7. What consideration did the Minister give to the duty of local authorities to provide accessible housing when deciding on the local government settlement 2022-23? OQ58267

This year, the Government is providing unhypothecated revenue funding of over £5.1 billion to support local authorities in the delivery of their statutory and non-statutory services, including priorities such as housing.

Thank you so much, Minister. Last week, I met with representatives from the Motor Neurone Disease Association Cymru, together with people suffering with the condition, at an event sponsored by my very able colleague Peter Fox. One of the issues raised with me was that of MND patients being trapped in inaccessible homes because local authorities have not provided necessary adaptations. To put it simply, the cost, lack of funding and timescales involved are causing people with MND and their families really genuine hardships. A third of people with MND die within a year of diagnosis and half within two years. During that time, symptoms worsen and needs increase, so sufferers living with MND don't have the luxury of time to simply just wait. What discussions have you had, Minister, with local authorities in Wales to fast-track support for people with MND, removing the means test for low-cost and high-impact adaptations, and to maintain a register of available accessible homes for them? Thank you.

Thank you for raising this issue. I absolutely recognise the importance of moving quickly to support people with MND. In terms of local government, in considering their general housing responsibilities, they must be mindful of their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, and we do encourage local authorities to hold those accessible housing registers so that disabled people can be allocated housing that is suitable for their needs. Work is also under way through a housing association to develop a standard accessible housing register for all local authorities to be able to use. And also, they have legal responsibilities under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 to provide mandatory disabled facilities grants for qualifying disabled people to make adaptations to a property. We've been working over a number of years to make that process as quick and as streamlined as possible, and to remove, where appropriate, that level of means testing to, again, try and speed things through the system. We also provide funding to enable local authorities to provide lower cost adaptations quickly. Again, this is without means testing. We increased that grant in April 2021 to £6 million a year. But I will take an opportunity, when I have it, with local government, and particularly their housing spokespeople, to explore this issue further, and if I'm not able to do it myself soon, I'll do it through my colleague the housing Minister.