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—