1. How is the Welsh Government supporting households who are facing increasing energy costs? OQ58038

Llywydd, our Warm Homes programme for lower income households saves an average of £300 a year by improving energy efficiency. Eligible households have also benefited from the £200 winter fuel support payment. And additionally, a £150 cost-of-living payment is being made to properties in council tax bands A to D.

Thank you, First Minister. One of the issues I wanted to raise with you is the eligibility criteria for the winter fuel support scheme. Now, a constituent has, unfortunately, not been able to claim through the scheme, despite her being the carer of her dependent daughter, who has a disability, in receipt of means-tested benefits. Now, I understand, had the daughter been the bill payer, the daughter would have been eligible for the scheme, or should have my constituent or her partner, rather than her daughter, then they would also have been eligible for the scheme. So, it does seem, First Minister, that there is some degree of irregularity within this programme as it stands at the moment. So, from what I can understand, First Minister—I've taken this up with the Minister—the Welsh Government are exploring the potential for adapting the scheme for the next round later in the year. So, can I ask that this anomaly is considered, and the example that I've outlined is considered, so that my constituent, and others across Wales who find themselves in this position, could be accommodated in the next round of this scheme?

I thank Russell George for drawing my attention to that issue. He will know that the winter fuel support scheme was put together very rapidly in order to make sure that we got as much help as possible into the hands of households who very badly needed that help. We are now looking at ways in which to deliver our commitment to have a second round of that fund for the coming winter. We're looking at ways to extend its eligibility and to deal with any anomalies that may have arisen in the original scheme. So, I give him an assurance that we will certainly take into account the example that he's offered us this afternoon, because we want our help to get to as many households as possible within the parameters of the scheme and the funding available for it.

Households in Wales are facing the biggest fall in disposable income in close to 50 years, with the poorest households hit the hardest, spending over a quarter of their income on energy and food. Considering this is a Tory cost-of-living crisis, the solutions and comments we've heard from the Tory Westminster Government are a joke. We've been told to get better jobs, we've been told that we can't cook properly, and now we have a Prime Minister who's happy to see pensioners ride buses all day just to keep warm. In contrast, the Welsh Government are providing real solutions: the cost-of-living support scheme and the discretionary cost-of-living support scheme, the discretionary assistance fund, the pupil development grant access scheme, and the winter fuel support scheme. I know that charities and the third sector are also providing essential support, and it's so important that residents are aware of this. Will the First Minister explore the idea of creating a cost-of-living helpline, or writing to households in Wales, signposting residents to the third sector organisations and charities that are providing support to ease the cost-of-living pressures?

Llywydd, can I thank Buffy Williams for those points? And she's right, of course, that we need to make sure that households in Wales are as aware of the help as possible. And we're doing that in a number of ways, working closely with our local authority colleagues, making sure that, through third sector organisations, there's readily accessible information for people, and that, when somebody appears in one part of the system looking for help, we make sure that, at that point of entry, they're given good advice about any other forms of help that are available here in Wales. Now, we do that within the limits of the powers and the funding that we have available to us, and independent commentators have recognised that the degree of help available through the Welsh Government is greater than is available in any other part of the United Kingdom.

But, the point that Buffy Williams started with, Llywydd, is surely the most important one—the UK Government needs to do more to make sure that people are helped, and the single most obvious source of assistance is so readily to hand. Only last week, the chair of Tesco said that he thought there was an overwhelming case for a windfall tax. The chief executive of BP gave an assurance that, if there were a windfall tax, it would not affect that company's intention to invest £18 billion over the next eight years in energy measures in the UK. The Prime Minister tells us that he doesn't like a windfall tax and he doesn't think it's the right way forward on the same day that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was saying that no options were off the table and that he was open-minded about a windfall tax. Well, which is it? It really is time that the UK Government sorted out their own position on this matter, and did so in a way that takes money from firms that are making enormous excess profits because of the rise in energy costs and provides that money to exactly the sorts of households that Buffy Williams has highlighted this afternoon.