, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 4
Thanks. We'll move across to Jane Dodds.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 4
Welcome back to the Equality and Social Justice Committee meeting, where we're looking at fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme. I'm delighted to welcome Ben Saltmarsh and Jack Wilkinson-Dix; Ben Saltmarsh from NEA and Jack Wilkinson-Dix from the Energy…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Okay. Thank you very much, both Sophie Howe and Donal Brown—a really interesting session. I think we've covered a lot of ground. We'll send you both a transcript of your evidence, and, obviously, we encourage you to let us know if we've misheard what you were…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Okay, thanks. Sarah Murphy, would you like to come in, because there's a specific issue we need to cover?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Fine. Okay. Sioned.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Thank you for your assessment. Are we able to extend the session for five minutes? Because we are almost out of time at the moment, and we've got, I think, three or four extra questions. So, if we could be brief, and Sophie and Donal can spare the time, Jane…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Thanks very much. Jane Dodds, would you like to come in, please?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Moving on to Tom Giffard.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Okay. We've got the NEA coming in later this afternoon, so we'll pick up with them on that. Can I bring in Ken Skates at this point?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Thank you. Can we move on to Sioned now? Sioned Williams.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
That's very helpful. That's probably as far as we need to go. Jane, back to you.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
A doubling, okay. So, are there any other ways in which we could raise the money, if the Welsh Government has got other priorities, which, obviously, they do have? So, how are we going to square this circle, if we've only got half the budget that you guys…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Thank you. All right.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Okay. Can I just ask about the numbers before we move on? And I'll come back to Jane in a minute. So, Sophie Howe has said, at the moment, the Welsh Government has allocated £30 million a year, and your estimates are £730 million a year. So, what are we going…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Okay. Thank you. Over to Jane Dodds.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
Thank you for that. That's very helpful. I'll just move on now to my colleague Sarah Murphy.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
I'm sure we have, but, Donal, do you want to just—? I mean, we're talking very large numbers, obviously, and the Government, to date, in the draft budget for next year, has allocated £100 million up until 2024-25 to continue delivering Warm Homes, Nest, and…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme: Evidence session 3
This is the second day we've dealt with fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme. A very warm welcome to Sophie Howe, our future generations commissioner, and Dr Donal Brown from the New Economics Foundation. So, I'd like to just start off by asking you…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Prynhawn da. Welcome to the meeting of the Equality and Social Justice Committee, where we are going to be continuing our inquiry into fuel poverty. I would like to welcome Members and members of the public. We have had apologies from Altaf Hussain, and I…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
Okay. One of the things that confuses me is why we haven't seen more local community energy schemes developing for what motorists are demanding now, which is connection points for cars, so they can buy an electric one. I just wondered if any of you can…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
That's very useful to have on the record, because there isn't a single solar panel on any school in Cardiff as far as I'm aware. Jon, did you want to come in on this?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
Okay. Thank you for the honesty on that. Jon, do you have anything to add on that?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
That's fine; we can move on. Does the Welsh Government have a coherent strategy for body swerving the restrictions of the National Grid whilst the UK Government catches up, or whilst the joining up of all the dots catches up so that we do have a coherent…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
The public has moved on on this, but I'm not sure that the UK Government has. Amidst the perfect storm that we now face, to what extent would Jon and Tom be able to advise us as to whether the UK Government, which control the National Grid and Ofgem, have…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Renewable energy generation in Wales - evidence session 4
Okay. I share Llyr's frustration on this. Just tell us about any large-scale project that's actually been prepared to share the benefits with local communities by offering them reduced price energy. That is what is going to be far more effective getting…
