Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 1 March 2023.
Well, thank you. Again, I remember debating these issues 20 years ago in the predecessor Chamber, with similar responses, albeit in a different financial context. Unless points raised with me by Gwynedd Council's fuel poverty officer are addressed, the next Welsh Government's Welsh housing quality standard and Warm Homes programme will be starting on a false premise, and aiming for standards that cannot be achieved where needs are greatest, without creative presentation of data. Given your overarching responsibility for fuel poverty in the Welsh Government, how do you respond to the proposal by Gwynedd Council's fuel poverty officer for the next Welsh Government's Warm Homes programme to join up the Welsh Government's Nest scheme with the UK Government's energy company obligation scheme? And, given the climate change Minister's statement that she expects to procure a new, demand-led replacement scheme, which tackles both the climate emergency and fuel poverty, before the end of the year—there'll be no gap in provision between the new and existing programmes—how do you respond to concerns within the Fuel Poverty Coalition that this will allow the current Nest scheme to run into, say, April 2024, after next winter, before the next demand-led replacement scheme starts?