, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee Report—'Report on operation of the interim environmental protection measures'
So, in light of the important work that she has been undertaking, I am pleased to confirm that the Welsh Government will be extending Dr Llewelyn Jones's contract for a further year, and I'm particularly pleased that it is Dr Llewelyn Jones. We're not just…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee Report—'Report on operation of the interim environmental protection measures'
Diolch, Llywydd. I too would like to begin by thanking the committee and Chair for their work and for the recent report on the interim environmental governance arrangements. I think the committee's report is well considered and balanced, and I'm very pleased…
, Plenary
Debate on the Petitions Committee Report—'Mark Allen’s Law: Water safety and drowning prevention'
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you very much to Jack for bringing forward the debate and giving me the opportunity to speak about water safety and drowning prevention. Dirprwy Lywydd, I'd just like to start, as you'd expect me to, by offering my deepest…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Diolch, Gadeirydd. Apologies for the cold.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Thank you, Joyce. Officials continue to feed into the monthly DIG meetings and discuss actions on a range of relevant issues, like the potential offer or product target, but we haven't got a formal report at this stage. We continue to work with the group to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Yes, thank you, Joyce. I've had myself a couple of meetings with the Development Bank for Wales, and officials have been working with the bank for some considerable time on something called the green homes incentive. I'm afraid, Chair, my voice really is…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
It would be for Rebecca Evans to do that and not me, but just to tell you that we're having discussions about the potential for that kind of incentivisation programme.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Thank you, Joyce. Absolutely. In considering, though, our land transaction tax arrangements, it's important to remember that the primary purpose of land transaction tax is to raise revenue to fund essential public services. The committee will be aware, I'm…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Yes, absolutely, Chair. We're working with directors from the Welsh Local Government Association, local authorities and others, like the Cardiff capital region, for example, to develop an approach that maximises the participation of local authorities in ECO4…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Very much so. We expect them to come together with this community action. I already mentioned the Betws heat network, for example, run by Denbighshire council. That's a community programme that they've brought together. ORP 3 is actively stressing the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
We have had those conversations, Joyce, and we've had them as part of the innovative housing programme as well. One of the things about building houses that have new materials is to make sure that once they are built they can be properly assessed and they can…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Well, the short answer to that, Huw, is it's not up and running yet. They will be able to once it is. We do still have the Wales energy efficiency service, though, if people are looking for support and help at the moment. But the hub will be a much better…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Thank you very much, Joyce. As you heard me say, we're currently procuring a Wales net-zero performance hub. We're procuring that live on Sell2Wales at the moment, so if anyone who's listening to this wants to bid into it, please do so. We hope to let the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Thank you very much, Joyce. I think I've answered some of this question already. Chair, in the interests of time, I won't go back over it, but obviously we deliberately started in the social sector for all the reasons I have already outlined. In terms of…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Well, we can have a look at Rent Smart Wales taking on some roles here. I'm very happy to look at that, but it's just important to say that Rent Smart Wales are not an enforcement body; they are a regulatory and licensing body. They do that on behalf of all…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 addresses the need for this. So, rent increases need two-months' notice, and they can only serve a notice 12 months after that, so you can't have rent increases without two-months' notice, and you can't have them more than…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
So, we share your frustration. Our understanding is that there's still no formal upcoming announcement from the UK Government around this. The ongoing delay obviously causes us a problem, Delyth, because we don't want to burden landlords with two different…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
So, we are working with Cardiff University on a programme called SHREWD, social housing research on energy from Welsh data. I do wonder whether there's a person in the Welsh Government who comes up with excellent acronyms and works diligently on them all the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
That's not to say that we're against it, but it's just not a priority for us right at the moment.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Yes. So, the problem there, Jenny, is that land law isn't devolved to Wales, so I don't have any power to mandate that all homes have a passport, and trying to get the mandate to do that would take a considerable amount of time and effort. And there's a cost…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
So, very, very briefly then, we've got a Wales net-zero performance hub being procured at the moment, and that will roll out learning across the sectors, and that will allow owner occupiers to seek help and advice on how to decarbonise their homes. And as I…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
So, this is quite a complicated piece of work, Jenny. At the moment, we're looking at options to support private rented sector landlords to decarbonise their properties, for example through the new scheme via the alignment of ORP with leasing scheme Wales. I…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Completely, Chair, and Jenny. Obviously, we need to have a skills plan in place, but it's not my place—I'm not the Minister in charge of this, as, I'm sure you know, I used to be the skills Minister, and one of the things you learn if you are the skills…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Jenny, it's not my scheme, so you'll have to ask the right Minister, but early next year is what the current aim is.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister and Deputy Minister for Climate Change - part 2
Yes, that's right, Jenny, and, again, we've deliberately led with the social housing sector. So, we are building low-carbon, carbon-neutral, passive homes in the social sector. Many of the builders that build our private sector homes are also building our…
