10. Will the Minister provide an update on the Arbed scheme in Arfon? OQ56387

Thank you. A meeting with Fortem Energy Services is scheduled for 15 March to finalise details for contacting 393 households fitted with external wall insulation under the Arbed scheme in Arfon. I set out the process for householders to resolve claims in my letter to you of 8 March.

Thank you for that. I would be grateful if you could confirm today that it's the responsibility of Fortem Energy Services to work to resolve this problem, or these problems, truth be told. The owners of homes should only use the guarantee as a final step if Fortem and the Welsh Government can't resolve these problems in a satisfactory manner and within a reasonable timetable. Will you just confirm that, in order to provide peace of mind to people, please? 

I am pleased that you've provided a specific date to us there. There is concern among constituents that further delays and the impacts of the May elections could see this issue continuing to be unresolved, and that isn't fair in any way whatsoever.

The problem is far more than just the paint on the external walls, and my constituents in Deiniolen, Dinorwig, Carmel and Y Fron regret that the focus of your recent letters to me focus only on that. There are a whole host of problems arising from the deficient standards of work undertaken, and all of those need to be addressed.

Thank you, and I absolutely agree with you that everything needs to be addressed. Fortem Energy Services Ltd will work with my officials to contact each home that benefited from EWI under the Arbed scheme in the places that you just referred to. A home maintenance information leaflet will be reissued and, where necessary, the company will provide copies of the guarantee that covers the external wall insulation system and the render coatings at no cost to the household. It is really important that this work continues, despite the election, and obviously it can because my officials will continue to work with the energy company. I do appreciate it is very time consuming, but it is really important, I think, that appropriate steps are taken to determine the root cause of the issues that are experienced by your constituents to make sure that we can get the corrective work done and get to those desired standards that we all want to see. 

Thank you, Minister.