I'm very pleased to take part in this debate and I commend the work of the committee under John’s leadership. To me, reading this, and I have to say, Caroline’s just sat down and warned us that if we don't act, in 20 years’ time we'll be going around the same racecourse, well, I kind of feel that 20 years ago we were discussing a lot of these issues, perhaps not focused on homelessness and rough-sleeping particularly, but the whole issue, really, of what this report goes to, and that’s a plea for leadership and more integrated, imaginative services, particularly for the most vulnerable in society. So, I do hope that we can move forward very, very quickly.

As you see in the report, presently, key stakeholders feel that there are barriers against achieving integration, and when you're tackling rough-sleeping, one thing you do need is a very integrated approach because of the complexity of the issue. One witness even went so far as to claim that innovation was not welcomed in many of the public services in Wales, and I do find that disturbing. Another witness from Public Health Wales told the committee that, and I now quote:

'there's a different culture within substance misuse and within formal mental health services…there is a paucity…of joined-up leadership at the very senior level'.

That is exactly what we must see an end of and we must move to opening up our services to the ideas that will lead to the very highest outcomes. I think at the heart of these frustrations is what is sometimes a rather weak commissioning process, and poor practices, lack of training, and I particularly welcome the committee’s call for an urgent review of commissioning by the Welsh Government. I do think that that has much merit.

I suppose one way to progress at the moment is to ask ourselves, 'What would effective commissioning for services to tackle rough-sleeping look like?' Well, as I hinted earlier, it would look like effective commissioning in some other areas, but perhaps it’s not as common as we expect; pooled budgets between various services; long-term commissioning so that we know that there is that service we need with the security that it’s going to be there for the long term and that people can then be referred into; integrated services; and the encouragement of innovation. These things need to be at the heart of an effective commissioning process.

This is, of course, challenging. It’s easier to do this piecemeal and just look after your particular patch, but to tackle homelessness, a wide-ranging approach is absolutely vital. It does require courage and bold approaches, for instance—and I welcome the report meeting some of these subjects, which are very sensitive, and meeting them head on and talking about them—co-ordinated detox services, covering alcohol and drug misuse, and connected to mental health services; considering safe rooms for the use of drugs; assertive outreach, and that means, you know, when our outreach workers are there making contact with rough-sleepers that there is a real grip and sense of purpose about where they need to move these vulnerable people on into a more structured lifestyle and how to get that going. 

Housing First models: again, this concept that you need to be in a home first before you can have greater stability, and that we basically will not evict highly vulnerable people ever. We may move them on or put more support in, but we won't evict. Integrated homelessness action plans: we talked a bit about this in yesterday's statement on the housing support grant, and I welcome this. I think this is the Welsh Government recognising what needs to be co-ordinated at the local and regional level, but we've really got to see implementation, and see it very, very quickly. Then suitable housing options into which these most vulnerable people can be referred, and there'll be a range of models that are necessary there, some of them perhaps catering to very specific needs, such as former veterans or people who have more recently left the armed services and found it very difficult to connect back into civil life. 

So, I'm pleased that we're discussing this this afternoon. I think it's a really good piece of work, and I do hope the Welsh Government will be taking it forward and responding to the excellent recommendations with real force and commitment. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.