Questions now from party spokespeople. The Conservative spokesperson, Mark Isherwood.

Diolch, Llywydd. As chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency in previous terms, I'm working with National Energy Action, NEA Cymru, and the Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru, to re-establish the cross-party group in the sixth Senedd. Our first meeting will take place via Zoom at 11 a.m. on Monday, 8 November—diary note for everybody, please—and I thank you for confirming your attendance as Minister for Social Justice. We recognise that tackling fuel poverty is a social justice issue, but we recognise that improving the energy efficiency of the homes of fuel-poor households in Wales will also contribute to climate change objectives in Wales. Given that fuel poverty sits within your portfolio, but energy efficiency sits within the portfolio of the Minister for Climate Change, how specifically are you co-ordinating action with her to ensure that the wider social justice goals in tackling fuel poverty are not lost in pursuit of climate change objectives?

I thank Mark Isherwood for that question, and I do look forward to attending the cross-party group on fuel poverty. Clearly, this has to be addressed in a cross-Government way, so working very closely with the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, and appreciating it from her perspective as being responsible for housing and tackling climate change. So, working together, particularly in relation to tackling fuel poverty, we did publish the plan to tackle fuel poverty in March of this year. We had a public consultation and, of course, many responses from those who will, I'm sure, be attending the cross-party group. But I think it's important just to outline—and this, obviously, alongside my colleague Julie James—our targets. And they are targets that, over the next 15 years, no household is estimated to be living in severe or persistent fuel poverty; no more than 5 per cent of households are estimated to be living in fuel poverty at any one time; and that we should look to the number of households that are at risk of falling into fuel poverty, and they should be halved, by more than 50 per cent, based on the 2018 assessment. What's crucial is that we need to make sure that 155,000 homes—that's 12 per cent of homes in Wales—have safe and comfortable home environments, and that's where our close working is so critically important.

Thank you. The connection between fuel poverty and health is very real. Speaking here in November 2018, I noted that the annual cost to the Welsh NHS of treating people made ill by living in a cold, damp home was approximately £67 million, with health impacts caused by cold homes predominantly relating to cardiovascular and respiratory problems. Low temperatures also diminish resistance to infection and encourage damp and mould growth in the home. And cold indoor conditions have also been linked to poor mental health, resulting from anxiety and stress, and cold homes also exacerbate social isolation and reduce educational attainment, therefore crossing into social justice issues. Speaking at National Energy Action Cymru's fuel poverty conference in February 2019, I stated that your predecessor had told the cross-party group that the Welsh Government would be developing a cold weather plan in conjunction with Public Health Wales, and that a crisis fund and adoption in Wales of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline and quality standard on cold-related ill health and excess winter deaths would also be key to this. However, yesterday's statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services on the Welsh Government's health and social care winter plan made no reference to fuel poverty. Given that winter is almost upon us again, what specific year-round cold weather resilience planning is the Welsh Government therefore taking to address this, as it relates to the cross-cutting issues in your social justice portfolio?

Thank you, again, for that follow-up question. I've mentioned the plan to tackle fuel poverty, published earlier on this year. What's crucial about that is that we also have a fuel poverty advisory panel, which, of course, is attended by many of those who you are working with in terms of the cross-party group, and it is actually helping us to co-ordinate action to tackle fuel poverty in Wales. What's important, and linked to your first question, is the Warm Homes programme, and it's clear that there's a link between good health and well-being and also tackling fuel poverty. So, the Warm Homes programme, as you're aware, I know, includes the demand-led Nest scheme, which ends in March 2023, and the Arbed scheme, ending later on this year, and that's providing support for people most in need in terms of the Warm Homes programme. 

But I think it's important to show that, for example, this is where schemes under the Warm Homes programme are subject to a maximum level of investment for each dwelling to maximise the impact of the scheme, and improvements not only for warmer homes, but also saving households on their annual energy bills, because that's what's so important about the free home energy efficiency measures that are now being implemented through the Nest scheme. 

Thank you, and whilst I welcome your comments about the Warm Homes plan, the question was specific to the cold weather plan, which NEA Cymru's annual fuel poverty monitor have called for for a long time, and which the Minister in the last Welsh Government accepted in 2019 and said the Welsh Government would be developing. 

But, moving on, on 1 October, the energy price cap set by energy regulator Ofgem increased, driven by a rise in energy costs, with gas prices hitting a record high as the world emerged from lockdown. Although the price cap ensures that suppliers only pass on legitimate costs to customers, NEA Cymru warned that this rise would plunge 22,500 more households in Wales into fuel poverty this winter, and called for deeper protection and more direct financial support for low-income households this winter. How do you therefore respond to their subsequent statement that the Welsh Government has a vital role to play to support fuel-poor households across tenure to retrofit and upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes, and how will you respond to their call on the Welsh Government to expand the financial support available to assist those struggling to meet growing energy bills, as well as longer term investment in home energy efficiency, prioritising the poorest households in the least efficient homes?

Well, of course, in response to your specific question, which I will respond to, about the cold weather plan, we will have a cold weather plan in place. I talked about our plan to tackle fuel poverty, and ,of course, all of these are interacting strategies and plans to tackle fuel poverty. But we'll be able to respond to that in terms of updating by the end of November. 

This is where the Minister for Climate Change and I are working very closely together, and we are making our representations to the UK Government, which I hope you are as well. You're making representations to me, but representations need to be made to the UK Government in terms of tackling these issues. And, very clearly, we need to ensure that there is the funding available to enable us to play our part. And we'll look to see what happens in the comprehensive spending review announcements shortly. 

But, also, on Ofgem itself, meetings held with the Minister for Climate Change, and representations that we're making, recognising that there will be an increase in the number of households facing fuel poverty, in fact, this was discussed fully in our Equality and Social Justice Committee this morning in terms of debt advice, and the fact that we are ensuring that not only are we reaching out with £20.1 million in the Nest scheme—100 per cent of installations completed by Wales-based installers, including apprenticeships—but we are looking to benefit entitlement checks, which, in themselves, through our income maximisation programme, are actually resulting in benefit take-up to support households who will be vulnerable; who will be vulnerable, because of those cuts that we've just been talking about from universal credit and the end of furlough, rising fuel prices and rising food prices too.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Peredur Owen Griffiths. 

Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, following on from the previous question, you may remember that I wrote to you earlier this summer when the news first emerged of the rises in fuel tariffs. I warned then of the impacts this would have on household budgets, especially in light of the Tory Government's decision to plough ahead with the removal of the universal credit uplift, despite knowing the harm that it would cause. The reason we are in this position is partly down to the incompetency of the Tory Government in Westminster in failing to invest in gas storage capacity, making the UK especially vulnerable to external shocks. For me, this underlines Plaid Cymru's plans to establish a home-grown energy company that would increase our resilience and reduce our reliance on external forces. The last few months have surely told us that we cannot rely on Westminster when it comes to energy supply. Is increasing our energy independence under active consideration in order to tackle fuel poverty and exorbitant prices? And, if not, why not?

Well, thank you very much. And it's absolutely right and timely that these questions are coming about what role and power we have got, as a Welsh Government, in terms of tackling fuel poverty. We talked this morning about the perfect storm that is going to be hitting and affecting vulnerable families. So, we need to ensure that we can have as much of a grip and a hold and responsibilities in terms of taking this forward, in terms of energy supply and resources. Clearly, this is not entirely in my portfolio, although in the cross-Government way in which we work in the Welsh Government, I'm very clearly working with my colleagues the Minister and Deputy Minister for climate change on these issues.

Diolch yn fawr. Moving on to something that I've got an interest in: in recent months, Wales has welcomed refugees, following the sudden fall of the Afghanistan Government. It's hard to imagine the terror that they felt when fleeing their homes, and it's only right that Wales has played its part in proving to be a safe haven for some of these families. Over the last 20 years, WARD or the Wales Asylum Seeking and Refugee Doctors scheme has been a big success in supporting people to restart their professional lives here in Wales. They have done this by removing the barriers to gaining General Medical Council registration that is required to practice in the UK. The scheme has also saved a lot of money, since training new doctors costs around £230,000, whereas the WARD process costs around £30,000 for each doctor completing the scheme. Can this Welsh Government commit to helping more refugees and asylum seeking professionals to restart their careers by looking to expand the remit of the original WARD scheme to include other professionals, and help our NHS?

Diolch yn fawr, Peredur, for that question. I was very proud to be health Minister when we started along that route, with the refugee doctors scheme, as we called it then, 20 years ago. And I always recall Aled Edwards reporting on how many of those refugee doctors we were supporting through language skills, through the scheme that developed, and which has now been replicated and followed, not in Wales, but across the UK and further afield, and how so many of those doctors who then got GMC recognition were working in the NHS across Wales and the UK. So, it is very important that we look to the opportunities and the scope of that scheme. It will be very much for the Minister for Health and Social Services—. In fact, I've raised that question with her, in terms of not just doctors, but other health professionals as well. But I would like to say that we do have the opportunities, again, with our Afghan refugees who come to join us here in Wales, many of whom have skills—their whole families; the husbands and wives have skills—as we've seen with the Syrian refugees, who are now playing their part, particularly in the NHS, and I certainly will be raising that point again about the scheme and how we can enhance it.

Thank you, and thank you for taking that forward. Recently, I brought forward a debate on substance misuse. During that debate, the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being noted that the Government approach to substance misuse problems is firmly rooted in a health and harm reduction approach. Given this, how does the Welsh Government work with and engage with the police and crime commissioners to ensure this approach is translated into action with police on the ground? Specifically, how do the Government and the PCCs guide officers to identify substance misuse or addiction problems and to respond appropriately in line with the health and harm reduction approach?

Well, thank you for that question. It's very timely again, because tomorrow I'm meeting with the lead PCC, police and crime commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn, and I will be, and he will, I'm sure, be aware of questions asked to me this afternoon with my lead role in terms of policing. I co-chair with the First Minister the policing partnership board, and I have to say that, over the last 18 months, although we have been focusing on the impact of the pandemic and the support that the police forces have been giving to respond to the pandemic and to the very welcome expansion of our community police support officers, we also have had substance misuse clearly on the agenda. It is something where, particularly, the police forces, led often by the police and crime commissioners, are looking at prevention in terms of the role of our police services in Wales. And you know, we do focus on what are Welsh needs and Welsh circumstances, and I will be raising this again with Dafydd Llywelyn, the lead police and crime commissioner, when I meet him tomorrow.

Question 3 [OQ57061] is withdrawn. Question 4, Mabon ap Gwynfor.