4. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on advice services in Cardiff? OAQ54846

The Welsh Government has a long-standing commitment to supporting the provision of advice services. Our grant funding ensures that some of the most vulnerable people in Cardiff, and throughout Wales, access the advice and support they need to resolve problems with their housing, debts or welfare benefits.

Debt is obviously a rising concern in the current situation. We know from the 'Wales in the red: Assessing the impact of problem debt in Wales' report earlier this year that Cardiff, as our biggest city, has also got the highest concentration of debt. Nearly 200,000 people across Wales are grappling with severe debts and another 200,000 already showing signs of financial distress. And unfortunately this is the time of year when people are being encouraged to spend money they haven't got. 

But, nevertheless, the main causes of people getting into serious debt are reduced income as a result of the gig economy we now have to grapple with, as well as illness or injury and unemployment, which are very difficult to mitigate, as people normally have no idea that this is coming. Terrifyingly, I read that this means many are using credit cards to cover gaps in their daily living costs, and we also know that cuts to in-work and out-of-work benefits over the last nine years under this Tory austerity Government are a major factor.

People in severe debt in my constituency often find the problem so overwhelming they are slow to come forward to get advice. How is the Welsh Government ensuring that people can get easy access to debt advice services when they get into such difficulties? 

I thank Jenny Rathbone for that important question. It's an issue that I've been raising locally in Cardiff and Vale in terms of the role of the credit unions as well as advice services in providing affordable loans leading up to Christmas, and that can indeed avert and prevent the rise of debt at this particular time of year.

But I think advice services are crucial in terms of delivering not just access in terms of the offices available by Cardiff and Vale Citizens Advice, but also locating within the heart of communities when people do struggle to access advice particularly around debt services. They have to be delivered at the heart of their communities to reach the people who need them. But I would say that, last year alone, the service in Cardiff and Vale particularly helped over 3,500 people resolve problems relating specifically to social welfare issues. And what is crucial in terms of preventing debt is that, actually, that included generating income gains of more than £4.5 million. 

Minister, I think it's very important that we value the role of the voluntary sector in particular in advice giving, because, as you said, they are at the heart of communities, they are accessed by people more readily very often, and it's very important, I think, that we continue to support organisations that have this function and that the city as well realises how important giving help to voluntary organisations is, through an element of core funding or funding them for advice services, and that it's money well spent. 

I thank David Melding for that question. What's important in terms of the single advice fund arrangements, the single advice grant funding that I've awarded to providers, is that although there are lead providers—like, in this circumstance, Cardiff and Vale Citizens Advice, in answer to this question—they also have advice partners and access partners, as well as other partners in the voluntary sector.

Thank you, Deputy Minister.