1. What support is the Welsh Government providing to assist households in Blaenau Gwent with the current cost-of-living crisis? OQ57949

Llywydd, our £380 million cost-of-living package is putting money back into the pockets of households in Blaenau Gwent and helping families there struggling with soaring prices. We continue to call on the UK Government to take urgent action, including uprating benefit payments and taking steps to reduce fuel household bills.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for that answer. First Minister, we awoke to the news this morning that BP is making £1 billion profit every month, a £1 billion profit at a time when too many of the people we all represent in this place are terrified to see their next fuel bill and haven't got a clue how they will pay those bills. But, at the same time, we also know, First Minister, that food bills are 6 per cent higher as a consequence of leaving the European Union. And, I think, in an unusual and uncharacteristic bout of self-awareness, Jacob Rees-Mogg described the border controls, which he wanted, as an act of self-harm. 

Now, First Minister, together with increasing fuel bills, increasing food bills, we have a UK Government that really doesn't care about the reality of this crisis facing people, and we saw that from the Prime Minister this morning. Do you agree with me that people in Blaenau Gwent, and elsewhere in Wales, are facing a perfect storm of a UK Government that doesn't care about them, and profits and shareholder value being prioritised over the lives of the people we represent?

Well, Llywydd, Alun Davies makes a series of really important points there. BP profits have more than doubled in the last three months. Because of the impact of rising gas and oil prices, energy supply companies are making additional profits of £745 every single second. Just imagine that. The Prime Minister says they've got to keep all that money because they need to invest in the future of the industry. But what is BP actually doing? As Alun Davies said, it is buying back shares and it is paying down debt. It's not doing any of the things that the Prime Minister says it needs to do, and that money could be used to help those families who are struggling day in, day out. In the time that I have taken just to answer the question so far, Llywydd, that would be tens of families in Wales who would be helped with their bills. 

And as far as the other points that the Member made, the leader of the opposition entirely misunderstood the point that he was making—the 6 per cent rise in food bills in this country is due entirely to the impact of leaving the European Union. The impact of us leaving the European Union is not to drive up prices in Europe by 12 per cent. It's nonsensical to even suggest it. The report to which my friend was referring is a report that says that prices in this country are up by 6 per cent because of the additional costs involved in food production as a result of leaving the European Union. It may not be comfortable for the Member to understand that, but that is what the report last week demonstrated. 

And as to border control posts—the third point that the Member raised—surely that is one of the most shocking of decisions. Now, the agriculture industry—a topic that the leader of the opposition told us last week was a topic where he did know what he was talking about—is one in which producers here in Wales now face competition from producers outside with no checks at all on those goods coming into the European Union, whereas a farmer in Wales seeking to export to the European Union has to face all the additional barriers that come with leaving the European Union. It's an extraordinary thing for a UK Government to do: to have claimed that they are taking back control only to find that they're not taking back control at all. 

First Minister, I'm sure you can agree with me that even in normal times the financial impact of cancer diagnosis can be devastating, with people facing reduced incomes and increased costs of living. The pandemic and the increased costs of living have worsened the situation, with many people having to contend with increasing energy bills, as well as the financial impact of their cancer diagnosis. Research carried out by Macmillan Cancer Support late last year revealed that 87 per cent of people with cancer in Wales experienced some kind of financial impact from their diagnosis, and 38 per cent were severely financially affected. First Minister, what action is your Government taking to improve signposting and consistent access to financial advice and support for cancer sufferers in Wales? And what consideration have you given to providing the most vulnerable sufferers with direct financial support to help those struggling due to the cost of living here in Wales? Thank you. 

Well, it's long been an irony-free zone on the Conservative benches in this Senedd—[Laughter.] Llywydd, I didn't hear the words 'Blaenau Gwent' once in the question that I've just been asked, and yet, as far as I can tell, the question on the order paper is about the cost of living in Blaenau Gwent. Residents there will find that 5,500 of them have now received £200 from the Welsh Government as a result of the winter fuel scheme, and, in March, we had 1,849 applications to the discretionary assistance fund, not available, of course, across the border, where her party is in control, but bolstered by an additional £15 million from the Welsh Government to make sure that those people in Blaenau Gwent—and some of those may be people who are facing cancer diagnoses and will find that the benefits system, raised by only 3.1 per cent, where people are facing inflation rises of 7 per cent, does not treat them with the sympathy and the understanding that they deserve—. In Wales, at least, they can turn to the discretionary assistance fund to assist them with the additional barriers that they now face in managing the consequence of such a diagnosis.