We're pleased as a committee that the Welsh Government has accepted the first three of our recommendations, which relate to the immediate action required to review the effectiveness of the winter fuel support scheme, to maximise the benefits of the VAT cut for energy-saving materials and insulation. Is the Welsh Government in a position to now share the outcome of its review of the winter fuel support scheme? We all need to know which local authorities and other stakeholders have the most effective strategy for maximising take-up as we face even more critical problems this winter.

The Welsh Government has invested an additional £4 million in the Fuel Bank Foundation, which provides people with pre-payment meter top-ups and a heat fund for the pre-purchase of heating oil for low-income households who are off the gas grid. That's very welcome, and it would be good to know whether the Government thinks that is going to be sufficient to meet the demand this winter. 

There has already been a large number of public, private and voluntary organisations offering to set up warm hubs this winter so people aren't shivering at home. What role does the Welsh Government envisage, in partnership with the fuel poverty advisory panel and others, to ensure that these excellent initiatives will marshal the immediate resources required in the very poorest communities to prevent people literally freezing to death?

While the Warm Homes programme made a positive difference to some 67,000 households who received its support, its shortcomings ranged from the size and scale of the programme to restrictive eligibility criteria and a poorly designed grant cap, which stifled more holistic whole-house approaches. Nest and Arbed became, in essence, gas boiler replacement schemes, prioritising carbon-emitting heating systems over other interventions. The emphasis placed on replacing boilers without complementary works to insulate homes was described by one of our stakeholders as

'buying a teapot with cracks in it.'

The figures for 2020-21 show that nearly all the measures installed by Nest in that year were for central heating systems rather than insulation schemes, which means that they were continuing to build in carbon-emitting systems. Our report, alongside the auditor general's, sets out in black and white the lessons that must be learnt from the flaws of the current Warm Homes programme. Recommendation 6 from our report in particular encapsulates the need for the next programme to be bigger in scale, smarter in who it targets and greener in its interventions. 

Now that the Senedd has resumed its normal business for this autumn term, we look forward to the launch of the next Warm Homes programme. Can the Minister highlight, either now or in writing to the committee, the ways in which our specific points regarding the successor programmes have or have not been addressed? Specifically, you say that

'the next iteration will be responsive to market and supply chain conditions, balancing demand with available capacity.'

Wise words, given the level of disruption Wales and the world are experiencing. In the long term, tackling fuel poverty and ensuring our energy security relies on effective decarbonisation across all homes, and that includes improved energy efficiency. 

Wales has come a long way in generating over half the energy it currently consumes from renewable resources. The challenge for the Welsh Government is how that can translate into a fair, just, green transition in the context of the way the UK energy market is currently rigged to the most expensive cost of gas. Switching to renewables is key and it's urgent.

You have accepted the committee's eighteenth recommendation for a clear, long-term strategy for decarbonisation to give industry the confidence to invest in skills, technology and people. We know that the net zero skills plan is needed now, so hopefully there will be no slippage on the projected December publication date.

The transition to net zero will need to look at Welsh housing stock of all ages and tenures. The greatest number of fuel-poor households are in the private rented sector and in rural areas, and specific steps are needed to address these. The challenges for tenants in the private rented sector are particularly acute. Not only have very few privately renting tenants benefited from the existing programme, research highlighted in our report found little correlation between the energy efficiency of a property and market rental rates. Both Welsh and UK Governments therefore need to address this through a combination of incentives for landlords, more rigorous standards and engagement across the board. 

So, specifically in relation to recommendation 22, can the Minister indicate whether it plans to urge the UK Government to act on proposals to increase the minimum energy efficiency standards to energy performance certificate C for all rented properties by 2028? And if the UK Government is unwilling to act, would the Welsh Government go ahead with implementing these higher minimum energy efficiency standards in Wales only? I look forward to Members' comments and the Minister's response.