Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 1 March 2023.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 1:42, 1 March 2023

Thanks. Well, I'll leave the primary point you made for the topical question later, which, of course, is on that very subject. But this month's Bevan Foundation State of Wales briefing states that the energy efficiency of properties varies greatly across Wales, and that, although all social housing in Wales was deemed to comply with the Welsh housing quality standard, more than a fifth has at least one acceptable fail. Again, given your overarching responsibility for fuel poverty in the Welsh Government, and, as we move forward to WHQS 2023, how do you respond to Gwynedd Council's fuel poverty officer who asked me,

'How can we move on if we haven't finished the homework from the last granulation of WHQS, especially given the cost of retrofit for pre-1900 property', and who stated,

'I had another quick glance at WHQS 2023. I didn't spot the magic words "acceptable fail", but there seems to be a healthy peppering of caveats, no clear acknowledgement of the differing starting places on the grid, and that getting an off-gas ex-Forestry Commission cottage from 1910 to SAP 80 is rather tricky'?