Also, here in Wales, our fund is not limited to buildings with unsafe cladding. The Grenfell fire tragedy highlighted the wider issue of fire safety more generally in high-rise buildings. We invited expressions of interest from all responsible persons for all residential buildings of 11m or over in height. However, on the issue of cladding, all high-rise buildings with known aluminium composite material—or ACM cladding, as its known—issues in Wales have either been corrected or are in the process of being corrected. We have a rolling programme of surveys. To date, 137 have been completed and 61 are being progressed with our contractors. I continue to encourage responsible persons to submit an expression of interest if they have not already done so. This is the starting point for accessing support from the Welsh Government.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the second strand is developer loans. I want to ensure that any reasons for delay are minimised and developers are able to carry out works as swiftly as possible. So, today the Welsh Government has approved a £20 million developer loan scheme. The scheme will provide loans over a period of up to five years for developers. The aim of this loan is: to reduce the number of medium and high-rise residential buildings blighted by fire safety issues; to provide assurance to leaseholders that works will be undertaken as swiftly as possible; to enable reductions in service charges and insurance costs; and to remove barriers so that leaseholders can access financial products such as mortgages.

The developer loan scheme is critical in taking our work in Wales forward at pace. The loans will be available for developers who have signed up to our legally binding documentation, allowing them to accelerate their works to address fire safety, so we can end the suffering of leaseholders in Wales. Let me be clear, Dirprwy Lywydd, that this is a loan not a grant and developers who wish to take advantage of this offer will rightly be expected to pay back every penny of funding to the public purse within five years.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the third strand is orphan buildings. There remains the question of those orphan buildings where the developer is unknown or has ceased trading. In my written statement in January, I announced that I had agreed to an initial cohort of six such buildings to be remediated. I am pleased to announce today that I have extended this initial cohort of buildings. We will now be taking forward 28 buildings, which represents all eligible applications for our initial phase of work. For all 28 buildings, the developer has either ceased trading, is unknown, or the building was developed over 30 years ago. Responsible owners of the buildings are being contacted to go through next steps and arrangements for work plans to be prepared and the works to be undertaken. This will form part of the second phase of the Welsh building safety fund—£375 million of Welsh Government money put in place as part of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru, which will be used to address fire-safety issues, including remediating the orphan buildings.

The fourth strand is progress in the social sector. Alongside the support I have outlined that is being provided to the private sector, substantial works have also been undertaken to remediate medium and high-rise residential buildings in the social sector. To date, works have been completed on 26 social sector buildings and are under way on a further 41 buildings. Today, I am also announcing that £40 million has been made available to undertake fire safety works on a further 38 buildings in the social sector.

The fifth strand is leaseholder support schemes. I'm pleased to say that our leaseholder support scheme is designed to help people in Wales who are in or facing significant financial hardship as a direct result of these building safety issues. In January, I announced that a review of the criteria had been completed. As a result of this, our case handlers have seen a significant increase in inquiries about the scheme. I am pleased to tell you that the first properties are now proceeding with their sales and, once completed, this will allow those leaseholders to move on to new homes. I continue to urge any leaseholders in financial difficulty to complete our eligibility checker, to see if they can access support through this scheme. For further information, please visit the Welsh Government website.

The sixth strand is lenders. I am also pleased to confirm that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have agreed to extend their guidance to valuers to apply to both England and Wales. We are working closely with them as this guidance is updated. This guidance will provide consistency in the valuation approach for properties in Wales that are included in the developer-led work, those buildings in our initial orphan cohort, or where we have been able to confirm buildings are either below 11m in height or deemed low risk. This will help support the removal of barriers and allow leaseholders to access mortgages and other financial products. I continue to work with UK Finance to ensure lenders recognise the situation in Wales, so that lenders can provide mortgages for those living in buildings affected by fire safety issues.

Regular updates are available on the Welsh Government's building safety programme via our newsletter. This provides information on both progress and highlights any formal announcements that have been made in the Senedd on this subject. Dirprwy Lywydd, I am very happy to provide details of how to subscribe to this newsletter if Members or their constituents are interested.

The Welsh Government are committed to addressing building safety in Wales and will continue to take forward our building safety programme. I look forward to updating Members as we develop our ambitious plans for delivery. Diolch.