1. What support is the Welsh Government providing to third sector organisations to help them through the cost-of-living crisis? OQ58917

Well, Llywydd, happy new year to you and to everyone else too. 

I thank the Member for that question. Third sector organisations in Wales both provide vital help to others in the cost-of-living crisis and are directly affected by it themselves. We have increased funding to the sector on both counts, most often alongside our local authority partners.

Diolch, Llywydd. And can I wish you, First Minister, and other Members here, a happy new year as well? Recently, a charity contacted me with their concerns about the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on their staff. They highlighted that their staff are of course highly skilled and provide a valuable service to people from across Wales. Many of these organisations also provide employment to people who were vulnerable, giving them an opportunity to become fully involved within their community. However, the charity noted that they are simply unable to provide additional financial support to their employees to help them through this difficult period. Despite increased Welsh Government funding, as you just referenced, First Minister, they've used the money to expand services rather than to help improve staff pay and conditions. There are, then, worries about the well-being of staff and their families, as well as staff retention rates, at a time when demand for third sector services are ever increasing. First Minister, I realise that there are numerous demands on Welsh Government resources at this time, but I wondered what discussions you have had with your colleagues and others about ensuring that planning boards fully consider their role in improving conditions for third sector staff when commissioning services. Thank you.

Llywydd, I recognise the dilemma that Peter Fox points to. I want to, as he did, pay tribute to the fantastic work that voluntary organisations and the third sector carry out here in Wales. And it's not a surprise to hear that many of those organisations, where there has been some extra funding available, want to put that into expanding the services that they provide, given the significance of those actions in local communities.

And working in the third sector should be properly rewarded; it shouldn't be that people feel because they're working in that sector that they themselves should not receive adequate remuneration. I'll make sure that we raise the point that the Member has made in the different forums that we have. I'm pleased to say, Llywydd, that the Cabinet committee on the cost of living that met every week in the autumn term had representation from the third sector on that committee—the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, the Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice. We heard from them all over that period. So, the third sector has a voice right in the heart of the Welsh Government. But the pressures on the sector are absolutely real. Yesterday's announcement by the UK Government of the reduction in support for the third sector in energy costs will mean that there will be even further dilemmas for the sector to bear, and the Welsh Government cannot be the answer to every dilemma that every part of Welsh society faces. 

First Minister, credit unions have a vital role to play in supporting people in our communities, a role that is of course all the more critical during the cost-of-living crisis. At the last meeting of the cross-party group on co-operatives and mutuals, we had a presentation on how credit unions have come together to develop their Moneyworks Wales scheme, aimed at helping employers to help their staff. I know Welsh Government is doing lots to support credit unions, as highlighted just last week, but how can it make sure that employers are aware of this initiative and encourage them to participate? 

I thank Vikki Howells for that, Llywydd. It was very good last week to have an opportunity there, with three other ministerial colleagues, to highlight the work of the Cardiff and Vale credit union. There were other colleagues, I know, out on the same day drawing attention to the services that credit unions are now able to provide, and we know that, whenever credit unions find themselves in the news, or with additional publicity, then more members come forward to join. The Welsh Government provided support to the sector in the run-up to Christmas to make sure that its services were as well advertised as possible. And early results from that campaign suggest that 7,000 additional members were made for the credit union movement in the run-up to Christmas. So, looking around, Llywydd, I see three other Members who were members of the first-ever employer credit union in Wales, when South Glamorgan County Council established a credit union that worked through payroll deduction. And that's exactly the system that Vikki Howells is pointing to—the Moneyworks Wales campaign is a campaign to encourage employers across Wales to offer payroll deduction facilities to their employees, so that they can join credit unions in that way. I'm pleased to say that, as one of 13 different credit union projects, the Welsh Government will fund Moneyworks from April of this year so that they can go on encouraging as many employers as possible, in as many communities as possible, to make that way of becoming a member of a credit union available to people who work for them.