Item 5 this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Social Justice on the cost of living. I call on the Minister to make the statement, Jane Hutt.

Dirprwy Lywydd, as we enter the new year, we recognise that the cost-of-living pressures continue to be relentless. Too many people are desperately worried about staying warm and having enough food to eat, and for many people, the challenges are more stark.

The cost-of-living crisis has shone a harsh light on different groups' ability to deal with fast-rising prices. The Resolution Foundation recently reported that the underlying disposable income gap between the disabled and non-disabled population in the UK is 44 per cent. They also report that rates of food insecurity are much higher among families with three or more children, single-parent families, and among certain non-white ethnic groups. I want to provide reassurance to people across Wales that the cost of living remains our priority. We offer support through our fuel support scheme, through our Warm Homes programme and Nest scheme, through the Fuel Bank Foundation fuel vouchers and the heat fund, and, of course, through the network of more than 300 warm hubs, which have been established in communities across Wales with support from the Welsh Government.

Warm hubs offer a range of support depending on their location and their facilities. This includes a simple warm space with refreshments, to more substantive food, activities, free access to computers and Wi-Fi and charging points for phones and tablets. A number also offer the opportunity to meet with financial and welfare advisers. Before Christmas, I visited a number of warm hubs to see first-hand the valuable work that these hubs are doing in our communities and to support people through this cost-of-living crisis.

Our fuel support scheme has already ensured that nearly 290,000 households have received the £200 payment this year, and I would urge those eligible households to ensure that they do apply for this vital support this winter. We continue to provide the support needed to help people maximise their income and access the benefits that they are entitled to through our single advice fund and our 'Here to help' and 'Claim what's yours' campaigns. We are working with local government to streamline and simplify access to our Welsh benefits.

I'm pleased that the Welsh Government's draft budget contains an additional £18.8 million to continue the support for the discretionary assistance fund into 2023-24, as well as additional funding to pay the real living wage to social care workers and additional support for our care leavers' basic income pilot. This is despite our budget being worth up to £1 billion less next year. 

We will continue to provide support for households through our support for a more generous social wage. This includes initiatives such as our childcare offer, our council tax reduction scheme, free school meals and PDG access, the school essentials grant and help with health costs. All of these programmes leave money in people’s pockets. This financial year, we will be spending £1.6 billion on schemes that directly support people with the cost of living and put money back in people’s pockets.

Last week, Welsh Government Ministers visited credit unions across Wales to promote the vital support that they offer to those struggling with their finances. And we're continuing to invest in credit unions to ensure that they are able to provide access to fair and affordable credit. The Cabinet cost-of-living sub-committee is providing strategic direction to our response, ensuring a joined-up approach across portfolios and bringing together people with lived experiences, experts, service providers and organisations supporting people struggling with rising costs.

We will continue to do all that we can to support households affected by this relentless crisis, but the key levers for tackling poverty, powers over the tax and welfare systems, sit with the UK Government. We've called on the UK Government to put in place a number of practical actions that will have an immediate and positive impact for those most affected by the crisis. In April, the UK Government will reduce the level of support available via its domestic energy price guarantee. Meanwhile, businesses, charities and public sector organisations learned yesterday that the support available to them will be significantly reduced, further squeezing their budgets and impacting on services on which we all rely. We have called on UK Ministers to uplift the discretionary housing payment and local housing allowances. And their arbitrary five-week wait for universal credit payments is the root cause of severe financial hardship and distress for many people. People waiting are forced to turn to support from the discretionary assistance fund to see them through this hardship. We call on the UK Government to look again at this, particularly at this time of the cost-of-living crisis.

On 21 and 29 November and 7 December, I met with representatives from a number of energy suppliers to discuss the issues surrounding pre-payment meters and the cost-of-living crisis. I'm deeply concerned that, as more households fall behind with the payment of their electricity and gas bills, they may be unfairly driven onto pre-payment meters. Moving householders onto pre-payments meters should be seen as a last resort. Energy companies should absorb the cost of standing charges for pre-payment customers who are particularly at risk of disconnection as a result of the rising cost of fuel. This should not be a cost for the Government to take on; Welsh Government has consistently called on the UK Government and Ofgem to introduce a social tariff to protect the most vulnerable households and to remove standing charges for customers on pre-payment meters. I remain concerned that a worryingly large number of householders on a traditional pre-payment meter have not used their vouchers as these have a 90-day expiry date. It is important that these households access and use their UK Government vouchers.

Deputy Llywydd, we have been clear that we will do everything that we can to support people through this cost-of-living crisis. The Welsh Government alone can't solve this problem, it is only through co-ordinated effort and ambition that we can address this cost-of-living crisis and the wider determinants of poverty. But, I want to thank our partners and stakeholders across Wales for their continued support in addressing this cost-of-living crisis. And finally, as we start this new year, I urge people to make sure that they access the help and support that is available to them and that they are entitled to.

Thank you for your statement. Following Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, with its massive impacts on global food and fuel prices, and the pressures on the economy caused by the pandemic, the UK Government has taken extraordinary steps to support people with the cost of living. In addition to the pre-existing Warm Homes discount scheme, winter fuel payments and cold-weather payments, this includes a £400 discount for all energy bill payers; £650 for 8 million of the lowest income households in 2022, rising to £900 in 2023; £300 for 8 million pensioner households in both 2022 and 2023; £150 for 6 million receiving non-means-tested disability benefits in both 2022 and 2023; a time-limited cap on the unit price of energy for households; and extra consequential funding for the Welsh Government budget. We therefore welcomed further support announced by the Welsh Government, including the winter fuel support scheme, additional funding for the discretionary assistance fund for this financial year to support with the cost of off-grid fuel, and the fuel voucher scheme targeted at households with pre-payment meters and those not connected to mains gas.

Speaking here last February, I welcomed the doubling of the winter fuel support scheme payment to £200, and speaking as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency, I called for the scheme’s eligibility criteria to be extended and was grateful when you subsequently did this. In this context, how do you now justify the Welsh Government’s plan to scrap the £200 winter fuel payment, despite the £1.2 billion extra funding coming to Wales over two years following the UK Chancellor’s autumn statement? And more specifically, will this be scrapped entirely, will it be replaced by the original £100 payment, or will it be replaced by something else?

After I wrote to you on behalf of a disabled paraplegic constituent, unable to access grants for home energy efficiency improvements under grant eligibility requirements to help him with his cost of living, you responded stating that you would ask your officials to investigate. I subsequently shared with you the good news that his county council had approved his grant. However, what measures have you taken or will you take to ensure that other disabled people do not miss out in similar circumstances?

In your written statement last week following your meetings with energy suppliers, in which you noted that, although Ofgem findings identified some good practice amongst energy suppliers, helping customers through this period of high energy crisis, severe weaknesses were found in five suppliers, and all suppliers needed to make improvements. In terms of good practice, I note, for example, that British Gas is donating 10 per cent of profits to the independent charity British Gas Energy Trust to help customers struggling with bills. However, I learned at this lunch time's 'Warm this Winter' Senedd event with the British Gas Energy Trust, that take-up in Wales has been particularly low. So, what action can you therefore take to help promote the availability of such schemes to people in Wales, alongside your other promotion work?

In your written statement last week, you also stated that energy suppliers agreed to share data with you on the number of households being supported and the reason for households being transferred on to pre-payment meters, and that you will be holding a follow-up meeting with energy suppliers in the new year, followed by quarterly meetings. What action will you therefore take to ensure that the data you receive is shared with this Senedd, this Parliament, and that this Senedd is updated on both the negatives and positives that result from these meetings? Further, what engagement are you having with the Church in Wales Food and Fuel campaign, which calls for co-operation with Government?

This is an international cost-of-living crisis, with current inflation rates higher in 23 European countries and 15 out of 27 EU member states than in the UK, and the International Monetary Fund forecasting that half of the eurozone countries at least are heading for recession. However, people in Wales are particularly hard hit, because Wales has had the lowest growth in prosperity per head out of UK nations since 1999. The pay packets in Wales are the lowest in the UK and Wales has the lowest employment rate in Great Britain, and all despite having received billions in supposedly temporary funding designed to support economic development and reduce inequality between nations and regions.

Finally, therefore, what, if any, action will the Welsh Government take to futureproof by changing tack, seeking and adopting guidance from both large and small business sectors and third sector bodies, supporting bottom-up community action and social enterprise? Diolch.

Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood. As I said in my statement, it is very clear that we are taking responsibility, and thank you for acknowledging that, and, indeed, for chairing the cross-party group on fuel poverty, which I attended pretty much every session held last year. But also, recognising that clearly, there are key responsibilities for the UK Government in terms of tax and benefits, and I’ll comment on those in a moment in response to your questions.

It has been really important that we’ve been able to use money that has been available to us this year for the Welsh Government fuel scheme, with extended eligibility. A considerable cost, but to hear that 290,000 payments of £200 are making such a difference, getting money into people's pockets—. But, clearly, the recent UK autumn statement didn't give us enough money for the Welsh Government to adequately help Welsh people who are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory. We continue, and I hope you will join us, to press the UK Government to provide additional funding to support households with this cost-of-living crisis.

I did feel it was an absolute priority, in terms of helping people through the cost-of-living crisis in the next financial year, that we maintained support for the discretionary assistance fund. The additional £18.8 million was an important addition to the draft budget, ensuring that people who are most severely impacted by the cost-of-living crisis can continue to access this emergency support. It is support that we have increased year on year during the pandemic, increasing flexibilities and increasing the allocation of that funding. I think, just if you look at the cost-of-living crisis in terms of access to the discretionary assistance fund, it is important just to recognise what this has actually meant, and will, of course, have meant to many of your constituents. If you look, to date in 2022-23, this financial year, more than 200,000 people have been supported by the fund, with over £23 million in grants, and those are awarded to those showing acute financial vulnerabilities. Over the Christmas period, figures are showing that during December alone 33,531 individuals accessed the DAF, with a further £2.36 million being awarded in cash payments. So, that additional £18.8 million in the draft budget is crucially important to meet those needs.

I am concerned about the fact that yesterday, as you know, in terms of UK Government changes, the new arrangements in terms of the energy bills relief scheme, moving to the new arrangements, being replaced by an energy bill discount scheme, are at a much lower level. Key issues raised by stakeholders, because there was an opportunity to respond to the consultation as far as this was concerned, and, indeed, the Minister for Finance and Local Government wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury outlining our concerns: the scope and duration of the scheme, comparisons with support in other countries and also, looking at this, what impact it will have, going back to early questions in the Chamber from one of your colleagues about the impact on charities and the voluntary sector as well. So, it is key that we move forward and do what we can within our funding envelopes and also look at ways in which we can increase that uptake.

Now, you did raise a question about meetings with the energy providers and what we can do in terms of support. There were some positive responses from energy providers. Some of them said that they would share data with us in terms of the impact of people moving into a vulnerable situation and that they also would not move to prepayment meters without consent. We pressed hard, again, that they should meet the standing charges costs, and, indeed, this is something that I will take forward when I meet with those energy providers on 23 January.

Than you for the statement, Minister. I am pleased with the emphasis that you placed on the ability or lack of ability of different groups to cope with the cost-of-living crisis and increased prices. Women, of course, are one of those groups: 46 per cent is the number of single-parent households living in poverty—it's a shocking figure, two times higher than the general poverty rate in Wales, which is 23 per cent—and 86 per cent of single parents in Wales are women. The caring responsibilities of women as well as a lack of affordable childcare mean that they often are less able than men to increase their working hours and pay to be able to cope.

A lack of affordable childcare provision means that many women would be at a loss if they were to increase their working hours, because the cost of childcare is higher than the wages that they would earn, and, of course, with flatlining wages, this leaves many without any means at all of keeping up with increased costs, and, without urgent action, it will lead to many more women and children falling into poverty. Only for children of three and four years of age is free childcare available, with very limited provision, 12.5 hours a week, for those of two years of age in Flying Start areas. Even those who are eligible often fail to access free childcare, and the 2022 review of childcare of the Family and Childcare Trust said that less than a third of local authorities have sufficient provision in terms of the childcare offer. Work is under way to expand free childcare, thanks to the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru, but what assessment has the Government made of accelerating that work of expanding access to affordable childcare as a way of protecting children and women in Wales from increased prices and poverty? 

Turning now to the UK Government's energy bill support scheme, I share your concern, Minister, that BEIS's latest statistics suggest 33 per cent of the vouchers provided up until December haven't yet been redeemed. This is very concerning, because these households are some of the most vulnerable, usually on low incomes, and can already be in debt to their supplier. Has BEIS published a disaggregated breakdown of take-up in each nation and, if so, what is the picture in Wales? And given we're approaching the eleventh hour of the scheme, Minister, what is the Welsh Government doing to urge the UK Government to find a way to ensure any unspent or unredeemed moneys are used or recycled to support these households, especially in Wales, where we have a higher proportion of households, of course, on prepayment meters? Will the Government be asking the UK Government that any underspend in Wales is given to them to spend on supporting those households? I'd also like to ask what is being done to monitor the effectiveness and consistency of delivery of the Fuel Bank Foundation fuel vouchers to those in need throughout Wales. I visited a large food bank in my region before Christmas, and they were completely unaware of the scheme.

It's also, I would say, the eleventh hour as regards simplifying and streamlining access to Welsh support payments—something that Plaid Cymru has raised many times with you. Can you give us an update on this work beyond what you said in your statement, that work is happening? How is it making a difference, where and to who? This work is so truly urgent. We must ensure every pound available, especially in these constrained economic times, reaches people's pockets.

And lastly, on your points about the Welsh Government's draft budget containing additional funding to pay the real living wage to social care workers, will this pay rise for social care workers, as well as any one-off additional payment for NHS and social care staff agreed, apply to third sector workers performing work for the NHS or local authorities? If so, will the Welsh Government make it clear to local authorities that is applies to the third sector as well? Because we remember the inconsistency of Welsh Government guidance in relation to the £500 one-off payment for social care workers during COVID—it was given to some and not others. And furthermore, the Welsh Government's inconsistent advice to local authorities on contract uplifts, in practice means third sector pay lacks behind NHS care workers. Some local authorities gave contract uplifts, others did not. And like everyone else in the sector, the crucial third sector staff are struggling to recruit and retain staff, despite their services preventing people ending up in expensive institutional care settings. I hope you agree that they are facing the same financial hardships as social care workers and that they are crucial, valuable, invaluable workers. Diolch.

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams, and thank you very much particularly for drawing attention to those who are particularly affected by the cost-of-living crisis. I made it clear in my opening remarks, in terms of the statement, the recent evidence, that, particularly, I was focusing on the income gap between disabled and non-disabled people in the UK and what impact that has, particularly in terms of energy costs—we've seen that—but also recognising issues relating to children of single-parent families and families with three or more children. I think your questions about the impact on women relate to women as carers as well—predominantly as carers. But I think that your question about childcare is important, because this is something where it is important that we are taking forward, through the co-operation agreement, the expansion of the childcare offer and Flying Start, which are going to be safe places for children and crucial in terms of tackling the cost-of-iving crisis.

When I went to visit the warm hub in Caerphilly at the former miners’ hospital—the Caerphilly Miners’ Centre—I met with some women who themselves were helping to work to develop a centre for children and families in the Lansbury estate. They themselves said, 'For us, coming into the centre, we can also benefit from a meal and heat and support for our children in that warm hub.' But obviously that was linked to Flying Start as well, which of course is expanding and delivering and reaching more children aged between two and three in terms of the childcare element.

But it is important that we see that the eligibility criteria for the childcare offer will mean that more parents will be able to reach out for that childcare—those enrolled in higher and further education classes. We know that well-paid work is the best route out of poverty and the greatest protection against poverty, so that significant investment of nearly £120 million will improve that childcare availability, and the extension also of Flying Start.

I think that it is important, and the education Minister—. This is very much cross-Government. Yesterday, we had a Cabinet sub-committee and all Ministers were actually reporting on ways in which initiatives that they were taking were having an impact, and that spread from education to housing to the council tax reduction scheme—all of the areas where initiatives are important.

In fact, I think the free school meals for primary school pupils—again, part of the co-operation agreement—are having an impact in terms of reaching out to an additional 45,000 pupils who are immediately eligible for a free meal in those reception classes across all schools in Wales, and also the fact that there are those universal free school meals, and also we're hoping, indeed, over the holiday periods as well, to provide that support.

And let’s not forget the importance of free school breakfasts, which I know that you've raised questions on before, Sioned, and about the fact that we're now working to ensure that we can get more take-up. It tailed off a bit during the pandemic, but actually we knew—and I've always said of our free breakfast scheme—that actually you're providing free childcare as well, because children can get into school usually at 8.15 a.m., and it’s a really important part of our social wage, and crucial to addressing the cost-of-living crisis.

Just to update on issues around the Fuel Bank Foundation and the vouchers that are being provided, I'm very interested to hear about the food bank that you visited, who weren’t aware of this. This is a fuel voucher scheme that we have entered into with the Fuel Bank Foundation, who work directly with food banks, as you know. It’s a national fuel voucher scheme. Since August, the Fuel Bank Foundation has brought onboard 69 partners who can refer households for vouchers. That includes eight national partners, alongside local partners within all local authorities. Fuel vouchers have already benefited more than 14,000 people living in struggling households. It’s important that we get the message out, in terms of the fuel vouchers, if you have links in your constituencies with partners, with fuel banks. Local authorities are all aware of it as well, and Citizens Advice. We want to make sure that it reaches out, because it is really important. And of course it’s also reaching, as the discretionary assistance fund, to off-grid households as well.

The real living wage and the way that it is paid out to social care workers is the responsibility, of course, of the Deputy Minister for Social Services. So, those comments and points that you've been making about the reach of the real living wage are important, I know, and, on a cross-Government basis, we address these issues together. But also, I think that it is important to recognise the situation of carers. I was very concerned again to see that the UK Government changes in the support that they’re giving for cost-of-living this coming year does not include any additional support for carers. And whilst many carers can qualify for other benefits, and we ensured that they were going to qualify for our winter fuel support scheme this year, we know that there are 28,000 carers in Wales who don’t qualify. So, this is something, again, that we are raising with the UK Government, and we need to make that clear.

I’m very concerned to ensure, finally, that we get this message out about taking up the £400. The UK Government has made that available, households have received that, but people off-grid haven’t all received it. I have actually had some feedback from constituents saying it’s been more complicated than that in terms of receiving it when they’ve been moved—some money has been taken off electricity bills and some off gas bills. But I’ve written to the Minister responsible, the Secretary of State responsible, and laid all of this out, and I’m very happy to share that letter with Members today.

I’m very grateful for the Minister bringing forward today’s statement, and also for the Minister’s written statement during the Christmas period, updating Members on her meetings with energy suppliers. Poverty is all-consuming in people’s lives. It causes stress, it causes ill health, and it leaves scars that last a lifetime. Quite frankly, Deputy Presiding Officer, too many politicians, particularly those of the UK Conservative Party, think it’s appropriate to lecture residents who are struggling. They should try walking a mile in their shoes before making comments about whether or not they should need to use a foodbank.

Minister, if we focus on pre-payment meters for this particular questioning, I’ve been leading the campaign for a ban on the installation of pre-payment meters in properties, but under the current rules, energy providers can force residents onto pre-payment meters when they can’t pay their bills. This ultimately means they pay more. I’m grateful for you, Minister, calling for the removal of standing charges, but do you agree with me that we need a ban on the installation of these pre-payment meters? And will you meet with me to discuss the findings from my own investigations that show that the Conservative Party aren’t quite up to scratch when it comes to sorting this crisis out?

Diolch yn fawr, Jack Sargeant, and thank you for consistently raising this issue in terms of the injustice of the pre-payment meter arrangements. Members will want to be reminded, I’m sure, that approximately 200,000 households in Wales rely on pre-payment meters for their mains gas and electricity—that’s about 15 per cent of all households. Twenty-four per cent of tenants in the private rented sector use pre-payment meters and almost half of our social housing tenants rely on pre-payment meters. Those are the hardest hit by the increase in the standing charges being applied to household bills from April. In fact, the highest increase in Britain was in north Wales—up to 102 per cent—and I know that’s when, Jack Sargeant, you raised this, and that was when we forged a partnership with the Fuel Bank Foundation. In fact, it was at the Wrexham foodbank that I visited and made that announcement last year, where some foodbanks had already been raising their own funds to provide these pre-payment fuel vouchers. It has a disproportionately negative impact on low-income households for those on pre-payment meters.

Now, I have said that I’ve met with—and my written statement last week shows that I’ve met with—energy suppliers, and I have had some assurances that households are not moved onto pre-payment meters when in arrears. I’ve made it absolutely clear that they should remove standing charges for pre-payment customers, and that’s what we’re working with them to explore—what more can be done. But I’ve been assured by energy suppliers that people won’t be moved onto pre-payment meters against their will, but we know that’s happening—particularly to those already on a smart meter. I’m deeply concerned to hear that 64 per cent of smart meter users were switched to the more expensive pre-payment devices in the first half of last year, so I'm going to raise that again with energy providers on 23 January. But also, Ofgem, it's crucially important that they recognise this, and we've got meetings, actually, with Ofgem. I've had meetings; my colleague Julie James meets with Ofgem regularly, and there's a meeting this afternoon. I've asked officials to raise the issue of people being forced onto pre-payment meters against their will in this meeting with Ofgem.

Finally, Jenny Rathbone.

Thank you very much. As you say in your statement, the key levers for tackling poverty through the tax and welfare system all sit with the UK Government, and that includes the really scandalous situation where people have to wait five weeks for universal credit payments, which actually just pushes them into the hands of the loan sharks, because what else are they supposed to live off—fresh air? 

So, I just wanted to focus on one of the areas that we can do something about, which is the difference that could be made by tackling food poverty. Last week, I visited Can Cook/Well-Fed in Shotton in Jack Sargeant's constituency, and as you know, Minister, Robbie Davison's organisation has a well-oiled strategy for eliminating food poverty in Flintshire and other surrounding areas. On the wall it says, 'If people eat well, they cope well', and that is one of the problems I see going around my constituency—that people are not eating well and they are not coping with the difficult problems that they face of living in poverty. So, following your own discussions with Mr Davison last year, I wondered what consideration the Cabinet cost-of-living sub-committee has given to measures to eliminate food poverty, building on the experience of the Well-Fed organisation, over and above, of course, the really important initiative to provide free school meals to all primary school pupils.

Secondly, on the lack of uptake by some people of these vouchers for energy, whether they are from the UK Government or from the Welsh Government, one of the serious concerns I have is that many scammers are using this as an excuse to try and harvest people's personal data, and that is one of the reasons why people may be very scared to approach these things. The system is so complicated for people, when it should be an automatic entitlement into people's benefit account, because the state knows who is receiving these benefits. Why are they simply not paying these amounts of money?

Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone, and thank you for raising the issue of food poverty. We've provided £2.4 million to support community food organisations to meet that increase in demand for emergency food as a result of the cost of living. But also, additional to that, another £2.5 million to support the development of cross-sector food partnerships in Wales to help support resilience in the longer term, and much broader links. You will know about Food Cardiff and the initiatives that they've taken. We're sort of building on that and the Big Bocs Bwyd scheme, linked to schools, to get partnerships to tackle the root causes of food poverty and the focus, as you have always stated very clearly, that we need to focus on prevention, sustainability and also co-ordinate this on the ground.

I'm also really pleased that I visited Well-Fed in Shotton, as other Ministers have, and seen what can be achieved, but they've also worked in partnership with their local authority, Flintshire County Council, and also with housing associations. They're providing meals, as you probably heard, to every member of staff of one of the housing associations in north-east Wales. And you're quite right in terms of the importance of supporting children eligible for free school meals, with a total investment of over £100 million. But, actually, just to say that last year, the Trussell Trust had to purchase three times more food than they did in the equivalent period the year before through food banks, and we know that wasn't sustainable.

It is important, the point you raise about automatically receiving these entitlements, and this is something that I'm working with the Minister for Finance and Local Government on. We know that in 11 of our 22 authorities, people have automatically received their £200 payment. This is about us taking responsibility with our local authorities. I met with Councillor Anthony Hunt, who's the finance lead cabinet member for the Welsh Local Government Association. So, we are working on how we can roll that out, and I know, across the Chamber, everyone will be supportive of that route. But also, you have to recognise the scams and the people suggesting you make claims.

I mean, I think there is a more complex issue relating to the UK Government, those people who are not getting their payments—the £400 payment. As I said in response to Sioned Williams, I in fact wrote to Grant Shapps on this on 23 December, because we've got data—I was asked about data earlier on—that 34 per cent of vouchers have not been redeemed since the scheme launched. But I will take this up in terms of how they can publish more information on voucher redemption rates and, if necessary, extend the 90 days as well.

I thank the Minister.