3. Statement by the First Minister: Cabinet Appointments

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 19 May 2021.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 2:11, 19 May 2021

First Minister, I'd like to congratulate you on the gender balance of your Government, which is obviously something I completely applaud. I'm rather disappointed to see that there's not a single woman on the Conservative benches here this afternoon. Clearly, there will need to be some hard work done to replace such excellent people as, say, Suzy Davies and Angela Burns, who will be sorely missed.

I wanted to just explore the innovative housing grants that we've been awarding throughout the last two Parliaments and on what basis that enables us to ensure that all new housing is built to zero carbon standards, not just the social housing that you've already alluded to, and therefore what plans your Government may have to amend Part L to ensure that private house builders are not building housing that is of a much lower standard than what we are building for social housing to rent.

One of the most urgent considerations for my constituents is the fact that we have many, many European citizens who are living a life in limbo because of the failure of the Home Office to grant them settled status. This is not just the 94-year-old woman who has lived nearly 60 years in this country, paying her taxes, and is now uncertain as to whether she can be assured of NHS care at the end of her life, which is an absolute disgrace; it's also about huge numbers of other people who are endeavouring to make a contribution to the economy and, in some cases, are being told that they are unable to go on courses to enable them to qualify, for example, as teaching assistants, because they're told that they still haven't got the correct settled status. So, I wondered if you could tell us who in your Government can approach the Home Office and the UK Government to find out when they are going to resolve these really disgraceful cases, which seem to be just a continuation of the Windrush scandal.