Rising Household Bills

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 26 April 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:04, 26 April 2022

Well, Llywydd, I thank John Griffiths for that. I think it was the Institute for Fiscal Studies that concluded that the package of help that the UK Government is providing in England contains little direct targeting of resources on the poorest or those most in need. And John Griffiths is right, Llywydd, that the package of help provided here in Wales, which is the most extensive package of help available in any of the four UK nations, is targeted so that most of the help goes to those people at the bottom end of the income distribution. And, of course, that is entirely what we will continue to do.

I've had discussions this week with my colleague Jane Hutt about the £200 winter fuel payment and how we can extend that for the winter that will begin later this year. I was very pleased to see, Llywydd, that the £150 that is being paid not simply to those people who pay council tax but to those people who are exempt from council tax because they qualify for council tax benefit—that's something that doesn't happen across our border—that those payments are already being made: 138,000 households have already received that £150 in Wales; £6 million put into the hands of residents of Cardiff alone since the start of this month. That, I think, is just a clear demonstration of the way in which we want the £380 million that the Welsh Government has been able to secure to go into the pockets of those who need it the most and to do it as rapidly as possible. We rely on our colleagues in local government to help us to make sure that happens, and I'd like to congratulate Newport county borough council, Llywydd, for the £100,000 that it has found from its own budget to support foodbanks in the city—again, a service we wish was not needed but will become an even more necessary part of the landscape as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.