Yes, well, I understand the connection that Siân Gwenllian is trying to make, and I share the desire behind it. But, in fact, the housing waiting list is not an indication of housing need, as such, because people go on waiting lists for all kinds of reasons. For example, they might want to move for a particular reason, but not actually be in housing need. We don't encourage only people in dire housing need to go on to a council house waiting list; there will be people who want to move within the area who are not 'in need', as such, they have reasons other than not currently being in an insecure home.

So, I applaud the point of the question, which is how we assess need, really, across Wales. We do that in a number of ways. We monitor, for example, the units actually let as social housing units. So, at 31 March 2019, Wales had a total of 231,408 units of social housing let. The new lettings increased by 4 per cent during 2018-19 to 21,135  lettings, 61 per cent of those were on the housing waiting list, up 2 per cent on the previous year to 12,863 of those. The proportion of lettings for households rehoused on a priority basis due to being homeless increased again, and the overall number of types of lettings was up by 15 per cent on the previous year.

So, we are doing it the other way around; we are doing it by actual lettings rather than the list, if you see what I mean. Having said that, though, we do encourage combined housing lists in areas, because there are other benefits, other than understanding the need—not least that in areas with a combined housing list, you can make one application and be considered by all of the social landlords. In 19 of the 22 local authorities, we have a combined list. We have three that don't, and they have different partnership arrangements. What we don't want is somebody to apply to lots of different landlords to acquire their social home.

I have got a piece of research out at the moment to look at how we might be able to list housing need, as opposed to people who want to be on the housing waiting list. I don't wish to discourage people who aren't 'in need' from going on those waiting lists. There are large numbers of people who know, perhaps, that they aren't going to get to the top of a points-based system, but nevertheless want to register for a council house because some of them become available in other circumstances. So, I do have that piece of research out, and I am hoping to be able to announce it in the forthcoming weeks.