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

Diolch, Llywydd. Well, as we heard, 13 days ago, the UK Government announced a new £15 billion cost-of-living support package targeted towards millions of low-income households, bringing its total cost-of-living support so far to £37 billion. As we heard earlier, this includes £650 cost-of-living payments for every household on means-tested benefits, and doubling of the October energy bill discount from £200 to £400, with the requirement to pay it back scrapped, something I know that you had also called for. It also introduces a £300 pensioner cost-of-living payment for every pensioner household in receipt of winter fuel payments, £150 disability cost-of-living payments for those in receipt of disability benefits, and an additional £0.5 billion for the existing household support fund. This new package will mean that the lowest income households in Wales will receive over £1,000 of extra support this year. There will also be a £25 million consequential funding flow to the Welsh Government from the extension to the household support fund. So, how will the Welsh Government ensure that this funding will be targeted in its entirety at households hardest hit by the cost-of-living increases, beyond the funding announcements you made before this additional funding was announced?

I thank Mark Isherwood for that question. We called for what was a very welcome announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 26 May. We actually called for additional support for households and, indeed, we called for the fact that we should not just get the funding, but that it should be clearly targeted at those who are most vulnerable. So, it is welcome that there will be that energy bill rebate of £400 to be applied to household bills in October. We called for it to be paid as a grant not a loan. It was always utterly wrong to say that it should have been a loan to be repaid. So, the UK Government has listened to us, listened to the Welsh Government and calls from this side of the Chamber, I know, for action.

We have still called for action from the UK Government in terms of the fact that this is a one-off, and we still do need to see more support given in terms of, for example, the warm homes discount, currently planned at £150. So, we have made that commitment, as you say, the £380 million, and we had our winter fuel support scheme. This is where we are learning how effective that can be and how we can extend our discretionary assistance fund. Perhaps it's an opportunity to update that, as of 30 April, local authorities have paid 166,049 households with crucial support from our winter fuel support scheme. So, we will be looking at all the ways in which we can support and learn from our investment not just in terms of tackling fuel poverty, but tackling food poverty as well, bolstering community food partnerships and also raising awareness of affordable credit.

Thank you. Of course, we've also called for that, as have large numbers of Conservative MPs, alongside Labour MPs and other parties also. I hope that answer meant that that money will be going in its entirety to hardest-hit households. It wasn't exactly clear. But on the directly related question of fuel poverty, because my first question was more general around fuel poverty in Wales, National Energy Action—NEA—estimate that the increase to the price cap from April will push an additional 100,000 households in Wales into fuel poverty, bringing the total to over 280,000. Questioning you here in January, I referred to the publication of the Welsh Government's cold weather resilience plan for people at risk of living in a cold home. I asked how you respond to concern and feedback from fuel poverty coalition members that they would like to see strengthened detail and how the Welsh Government will work with the health sector to achieve the plan's aims and agree what the health sector can do to support it. When you attended the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency meeting on 14 March, and I thank you again for attending that meeting, I asked you how the Welsh Government intends to work with the health sector to achieve the plan's aims and establish referral networks between health actors and advice partners. In response, you asked your officials to follow up with me and the cross-party group on how Welsh Government could look to work with health agencies in this way. Thus far, I've heard nothing. So, when, therefore, will this be happening? And what action has so far been taken? 

I was very grateful for the opportunity to come and speak, as I have more than once, I think, to your cross-party group on tackling fuel poverty. You know that our fuel poverty plan commits to continued investment in the Warm Homes programme, particularly in the development and publication of the cold weather resilience plan. Of course, the key factor, in terms of health and well-being, is crucial to that. So, I was grateful for that question, and for that call on us to look at partnership with the health service. Indeed, I've already raised this with the health and social services Minister. This is something that will also be reflected in terms of the fuel poverty advisory committee that I mentioned earlier on. This does provide us with an opportunity to address this as we move forward with not just our fuel poverty plan, but our Warm Homes programme. I will also say that this is something where the Warm Homes programme is very geared to addressing the vulnerabilities that people face in terms of fuel poverty. And you were right again, Mark Isherwood, to tell us again in this Chamber what we are facing in terms of fuel poverty as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. A lot more needs to be done. We need more funding from the UK Government in order for us to do this—to address the home energy efficiency issues, but also to extend the allowances and the rebates that they are paying, so that we can play our part effectively. 

Thank you. I would be grateful if, as you stated, your officials would follow up with the group and myself as chair when they have the information to hand.

Changing tack, reference was made earlier by my colleague Tom Giffard to residential women's centres in Wales. The UK Government's female offender strategy was published in June 2018 to divert vulnerable female offenders away from short prison sentences wherever possible, invest in community services, and establish five pilot residential women's centres, including one in Wales. Last month, you wrote to Members stating you'd been working closely with the UK Ministry of Justice and announcing that one of these centres would be near Swansea in south Wales. The following week, you issued a written statement to Members with an update on the delivery of the youth justice and women's justice blueprints. With reference to the location of the residential women's centre in Wales, you stated that this would improve the lives of women in Wales, providing a more holistic, trauma-informed approach to delivering services for women who may find themselves involved in the criminal justice system in Wales. Importantly, it will also allow women to stay closer to home and to maintain crucial family ties, especially with their children. However, how will the location of this centre in Swansea help women offenders in north, mid and west Wales to access the services they need closer to home and to maintain their crucial family ties? What action are you taking to support the location of a future centre, hopefully in north Wales?

That is a very serious point and it really follows on from the questions from Tom Giffard and Rhys ab Owen, because we need more than one women's residential centre. The key points, and I don't want to repeat them, in terms of what this centre is going to do, are about serving the local community, serving local women and their families in their local community. That is appropriate for the way these residential women's centres are developing. I think I've got very useful backing from the Welsh Conservatives, led by you, Mark Isherwood, for a much clearer partnership and response from the UK Government and the Ministry of Justice in terms of the way forward. I think, indeed, it actually just spells out—. I mean, your frustration is like our frustration, and I think if we had more powers over justice then we'd be able to move forward faster, I believe, in terms of expanding the women's centre offer to north Wales. I'll certainly be backing your call for a north Wales centre, Mark Isherwood.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson now. Peredur Owen Griffiths.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Risca foodbank, along with my Plaid Cymru colleague Delyth Jewell. There, we heard about the increasing demand for their services, which is hardly surprising with the cost-of-living crisis that continues throughout Wales and affecting our communities. I fear that the demand is set to get much higher in our foodbanks throughout the country. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote volunteering within the community as well as looking at community-based solutions to this issue, such as community food hubs? These could bring sustainability to local communities, provide food parcels, and be a source of agricultural education.

Thank you very much. I'm sure Members across this Chamber have been visiting and been aware of not just their foodbanks but some of the community food initiatives, like the pantries that have been set up, and the relationships with FareShare particularly in terms of access to food from our supermarkets. I mentioned the fact that we had a round-table on food poverty as well as the cost-of-living crisis as a whole. Since 2019, we have invested more than £14 million to support and bolster foodbanks, expand community food partnerships, develop community hubs and extend food initiatives. I'm not sure if you've got in your region—I think you probably have—the Big Bocs Bwyd project, which actually started at Cadoxton school in Barry but is being rolled out across the Valleys and indeed across Wales. That is a pioneering example of ways in which we can develop community food partnerships in conjunction with schools and linking that to the curriculum and healthy food options.

Diolch yn fawr. Something else that struck me on a number of visits throughout the region was the age profile of some of the key volunteers that these venues and clubs need to keep them ticking over. Many are older and there's little evidence of succession planning, which is a concern for the viability of some of these key pillars of our community in the years to come. Can the Welsh Government do more to create structures around informal volunteering? This could promote a continuation of services that would, perhaps, allow those from different backgrounds and age profiles to get involved.

That's a really valid question, because we know that the age profile of our volunteers is increasing, and the pressures on their lives, as well, in terms of the cost-of-living crisis are considerable, so we are very much looking at the impact of food and fuel poverty on pensioners and older people, many of whom are volunteers.

I actually chaired a third sector partnership council recently where we had the cost-of-living crisis on the agenda, and many of our third sector voluntary organisations, locally and nationally, are concerned about the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on their capacity, on their infrastructures and their costs themselves. But they're factoring in that understanding and recognition of this in terms of recruiting and retaining volunteers and ensuring that we can support them through this difficult time. This is also the active elderly who want to play that part, who have that compassion and willingness and desire to help, and there are many examples, as you will have seen from the volunteers in our foodbanks, of people of this kind.