year, and wanting to do the right thing, perhaps, by your family or your children—the additional pressures that that places, and it affects people's ability to pay essential household bills, including rent and mortgages.
Of course, I join with you in thanking the excellent work that credit unions in communities right across Wales do, including, obviously, Merthyr Tydfil credit union and Smart Money Cymru. And I'd like to place on record today my thanks for their commitment in all that they do in our communities. As you say, you need to think that credit unions are for everyone, and, as you say, they're particularly useful in the build-up to Christmas, enabling people to save towards Christmas, but I think we should really use the mantra that credit unions are not just for Christmas, they are for life. And I think Welsh Government has put in resources to promote the use of credit unions and I think perhaps there's more we can do in terms of working with Members in terms of how we can spread that message right across each and every one of our constituencies.