1. How will the Welsh Government support vulnerable people over the winter months? OQ57008

Llywydd, households are under unprecedented financial pressure resulting from the pandemic, our exit from the European Union, the rising cost of living and damaging cuts to welfare supported by the UK Government. We are tackling the inequalities that can lead to poverty while helping people to maximise incomes and build financial resilience.

Thank you, First Minister, for that answer. I'd like to welcome the work that the Welsh Government is doing to support vulnerable people, and I particularly want to pay tribute to our charities and other third sector organisations that are doing some fantastic work to help our communities.

As you will know, First Minister, the UK Government has recently announced a package of support worth £500 million to help people through the pandemic, as well as the winter months. This money will be provided to councils in England by October. Because of this, Wales will receive an additional £25 million. Can you confirm how this money will be used to support families across Wales and whether councils will directly receive this funding so that they can ensure that help is received by those who need it most? Thank you. 

Well, Llywydd, I agree with what Peter Fox said about the importance of voluntary and third sector organisations that have done so much to help families and communities over the recent pandemic period. But let's be clear: the UK Government is taking £300 million out of the pockets of some of the poorest families in Wales and is offering £25 million in return. It's absolutely no bargain at all for those vulnerable families and the support that they will need over this winter.

Now, we have already provided over £25 million in additional investment in our discretionary assistance fund, a fund abandoned by the Conservative Party in England, where there's no recourse to such a nationally run, rules-based scheme. We will look to see how we can use the £25 million to the very best effect, supporting the range of organisations that make a difference to people's lives, while being absolutely clear sighted about the fact that to lose £300 million and to be offered £25 million in compensation is no deal at all. 

First Minister, loneliness has been a significant issue for thousands of people during the pandemic, and, as we enter the winter months, more people could feel even more isolated from friends and family. When people are lonely, they can be at greater risk of isolating themselves from services as well, and that can, in turn, be made worse if there are already barriers to accessing those services, like long waiting lists. I know the Red Cross has drawn attention to how people suffering from loneliness can need tailored support when they're waiting for treatment, support that isn't just about their physical ailment but about coping with the process of waiting, especially if that is prolonging the time before they can interact with friends and family more easily. So, First Minister, what support is in place, or could be put in place, please, to help people on long waiting lists to cope with the isolation that that might bring them, as well as, of course, the impact on their physical health?

Llywydd, I thank Delyth Jewell for that important point. She will knew that some analysts say that loneliness should be added to the five giants that Beveridge set out at the start of the welfare state as one of the great social policy challenges of our time. I thank her for what she said about the importance of the Red Cross. She will know that, over last winter, the Welsh Government funded a series of actions by the Red Cross itself to assist in returning people to their own homes when they were discharged—sometimes after a brief period just visiting an A&E department; sometimes after a stay in hospital—precisely to make sure that those people who are lonely and isolated had another human being alongside them when they returned to their own homes, and were helped to settle in and make sure they had everything that they needed. Can I commend as well the work of the Older People's Commissioner for Wales in this area? I know my colleague Julie Morgan has been working closely with the commissioner and her office to put services in place to combat loneliness amongst old people. And sometimes this is a very simple set of arrangements, in the field that Peter Fox pointed to, of the voluntary and the third sector—just a simple phone call to somebody who doesn't hear another human voice from one day to the next, and just takes an interest in how they are doing and what they are going through, can make a real difference to people. And there are many, many volunteers now, in all parts of Wales, who take part in those simple but effective measures that can make a difference to loneliness.

First Minister, in my constituency of Bridgend, I have been asking residents about their experiences of contacting primary care. The feedback has ranged from 'very good' to people who felt that they have waited too long. I am concerned that this could particularly impact vulnerable people over the winter months. So, how can Welsh Government ensure that our GP surgeries have the best technology so that people can make appointments and have a consistent service across Bridgend?

Well, I thank Sarah Murphy for that point. As primary care has quite rightly relied on technological ways of providing advice and treatment outcomes to people, so the need to make sure that those technological platforms are effective for people is even more important than it was before. As part of our access arrangement with the General Practitioners Committee Wales, we provided millions of pounds of fresh investment to assist GP practices in making sure that their telephone systems, for example, were fit for today's society. I know the picture is mixed, in the way that the Member for Bridgend has mentioned. In the end, as she will know, these are private contractors who make their own arrangements for telephony services. We work with them, though, and we work with GPC Wales, including by additional funding, to try to make the performance of the whole system as good as it is for the best. And I know, from the work that she has done in her own constituency, which she shared with me, that she's come across some very good examples of where people feel that the service they get from their own surgery meets their needs very well. Now we need the rest to be in the same position.