This inquiry and report on the Warm Homes programme and fuel poverty is perhaps one of the most important that I've been part of as a member of a committee in the Senedd to date, because every winter, hundreds of thousands of people in Wales have difficulty in affording to heat their homes, living in damp, cold conditions that are dangerous for their health. That was the situation last winter, and the winter before that, and the winter before that, before the war in Ukraine started, before the height of the current energy crisis. A crisis already existed that made the scrutiny and detailed analysis by the committee, to ensure that the next version of the programme benefits from learning key lessons and does what needs to done, urgent work and vital work, vital in terms of our need as a nation to respond to the climate crisis and our vital efforts to cut carbon emissions, and in terms of our duty to eradicate the completely unacceptable levels of fuel poverty that, as the Chair said, have reached 45 per cent, and probably higher.

And if that wasn't enough of an incentive to drive us forward, we started to inquire as a result of the egregious and expensive failures of the Warm Homes programme as noted by the Audit Wales report. The deficiencies noted were fundamental and shocking, considering the importance of the programme and the size of the public expenditure on it, and the recommendation of the committee that the new version should include a monitoring and evaluation framework and robust management is vital. The most important thing to note, perhaps, is that the funding for the programme was totally insufficient. Evidence from the future generations commissioner was striking in that regard, and underlined the failure of the programme to date in terms of its ambition and its impact and the urgent need for action on this.

The price of further delay before investing and taking action on the next iteration of the Warm Homes programme is far higher now in terms of fuel poverty of course, as a result of the current energy crisis. Plaid Cymru supports the recommendation of the committee and is pleased to see the Government response, which does accept every recommendation. But a number of the responses to the recommendations suggest that an update would be provided to the Senedd about the next iteration of the programme by the beginning of this new term, and in the light of the crisis that faces us, that threatens the health and, indeed, the lives of families, we need a clear timetable and a clear policy commitment to an ambitious and comprehensive programme to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis, that will achieve our aims effectively, in accordance with the findings of the report. When will we hear that, Minister? I'd like to have a clear timeline in your response to this debate.

And whilst we're waiting for action and implementation of the new iteration, Plaid Cymru supports the view of NEA Cymru that changes should be made and new investment should be made now within the current Nest programme, to make it more effective and to deepen its impact. The Government should maximise the benefits of the current scheme by giving it a financial boost and adapting it to include fabric and insulation measures alongside new heating systems. The fabric and worst-first approach to retrofitting, targeting the poorest households in the least energy-efficient homes, needs to be at the heart of the next iteration of the Warm Homes programme. This would decrease the demand for energy and would achieve the double aim of decreasing fuel poverty by decreasing energy use and, therefore, carbon emissions.

Plaid Cymru has also called on the Tory Government at Westminster to tax the grotesque profits of the gas and oil companies to help to fund a programme to improve the housing stock in Wales, which is amongst the least energy efficient in the UK.

One thing that is clear is that we need to take radical action on a scale that we've never seen to date. We like to use that term, 'radical', perhaps we use it too often. This programme does demand the true meaning of the word 'radical'. This report does show a way forward that is free of the complexities and the failures of the previous programme. The Government has accepted the map that has been proposed. What we and what thousands of residents in Wales need to hear is when the next step on the journey will be taken.