2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 31 January 2023.

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Photo of Jack Sargeant Jack Sargeant Labour 2:27, 31 January 2023

If I could continue on what is a national scandal and my campaign to end that national scandal of the forced installation of prepayment meters, Trefnydd, you'll be aware that, out of 500,000 warrants applied for through the courts, just 72 were refused. It seems to me that something is clearly wrong there and is unjust there. Over a week ago now, Grant Shapps recognised that this information was extremely concerning. He wrote to the energy suppliers, but he's yet to do anything meaningful. That's in stark contrast to the Minister for Social Justice, who has shown real leadership on this issue. Could I ask for some more investigative work from the Welsh Government and then a statement on the back of that, firstly on the worrying scale of warrants being issued, particularly in the Swansea courts, where tens of thousands of warrants are seemingly being linked to just one particular debt collection agent engaged by numerous energy suppliers, and then, secondly, on the level of debt that is triggering a warrant application and whether that's becoming lower? This is a real national scandal and we need to put an end to this now.