Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this important debate on the 'Debt and the pandemic' report, published by the Equality and Social Justice Committee, with such a strong debate this afternoon, which adds such weight to your report and recommendations. I welcome the report, with its insightful recommendations. I thank the Chair and members of the committee for your significant contribution and hard work during your inquiry.

Before Christmas, I also met with the Bevan Foundation to discuss their latest survey within their 'A Snapshot of Poverty' report series. The figures show that personal debt is now, as you said in the debate, a major problem in Wales. Twenty-five per cent of people surveyed said that they had had to borrow money since May 2021, and 12 per cent had already fallen behind with their repayments by at least one month.

I fully agree with the committee on the importance of tackling the growing debt burden that's being faced by people in Wales. Our efforts to find them a pathway out of debt will be strengthened by implementing these report recommendations. There are more actions, clearly, that we can take, and we will take, as a result of our programme for government, our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru and also other dimensions that, in fact, we've been debating and discussing over the past two days, in terms of the cost-of-living crisis and your next inquiry.

It has never been more important than it is now that services such as debt advice and affordable lending reach people who are at higher risk of getting into debt. I welcome the recommendations in relation to wider promotion of our services. We will be supporting all our partners to work with more community groups, who already have very established relationships in place in local communities with people who need the help the most.

You engaged with those local groups, I know, and you've mentioned them. The recommendations relating to our existing support mechanisms for those in financial crisis through the discretionary assistance fund are very relevant, given that we will see increasing numbers of people looking to us for support, so I welcomed that recommendation on the DAF.

I also welcome the written statement that has just been published by the Minister for Climate Change, which, hopefully, you've been able to have sight of, extending the tenancy hardship grant to cover arrears built up to 31 December 2021. The statement confirms that eligibility has been extended to social housing tenants not in receipt of housing-related benefits. This brings their access to financial help in line with all other renters. You called for that in recommendation 11, so that's also a positive indication of the Government's response to the report.

The evidence is clear that the impact of problem debt upon the well-being of individuals and their families can be negative and long-lasting. However, the Welsh Government is doing all that it can to support people in Wales through the cost-of-living crisis that they are facing. On 16 November last year, I announced a £51 million package of support for low-income households to meet the immediate pressures of the cost-of-living crisis this winter.

We've talked a lot this afternoon about the winter fuel support scheme—£38 million for householders in receipt of means-tested benefits. Eligible households can claim a one-off £100 cash payment from their local authority to be used towards paying winter fuel bills. But I'm under no illusion that that payment will fully compensate households that lost over £1,000 a year when the £20 a week universal credit payment ended. However, it will help some keep their homes a little warmer this winter without building up fuel debt.

But we do have—as the Chair, Jenny Rathbone, has said—a tsunami, a perfect storm, of a cost-of-living crisis, which is now being expressed in terms of the clear evidence. We do know that people can recover from debt. What they need is access to free, quality, assured advice. That’s why the Welsh Government's long-standing commitment to funding advice services is so important.

It's rare that debt is the only problem that a person will have. It makes no sense to tackle a person's debt if they also have a welfare benefit problem or a housing problem that's left unresolved. So, the Welsh Government's single advice fund offers integrated services, helping people to deal with their financial problems together with other social welfare problems, and it does ensure that services tackle the underlying causes of debt and helps people put their finances on a more sustainable footing.