, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on COVID-19
I welcome the Welsh Government's stance on taking a sensible, evidence-led approach to relaxing COVID restrictions, because, as the Minister has already said, COVID has not gone away and it can still be really unpredictable. I am particularly grateful to be…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
I have been contacted by my constituent, Evelyn, and her mum, Jacqui, who were shocked and incredibly disappointed to discover that, from September 2022, the Welsh Rugby Union will stop girls playing mixed under-12 and under-13 rugby. Evelyn is an excellent…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you, First Minister, and I do welcome the much-needed package of support put in place by the Welsh Labour Government, because last week I visited Splice Child and Family in Pyle, which runs a baby bank, and Baobab community pantry in Brackla. While…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
5. How is the Welsh Government tackling the cost-of-living crisis in Bridgend? OQ57675
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you, both, so much. Thank you, Chair.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you so much. Elliw, did you want to come in on this as well?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Brilliant. Thank you. And also would you—? I know we've touched on it a little bit including the rural, but could you just share any other examples that you've seen, where you think that certain types of homes are not being supported under the current…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you. That's really interesting, yes. Matthew, what do you think?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you, both. Thank you, Chair. Just to dig in a little bit more about the equality and social justice considerations from your perspective. So, just to kick off, we heard earlier on that some people—. You know, you have these works done, but there's also…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you very much, both of you. Thank you, Chair.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Wonderful, thank you. Matthew, that question as well.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you. And then just to ask you as well about what your view would be on the benefit payments being discounted from the income assessments so that it could be opened out to more people and the threshold could be raised?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you. And then, again, what do you think of what the Bevan Foundation has said about stopping the replacement of boilers and fixing the ones that are there, and also, moving past the fabric changes, is there anything else that's been a success?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
That's brilliant, thank you so much. Elliw, can I ask you the same in terms of Nest and Arbed not addressing the immediate need and, as I said, other local projects being praised for what they were able to do? Do you think that's a fair assessment?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you. And then, just to follow up, really, we also heard the Bevan Foundation call for the environmentally damaging practice of installing new boilers rather than fixing existing ones to be stopped immediately. So, do you agree with that, and then…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 2
Thank you, Chair. I don't mind being called Sarah Merry, that's fine. [Laughter.] I'll come first to you, Matthew, if that's okay, just looking at the support under the current programme. So, I'll ask what I asked in the previous session: Localgiving found…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Absolutely, and it kind of very much goes back to what you said at the beginning about the conception of this. Things have got a little bit muddled about what the focus of that was. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Thank you very much. Victoria, was there anything you wanted to add on that? And also just, I suppose, a wider question as well, like how do you think, in the next scheme, the—[Inaudible.]—equality and social justice better?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
And also you mentioned earlier on about people having to clear out the rooms and then having to leave them empty for a really long time with these kinds of things. But also, do you think the cost of enabling the works, then, should be factored into the next…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Yes. So, just looking at how a successor scheme could help advance equality and social justice, which you have touched on a lot throughout your answers, but just again to dig down into them a little bit—Jonathan, I just wanted to ask you how to address the…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Victoria, do you want to come in and add anything to that? Okay. Thank you, both. Thank you, Chair.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Also, then, just because I asked Victoria this as well, do you think that benefit payments should be discounted from income assessments?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Just to follow on from that—and then I'll come to Victoria on this one—and what you said about boiler replacement, the Bevan Foundation have called an environmentally damaging practice installing new boilers rather than fixing the existing ones and that it…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Thank you very much. Jonathan, I'm going to come to you if that's okay to ask you the questions I just asked Victoria. So, just to start off, as I said, Localgiving found that neither Nest nor Arbed addressed immediate needs and actually praised local…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 1
Thank you. That leads me on nicely, then, to my next question. The Energy Saving Trust is one of those who have said that they don't think that benefit payments should be included and so they should be discounted from income assessments so that more…
