Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 1 March 2023.
Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, thank you for attending the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency meeting in November, when concern was raised by Gwynedd Council's fuel poverty officer that there are high levels of non-compliant stock with the Welsh housing quality standard in Gwynedd. When he asked you whether you could comment on the high levels of non-compliant stock with the Welsh housing quality standard, or WHQS, in Gwynedd, you noted the point for officials to take back to the Minister for Climate Change. When I subsequently raised this with the Minister for Climate Change in this Chamber, she asked me to send her further details, which I did. And in her response, she stated that,
'As at 31 March 2022, 100 per cent of social housing dwellings were compliant with WHQS, 78 per cent fully compliant, but 22 per cent were only compliant subject to an acceptable fail'.
Given your overarching responsibility for fuel poverty in the Welsh Government, how do you respond to official figures showing that almost 30 per cent of the social housing stock in Gwynedd is termed 'acceptable fails', equivalent to the level in Flintshire, and rising to almost 42 per cent in Denbighshire, that Anglesey has the highest level of prepayment meters in Wales, at almost 29 per cent, followed by Gwynedd at almost 22 per cent, and to the statement made to me by Gwynedd Council's fuel poverty officer, when I met him last week, that, in Gwynedd and Anglesey, where the rent is the same and yet energy costs can be significantly higher, this appears to be linked to broader rural off-gas and older property issues?