Item 3 this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Social Justice—cost-of-living update. I call on the Minister, Jane Hutt.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, for the opportunity to update Members today about the deepening cost-of-living crisis, which is being acutely felt by the most vulnerable, by disabled people and by lower income households. Over the last week, we've seen further evidence of just how quickly prices are rising. The cost of filling up an average-sized family car passed £100 for the first time, and, a week ago today, prices at the pump recorded their biggest one-day increase in 17 years. A great many households are struggling to make ends meet. Work by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has found that some 48,000 Welsh households are already facing food and energy bills that are greater than their disposable incomes. Unfortunately, this crisis will get worse as we head towards winter, with another energy price cap rise in October, which could add a further £800 to energy bills.

Dirprwy Lywydd, our focus as a Government has always been to help people with everyday costs by introducing a wide range of programmes that put money back in their pockets. We provide thousands of free breakfasts for primary school pupils every year and, as a result of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru, we will be extending free school meals to all primary school children from September. We provide help with the costs of sending children to school. Our Healthy Start vouchers give families money off their shopping. We provide free swimming for the old and the young, and we support hundreds of thousands of people with council tax bills every year. We help people get the benefits that they are entitled to—we've run two successful 'Claim what's yours' campaigns and the most recent in March helped people to claim more than £2.1 million of additional income. Our single advice fund's benefit advice services were launched two years ago to help people navigate the benefit system. And our Warm Homes scheme has improved the home energy efficiency of more than 67,000 lower income households, and more than 160,000 people have received energy-efficiency advice since its launch in 2011. We are now developing the next iteration of the programme.

But this cost-of-living crisis is unprecedented. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that this year will see the biggest fall in living standards in the UK since records began. We will continue to do everything we can to help people in Wales through this crisis, with support targeted towards those who need it most. As the crisis has worsened, we have introduced two new packages of measures that are unique to Wales and are targeted at those who need our help the most. Just a few days ago, I announced £4 million to help people on prepayment meters and households not on mains gas—two groups that were left out of the Chancellor's most recent package of measures. We are funding the Fuel Bank Foundation to provide fuel vouchers to help people on prepayment meters who are facing real hardship. Around 120,000 people will be eligible. People on prepayment meters have been hit particularly hard by rises in standing charges in recent months; the increases have been highest in north Wales. Vouchers worth £30 in the summer and £49 in the winter will be available to all eligible households, and people will be able to claim up to three times in a six-month period. We are also launching a heat fund to help those households not on mains gas, many of whom are in rural Wales, and will have experienced rapidly rising costs for oil or liquid gas, and this will help an estimated 2,000 households across Wales. This is in addition to the support payments for off-grid households available through the discretionary assistance fund. More than 1,000 people have received grants worth almost £192,000 between October and April.

Last week, the Deputy Minister for Social Services announced an additional £4.5 million for the carers support fund over the next three years. Unpaid carers will be able to apply for up to £500 to pay for food, household items and electronic items. Dirprwy Lywydd, this support is on top of our other all-Wales schemes, such as the £200 winter fuel support payment and the £150 payment for everyone in council tax bands A to D, which continues to be paid into people's bank accounts today. Beyond these schemes, I have met with energy suppliers to discuss what help is available to households struggling with energy bills and debt. Many companies fund grants of up to £600 to households with long-term debt issues. The suppliers supported our calls for the UK Government to extend the Warm Home Discount Scheme and to introduce an energy social tariff for lower income households. I've also hosted a cost-of-living summit, chaired a food poverty round-table, and met with the Wales Race Forum to better understand the impact of the crisis in our communities. I'll be meeting the Disability Equality Forum later this month and will be holding a follow-up summit in July. All these events will help to shape our actions and build partnerships to strengthen our response over the coming months.

But, Dirprwy Lywydd, this is a cost-of-living crisis with its roots firmly in Downing Street and the actions of successive Conservative Governments. It is the UK Government, with its tax and benefit powers, that can and must make a real difference to this crisis. We need to see benefit payments urgently uprated to match rising inflation and a lower energy tariff for lower income households, and a reinstatement of funding for discretionary housing payments. Without such action, there is a real risk that a great many families will be faced with the terrible choice between heating and eating this winter. In a rich country like ours, that's a choice no-one should ever have to make.

The Conservative spokesperson, Mark Isherwood.

Diolch. You say—. I'll begin with the end and get the controversial bit over with. You say the cost-of-living crisis has 'its roots firmly in Downing Street'. In fact, inflation to May, which are the last international figures I can find, point to inflation in Holland at 8.8 per cent, the US at 8.6 per cent, Germany at 7.9 per cent, and in the Baltic states as high as 20 per cent. Is Downing Street responsible for all of this, or is somehow the cost-of-living crisis—and I'm happy to use that word—in the UK unique to us and somehow unrelated to the global cost-of-living crisis impacting in desperate ways in so many parts of the world?

Further to your written statement last Friday announcing a Welsh Government fuel voucher scheme, aimed at providing crisis help to those households that have to pay in advance for their energy and are unable to do so, with top-up vouchers for customers on prepayment meters, sector representatives told me, as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency, that although this was welcome news, further information was still needed. National Energy Action estimate the price cap increase from April will bring an additional 100,000 households in Wales into fuel poverty, taking the total to 280,000. Both your written statement and the press release refer to individuals and people in respect of the voucher scheme. So, how many households does the Welsh Government therefore anticipate this voucher scheme support will reach?

Your statement says the scheme will see the launch of a new crisis service for households that are off the gas grid and are unable to afford to buy gas bottles or fill their oil tank, log store or coal bunker. When will this be launched? You state that the funding will also provide Fuel Bank heat fund support to help 2,000 households—so you identified the number in this instance—living off the gas grid reliant on unregulated heating, oil and liquid gas for their domestic space and water heating, which will benefit some 4,800 individuals, depending on the number of people living in the household. Is it your intention that the Fuel Bank heat fund is to fully cover the cost of 500 litres of oil, where it is noted that similar support available via the discretionary assistance fund is currently limited to £250, meaning that many low-income, vulnerable households cannot always afford the minimum delivery? Overall, what, if any, are the proposed eligibility criteria for the scheme, how long will this funding be available for, and/or how will it work alongside similar support currently available via the discretionary assistance fund?

Questioning you here last week, I asked whether the Welsh Government will ensure that the £25 million consequential funding flowing to the Welsh Government from the UK Government extension to the household support fund 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. Your response was unclear. Will the Welsh Government therefore target this funding, in its entirety, at households hardest hit by the cost-of-living increases—yes or no? If yes, when will its allocation be announced and are the Welsh Government fuel voucher scheme and Fuel Bank heat fund part of this?

I was a member of the Equality, Local Government and Communities committee that undertook the inquiry into 'Benefits in Wales: options for better delivery' during the last Senedd term. After hearing from a range of witnesses, including the Bevan Foundation and Community Housing Cymru, our 2019 committee report recommended the establishment of 

'a coherent and integrated "Welsh benefits system" for all the means-tested benefits for which it is responsible...co-produced with people who claim these benefits and the wider Welsh public.'

As the committee stated:

'It is a matter of basic fairness that people receive all the support to which they are entitled, as easily as possible.'

The Welsh Government accepted this recommendation. What action have you therefore taken to deliver on this?

Research by the Building Communities Trust prior to the 2021 Senedd elections found that people in Wales feeling increasingly less able to influence decisions affecting their local area. They highlighted the Local Trust's 'Left behind?' report in England, which evidences the poorer areas with greater community capacity and social infrastructure have better health and well-being outcomes, higher rates of employment and lower levels of child poverty compared to poorer areas without, adding:

'We believe there is big opportunity for a future Welsh Government to develop better support for community-led, long-term, local approaches in Wales'.

What consideration have you therefore given to the 'Left behind?' report, or will you be doing so?

The Welsh Government's—

Mark, you've had over your time now, so conclude, please.

Okay, I'll finish. The Welsh Government's cost-of-living support scheme guidance for local authorities allows for payments to be made until the scheme closes on 30 September, but leaves it to them to decide when. What action, finally, therefore, is the Welsh Government taking to address concerns raised by residents in a number of local authority areas about the delay in paying the council tax rebate to those who do not pay their council tax by direct debit?

Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood. I would be very surprised, as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty, if you did not recognise the deepening of the cost-of-living crisis and the failure of the UK Government to address these issues with their tax and welfare powers. It's just in terms of recognising, as I've said, that the UK Government holds the primary levers for the tax and benefits system.

Welsh Ministers have repeatedly called on UK Ministers to introduce a lower price cap for low-income households, and I got that support from energy providers I met, to ensure they're able to meet the costs of energy needs now and in the future. No response from the UK Government. We also have asked for them to introduce a significant increase in the rebate paid through schemes such as the Warm Homes discount and winter fuel schemes. We've asked them to remove all social and environmental policy costs from household energy bills and meet these costs from general taxation. We've asked for the £20 uplift in universal credit to be restored, but crucially important, and this is where it does lie, the responsibility, in Downing Street, they should uplift, uprate benefit payments for 2022-23 to match inflation instead of using the September 2021 consumer price index figure of 3.1 per cent. Inflation is now 9 per cent and rising.

I won't spend time today actually quoting what other countries are doing, certainly in the EU, which is a great deal more than this UK Government, but look to France, Italy and Germany. Germany is introducing subsidies for low-income households, spending an extra €15 billion on fuel subsidies, cutting petrol and diesel taxes, providing people with one-off payments, extra childcare support, public transport discounts. Those are the sorts of measures that we should be seeing from the UK Government.

But I'm glad that you do welcome the announcement I made on Friday. There is a full written statement, of course, that came out on Friday, Mark, and you will know that I launched this in Wrexham. I launched it in in Wrexham because the figures show people on prepayment metres in north Wales have been the hardest hit in the UK by rising standing charges. In fact, the First Minister commented on that in his questions. Costs are increasing in north Wales by 102 per cent, the highest in the UK, and standing charges for people on prepayment metres in south Wales have risen by 94 per cent, the fourth highest in Britain.

Now, we're doing this with the Fuel Bank Foundation. They have already engaged—we heard earlier on about some foodbanks, including Blaenau Gwent, which I visited and met the fuel foundation, and also in north Wales, in Wrexham, where there are eight centres. There are eight centres—eight centres—for the Wrexham foodbank, and they've already, with funding previously from the Welsh Government for tackling winter pressures, been actually providing these fuel vouchers. Now, the whole of Wales will be benefiting, and it is important that, as you see in the written statement and response to your questions, nearly 120,000 people—it was in my statement—will be eligible for approximately 49,000 vouchers to support them during the cost-of-living crisis.

Now, the heat fund is important too. It'll provide direct support to eligible households living off the gas grid, reliant on oil and liquid gas. I've already said in my statement it should help up to 2,000 households in Wales. I think it would be very helpful, actually, if Mark, as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty, could invite the fuel bank heat fund perhaps to one of your cross-party group meetings, because they're now fully engaged and a partnership—[Interruption.] Good, good. Well, I'm very glad to hear that. So, what is clear to us is that we have to work in partnership—in answer to your questions—with the third sector. National Energy Action joined the meeting I had with energy providers only two weeks ago. Citizens Advice is obviously crucial. When I met with Wrexham foodbank volunteers, and the Fuel Bank Foundation, they were saying one of the most important points about visiting a foodbank—and there are many other food initiatives that are very important—is it starts to signpost people to other support, to be able to claim for other benefits. People with prepayment meters are the most susceptible to rising costs and increased standing charges, and those who are not connected to the mains gas network, as I said last week, are suffering from rising fuel costs and being forced into fuel poverty, with approximately one in 10 households reliant on heating oil in Wales. But I can assure you, in terms of engaging at community level and, indeed, in terms of those national charities and campaign groups, they were all involved in our cost-of-living summit last February and then forward into the food poverty summit, and the summit that we're going to have, they'll be invited to again, in July.

You did ask—and I'll finish on this point—an important point about the payment of the council tax cost-of-living payment. It's being provided, as everyone knows, to council tax bands A to D, and, indeed, to those who already have accounts. It is going directly into their accounts, and I'm sure all the Members will be aware of people saying, 'It's gone into my account.' Those who don't have accounts, which is your question, it is the responsibility of the local authority to explore, to find out from that particular benefit recipient for the £150, the best way to make that payment, and that's being monitored very carefully by the Minister for Finance and Local Government, and indeed my own officials. But the payments that are being made extensively across Wales will continue to be paid and we will continue to address those to ensure that they claim what's theirs. Indeed, that's why we can ensure—as our £200 winter fuel support payment and then the £150 payment—indeed, this is where we can get money straight to people, and the fuel voucher now is one more step on the way in terms of helping people face this horrendous cost-of-living crisis, which was made in Downing Street, I would still maintain. 

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Sioned Williams.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for your statement, Minister. The scale of the crisis facing too many households in Wales is truly horrifying. Inflation, as we've heard, is at a 40-year high, and energy prices are going up 23 times faster than wages. Given this emergency facing households, Plaid Cymru agrees that the UK Government should reinstate the £20 uplift to universal credit from July in order to protect vulnerable households from the cost-of-living crisis, and we believe that that uplift should also be extended to those in receipt of legacy benefits, and that all benefits should be uprated in line with inflation and automatic deductions stopped.

The Child Poverty Action Group have estimated that in Wales approximately 92,000 households claiming universal credit are receiving an average of £60 less each month than they're entitled to because of automatic deductions from their universal credit payment. These deductions affect an estimated 106,000 children in Wales. Wales has the highest poverty rate among the four UK nations, with almost one in four people living in poverty, and thus, if Westminster is unwilling to show the most basic level of human decency and adequately address the scale of this crisis, do you agree, Minister, there can be no argument against demanding powers over welfare so we can better support and protect the people of Wales, those people who need the most help, help that can be best targeted through the benefits system?

We know, as you've said, that the picture will get even worse and the number of those living in fuel poverty or at risk of fuel poverty will rise yet again in the autumn. Can the Minister provide clarity on when the next winter fuel support scheme payment will be made? Will it be made, as she has indicated previously, before October?

The measure announced last week, that of a fuel voucher scheme to help households with prepayment meters that have to pay in advance for their energy, and often, as you said, the poorest of households, is most welcome. I would like to ask—. The First Minister talked about it earlier. He drew attention to the fact, and you have also, that requirements that standing charges and debts are paid off before supply starts up—could this impact the effectiveness of this measure? This would mean that adding a £30-worth fuel voucher to a prepayment account would in some cases not be enough to enable the customer to switch those lights back on, to use the fridge and the cooker, to heat the home. So, how will this new scheme ensure that people will receive enough credit to avoid this situation? And also how do we know if we are helping those who need help? We know that uptake of other measures to tackle fuel poverty has not always been optimal, and so is referral to this scheme the most effective method of distribution? What happens to those who are not in contact with organisations or aware of the scheme?

As costs rise, one of the biggest expenses for families on low incomes is furniture and appliances. The cost of furniture is continuing to rise and, over the past 10 years, the cost of furniture has risen by 32 per cent, while household appliances have risen 17 per cent. Brexit and inflation are now driving these prices even higher. At least 10,000 children in the UK don't have their own bed to sleep on, and 4.8 million are living without at least one essential household appliance, like a cooker or fridge, and these are pre-pandemic figures, which we know will have most likely risen much higher by now.

Only 2 per cent of social housing properties in the UK are let as furnished or partly furnished, compared to 29 per cent in the private rental sector, and some of the research I've done in Wales shows this is the case with many housing associations here too. Furnished tenancies have huge benefit for tenants and landlords, and can ease pressure on crisis support funds like the DAF. Living without essential furniture can have a huge impact on people's mental and physical well-being and create extra cost. For example, up to 15 per cent of heat in your home is lost without flooring, and it is also extremely hard to obtain when you are on a low income. There are charities that provide funding pots for items like this, but not much provision is made for items like flooring, and many social landlords remove flooring, and in some cases there have been cases where tenants have been charged to lift up flooring at the end of their tenancy. So, I wonder, Minister, could you consider working alongside social housing providers to encourage engagement with tenants regarding the retention of former flooring and furniture when applicable. Could this be added to the supplementary terms of the next Renting Homes (Wales) Act contracts? And can the Welsh Government review the terms of the DAF and other crisis funds to include the provision of appropriate flooring? Diolch.

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams. Yes, you clearly identify, as I have done, the scale of the crisis—inflation now at its highest level since March 1982, when it stood at 9.1 per cent; April's rise, driven by energy costs, increased by more than 50 per cent by the rise in the energy cap; and the Institute of Fiscal Studies saying the poorest households face inflation rates of 10.9 per cent. The Jack Monroe, I think, analysis is really appropriate for us to recognise—they are 3 per cent higher than inflation rates for the richest decile, and I really do value that focus on what it actually means for the poorest households in Wales, And, of course, there's the fact that we've got the NIESR—National Institute of Economic and Social Research—saying that food and energy bills are greater than their disposable income. They're warning, I think—and this is why this is such a key issue, and throughout this afternoon already, in the First Minister's questions—this is going to push thousands of households, if we can't intervene and the UK Government doesn't take immediate action, into debt and destitution. But this where the options that we've taken, particularly in terms of the fuel vouchers and that partnership with the fuel foundation, I think, are so important. They already have a partnership with the Scottish Government, and they're well-established in terms of how this can operate, so I'm glad that the chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty is now engaging with the Fuel Bank Foundation, because they have experience of how to manage it. And yes, there are criteria in terms of access to the fuel bank support: clearly, they've got to be pre-payment energy customers or off the gas grid and be in intense financial crisis. But the situation in terms of the credit going as far as the debt emerging from the standing charges—I will clarify that point with them in terms of how this scheme will operate. We need to make it operate based on experience and based on how we can help people at the sharp end. 

People who are struggling as a result of the cost-of-living crisis obviously can turn to their single advice fund providers, and I will go on to the discretionary assistance fund as well, because, obviously, that's already in place. I think it is important that we get this message out, isn't it, about the access to the new fuel voucher scheme. We're getting it out, obviously, through our foodbanks, but of course many people who are going to foodbanks are referred; they have contact with agencies. But this is something where we need to have a publicity campaign, a communications campaign, and I certainly welcome the fact that you're asking these questions. I did some publicity about it on Friday, but we need to get the message through to people, and I know that the fuel foundation want to engage. We did it very quickly—we got this scheme under way, and now we have to make it operational and implement it so we reach out to the most needy and vulnerable. But I'm sure all of us as Senedd Members will know people who've stopped us in the street, who've come to our surgeries, who are in this position—the heating or eating circumstances. And we can now point to the scheme, particularly as so many of those are dependent on prepayment meters. 

The next winter fuel support scheme—well, we certainly want to get it out before October; I want to get it out in September. I'll certainly be announcing very shortly the extended criteria for the winter fuel support scheme, because we came to it last December because of the emerging cost-of-living crisis. It's going to be extending the eligibility, as I've said. It's crucial that local authorities are fully engaged in this as well—they're the ones who are managing the winter fuel support payments—and, indeed, alongside the emerging way in which we are actually being a force for social security. I like the word 'social security'. I like the fact that social security is what we believe in. Yes, we're talking about welfare, we're talking in our co-operation agreement about looking at our powers in relation to welfare, and we've had all the work that was done by John Griffiths in the former Senedd, so we've got an extensive evidence base and we have an agreement to progress this in terms of what we could achieve, what we could—you know, in terms of UK Government's centralising force, where are we here? They're not delivering, so I look forward to progressing that. But we now have such a range of direct benefits that we're paying that this makes sense, doesn't it, to progress this one.

Finally, I will come to your point about the other needs that people have in terms of flooring, as well as other equipment as well. I think that's something I want to now discuss with officials and the third sector in terms of discretionary assistance payments. I think the discretionary assistance payments scheme, which we've of course extended for the pandemic, as you know—and you have supported the fact that this is continuing, in the ways in which we're funding it—I think the discretionary assistance fund is very important, because it does enable people to have more than one payment in terms of support—more than £100 million invested in the discretionary assistance fund and the winter fuel support scheme this year. And indeed, this is going to ensure more people continue to receive urgent and emergency support when they need it, and that's including white goods, but we need to look at these other aspects.

But I will finally say, and I think the Minister for Climate Change is here with me, that, yes, indeed—the Minister was with me, speaking as well on a whole range of issues and her responsibilities about the cost-of-living crisis, but registered social landlord partners and local authorities in terms of housing providers, they're all engaged in this, and we will certainly raise this in terms of, particularly, your reference to flooring. Many of us have also got charities in our constituencies now that are playing a role in this respect. There used to be something wonderful called the social fund. That all went. Previous Conservative Governments got rid of the social fund. We kept the funding going and developed the discretionary assistance fund. But we are actually evaluating the discretionary assistance fund later on this year to see its role and its context. So, certainly, that is very helpful. And finally, of course, we've always called for the reinstatement of that £20, that lost, cruel cut of £20 to universal credit.

I thank the Minister for bringing this statement today. It is very expensive to be poor. You pay more for energy via tokens, you are more likely to live in a very poorly insulated house, you go to bed early to avoid heating costs, and in winter you wake up to windows with ice from your breath on the inside. Rent has gone up, gas has gone up, electricity has gone up, the general cost of living has gone up to a point where people have less to spend on food, and many value products have increased far more than the general increase in the cost of food. People are eating less or skipping meals, or are having less nutritious food, bulking out on white rice and pasta and cutting out the more expensive fresh fruit and vegetables, and producing filling meals, not nutritious meals. And, of course, in the end, children eat and parents don't. 

I welcome the Welsh Government's actions—I won't name them all, but things such as help with fuel costs support, the cost of sending your children to school, Healthy Start vouchers, support for hundreds of thousands of people with council tax bills every year, and I also welcome the two successful 'Claim what's yours' campaigns, and the most recent was very successful. Does the Minister agree, however, that the most effective action would be to strip out the built-in five-week delay for the first universal credit payment, which drives people into poverty immediately, and to reverse the universal credit cut? This is not a panacea that will solve all the problems, but it would make what is very bad just bad.

Well, thank you very much, Mike Hedges. You graphically describe what it is like to be poor, and it is more expensive to be poor in every aspect of life, and how cruel that is, in terms of food, heating, housing. So, thanks for welcoming many of the measures that we're taking. I completely agree with you, and I will return to that issue with the UK Government, about the five-week delay, because, when universal credit was introduced, we all said this was going to be disastrous, and, indeed, it was disastrous, just in terms of the pilot roll-out and the debt that started to accrue.

Now, one of the things that is very clear is that, also, it's not only expensive to be poor, but in every way, in terms of your health, well-being, mental health, your whole self-esteem and your whole reason for living is under threat and attacked by poverty. And to then have to deal with the debt imposed on you by that five-week delay is absolutely shameful. So, thank you for raising that. Of course, I've already said that we call for the reverse of the universal credit cut, but I will be going back now to look at these issues. And, indeed, of course, they did come up with the equality and social justice review on debt, but I will go back on that to the UK Government. 

I and Plaid Cymru have raised the link between the cost-of-living crisis and the cost of housing a number of times on the floor of the Senedd, and the link is clear. We've seen the cost of rental going up very much here in Wales, an increase of 12 or 13 per cent over the past 12 months alone, and this at a time when the legislation for renting homes isn't operational in order to safeguard tenants from being evicted with notice of two months. 

To date, I'm sorry to say that the solutions provided today or during the last 12 months have not gone far enough in order to tackle the housing element of the cost-of-living crisis. This week, the Bevan Foundation published research showing that only 24 properties were available throughout Wales at the LHA rates—the local housing allowance rates. Now, we must see this allowance being increased. So, what discussions have you had with the Westminster Government in order to see the allowance increased?

And, finally, the current housing crisis is painfully acute. So, we must use all tools possible. As you mentioned in your statement, we do have the power here to use discretionary payments for housing costs—the DHP. As the renting homes Act isn't in force as of yet, and there's a real crisis facing many people, will you work with the Minister for finance in order to ensure that there is an increase in the discretionary payments for housing, and ensure that local authorities do take full advantage of that pot of funding?

Thank you very much for your very important question. 

Of course, as we've said, and as we know—and the Minister for Climate Change is with us this afternoon and engaged with all of these discussions—it's a cross-government responsibility in terms of tackling the cost-of-living crisis, with housing providers, social housing providers, but also the private rented sector being engaged as well.

Just in terms of cuts to the local housing allowance, the cuts have been over the years and it hasn't been increased and it's remained frozen. But, I think you will be aware of the statement made by the climate change Minister on 8 April about the discretionary housing payments. I've raised all of the points that have been raised with the UK Government about what we expect them to do in terms of energy costs and support, the Warm Homes discount, et cetera, but also, as Julie James did last April, we've called upon the UK Government to reinstate its funding for discretionary housing payments—another round of substantial cuts to this valuable source of funding. That money is used by local authorities, as you know, to mitigate the impacts of other welfare reforms, including the bedroom tax, people affected by the benefit cap, and, of course, the impact of rising rents. And it does help tenants from getting into rent arrears when people are facing this cost-of-living crisis, as you say, with rents increasing. And it is impossible to fathom why—and I'm quoting the Minister for Climate Change:

'it is impossible to fathom why the UK government has seen fit to inflict such savage cuts', in terms of discretionary housing payments. Many people are not aware of all these details, are they, and what's going on, but, actually, the reduction in DHP funding available to Welsh local authorities in this financial year amounts to approximately a 27 per cent cut compared to 2021-22. So, we've topped it up. The Welsh Government's topped up the fund last year by £4.1 million, and the amount of money that we are now putting into all of these schemes and also the top-ups, to something that is a UK Government responsibility, this has to be addressed by the UK Government, and I can assure you that's what we're seeking to call for.

And, finally, Huw Irranca-Davies. 

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. One of the defining characteristics of much of the support that Welsh Government has provided to date is how well targeted it is at those who are most in need. So, whether we look at the fuel voucher scheme, the heat fund, the healthy start fund, the new fund for carers, it's really going directly to those who most need it now. The same cannot be said, Dirprwy Lywydd, I have to say, of one of the UK Government's schemes, which is the energy grant to all households, which is going to every household, and if you own more than one household, then it goes to you no matter how many homes you own.

But can I raise one specific aspect of this that I'd like the Minister—? And also, it's great to have the other Minister here with responsibility for housing as well. They've probably twigged this already. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the UK department, has said, regardless of whether you are on the utility bills as a tenant or not, then this payment of £400 should be passed directly to you as a tenant; it should not be going to the landlords. But it's not stipulated anywhere; it's not a requirement, it's just 'should' be. Citizens Advice have asked for clear guidance on this, but again, that's guidance. I wonder, Minister, whether in your discussions with UK Ministers and Cabinet colleagues, you can look at how we can make sure that this money goes directly to tenants and not to landlords.

Diolch yn fawr. That's a really important point. I'm sure the Minister for Climate Change is already aware of that, concerns again coming from Citizens Advice, our single advice providers, and unless it's absolutely clear and mandated that it goes to the tenant, we can't trust it. So, we will take that point up. Thank you very much, Huw Irranca-Davies.

I thank the Minister.