4. Will the Minister make a statement on the availability of social housing in Carmarthenshire? OAQ55163

Certainly. Social housing remains this Government's top housing priority and we are continuing to increase the provision of social homes in Carmarthenshire and across Wales. During 2018-19, in Carmarthenshire, we provided over £6.9 million-worth of funding through our social housing grant programme. In addition, £5.7 million has been invested through the innovative housing programme.  

I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer. She'll know, and will be very pleased to know, that the Plaid Cymru-led administration there is a year ahead of target in delivering its initial 900 new council homes. And I know that the Minister will be glad that just yesterday, the local authority committed to a further 370 new homes over the next three years. And it does show what a local authority—with, indeed, I completely acknowledge, support from Welsh Government—is able to achieve when they're ready to give real leadership.

The Minister will probably be aware that the new plans in particular are looking at ways in which they can develop new housing stock that will be carbon neutral, and I know that that fits very much with the issues that the Minister has raised very much as part of her agenda. Can the Minister tell us today what further support the Welsh Government will be able to provide to local authorities to ensure that this success in Carmarthenshire can be replicated, I'm sure, elsewhere, particularly with regard to the de-carbonising of existing housing stock, which, of course, is, we all know, much more difficult to do than to build new carbon-neutral homes?

Yes, indeed, I'm very pleased that Carmarthenshie have embraced the innovative housing programme in the way that they have. We've put £5.7 million in, as I think I've already said, in the first few years to deliver 39 very innovative homes in Carmarthenshire, to monitor them to see whether they do what they say and to bring forward plans to build very many more.

In 2018-19, Carmarthenshire, as a stock-retaining authority, were allocated funding of £2.8 million to support the build of new council housing through the affordable housing grant, and then another £1.8 million in 2019-20. As I was just saying in response to an earlier question, we are looking, as a result of the affordable housing review, at the way that we do grants. The affordable housing review wanted us to look at the way we do grants for building new housing, but it also wanted us to look at the way that we do what's called 'dowry' for the large stock transfers and for the stock-retaining councils. And when I bring forward the oral statement, Deputy Presiding Officer, which I mentioned earlier, we will be covering off what we are expecting in return for what is a very substantial investment in terms of bringing existing stock—once we've done the Welsh housing quality standard, which we have—up another level. And so, that work is ongoing and I hope to be able to report it to the Assembly shortly.

Minister, you have referenced the earlier question to Caroline Jones, when she was talking about single-person homes being built, and, of course, you've just talked about the affordable housing grant, but can you please tell me how this will reflect with people who live with disabilities and who are carers? I have a case in Carmarthenshire where the person is in a wheelchair—she's been in a wheelchair for many, many years—and she's now getting older. Her husband has quite severe dementia, but they can still live together, but it's proving extremely difficult. And, of course, these grants don't recognise that, simply because you live with a disability, it does not mean that you do not have caring responsibilities—either older people or younger people. But housing stock that can be provided by the social services and by the local councils doesn't always reflect that mix in a family—it is for a disabled person or a couple, but not with the extended family. So, are you able to give direction or do you have any news for them, because we talk about houses, as you just have with Helen Mary, that are fit for the future, that are nice and sustainable, but we actually need them also to be fit and sustainable for real-life families, and they come in all types of shapes, sizes and different nucleus.

Yes, I absolutely agree, and I recognise the problem from my own case load as well. Of course, we have a whole series of adaptations and care and repair schemes that do attempt to bring current stock up to the standard necessary for people to able to maintain complex lifestyles of various sorts.

In terms of the new build that we're putting together, you will have heard me speak in the Chamber many times of housing for life, and so what we're looking to do, especially with the modular housing programme, is have a house that is built in the first place, so that it has accessible doorways, has plugs at the right height—it has all of those things, but also it can have bedrooms added, and subtracted even, as the family grows and contracts, and has all the things like wide stairs, wide doorways, level—all that sort of stuff. So, in the future, we will certainly be expecting our houses to conform to that, and we are building them. I visited one in my colleague Huw Irancca-Davies's constituency very recently that was conforming to just that pattern.

But in terms of the existing housing stock, obviously that can be very much more difficult, and in some cases impossible to do. But where it is possible, then the local authority should be able to assist through the adaptation scheme and through care and repair. If she is having particular problem with a particular constituent—if she wants to write in and I'll see what I can do.