1. How is the Welsh Government prioritising interventions to eliminate fuel poverty within its draft budget for 2023-24? OQ58945

The Welsh Government sees the elimination of fuel poverty as a distinct priority, particularly in the context of the ongoing fuel crisis. To reflect this, in our draft budget, we have allocated more than £190 million, over the next two financial years, to interventions aimed at reducing fuel poverty across Wales.

Thank you, Minister. Even before the recent increase in the fuel price cap, we know that nearly half of all households are at risk of fuel poverty, and I'm sure that colleagues, like me, will have experienced an increase in constituents contacting them in desperate need of advice and support. Welsh Government interventions have made a real difference in supporting communities such as Cynon Valley, but, in the face of UK Government failure to reform the broken energy market, what reassurances can you give that protecting families and children most at risk of fuel poverty will remain a priority despite wider budgetary pressures?

We have a wide range of schemes available to support people who are facing fuel poverty. I mentioned, for example, the £90 million that we've allocated to run a second Welsh Government fuel support scheme in 2022-23, and that's supporting people on low incomes with non-repayable £200 payments towards their energy bills. That scheme launched on 26 September, and now it's been extended to make sure that we encompass more eligible households. We've also provided around £4 million for the Fuel Bank Foundation so that it can introduce a national fuel voucher, and also a heat fund scheme in Wales—again, this is bespoke to us here in Wales—to ensure that households that have to prepay for their fuel, including people on a prepayment meter, who are at risk of self-disconnection, and off-grid households, who have to buy bulk fuel but can't afford to top up their tank, can both benefit from this particular scheme. Since August, the Fuel Bank Foundation has brought on board 69 partners, who can now refer people to vouchers. That includes eight national partners, alongside partners in every single local authority across Wales. And we know that fuel vouchers have already benefited more than 14,000 people living in struggling households. So, it's important that people do find out what support is available to them. And I would also recommend the discretionary assistance fund, which, again, is there to support people with energy bills if they are absolutely, really struggling, and I know that all colleagues will be signposting their vulnerable constituents to that fund.

Good afternoon, Minister. I've looked at the Bevan Foundation's evidence to the Finance Committee. I'm struck by the point, and I quote,

'that short-term measures to ease cost-of-living pressures are not a substitute for action to reduce poverty'.

And they noted that there had been limits to investment in social housing and energy efficiency. Now, aside from the need to bring forward a new Warm Homes programme, there should be a focus on ensuring new properties are available that are energy efficient and warm. In Swansea, however, just 91 homes were completed by registered social landlords, and 18 by Swansea Council, in 2021-22. And we know already that Swansea Council is a council that's failing to meet its housing targets more generally. So, what immediate efforts are you therefore making, Minister, to close the gap in Swansea's housing, to ensure that more of my constituents are safe and warm this winter?

Well, I'd first start off, of course, by commending the work that Swansea Council is doing in terms of building council houses. They've really invested significantly in social housing and have a really strong vision for council housing across the city and county of Swansea. So, I would certainly begin by recognising that. And, of course, if the Minister for housing was here this afternoon, answering this question about the housing portfolio, I'm sure that she would be keen to point you in the direction of the optimised retrofit programme, which is there to ensure that existing housing is able to be upgraded to meet the standards required to ensure that the residents therein are not experiencing fuel poverty, and would also point to the ongoing significant funding that we do provide to support the building of social housing here in Wales. And she'd also point, I'm sure, to the commitment that we have to have 20,000 more low-energy social homes across the term of this Senedd also. So, clearly, there's a huge amount of work going on in terms of delivering on those pledges. Those pledges have become more difficult, of course, because of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which impacts on contractors, it impacts on the supply chain. So, evidently, there will be some challenges in that regard also.