, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. That's a euphemism of choice.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
'Shortly'. That's a nice, flexible term, isn't it? [Laughter.]
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. That sounds very useful. When will that be reporting?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
From a quick Google search, there was a contract in April this year for a review into the empty properties enforcement scheme—that's slightly different to the register of empties, though, isn't it?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I just wanted to ask about the progress on the register of empties, which I think was a programme for government commitment. How's that coming along?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
And that's all manageable, is it? It's not causing particular headaches for the way that you deal with your budget.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
It's an outlier, isn't it? I'm just interested, with outliers, in what's going on there. There may be a perfectly valid explanation. In terms of the budget spend, it's obviously a bit lumpy, as you've described, Sarah, the way these schemes come through the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
But this is an example of a council that has a premium, but hasn't signed up to the grant.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Is that right?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I think it would be useful for all of us to know, and for you to reflect on, how useful a lever this is—is there a threshold at which it becomes a very useful policy tool, or is it simply a way of raising extra revenue for local authorities. I think that…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Well, some of them have been in place for a number of years. Rhondda Cynon Taf had it in place from the beginning.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
It would be interesting to hear your reflections on how some of the learning from the individual property grant and the empty homes scheme can be iterated, spread and scaled. So perhaps you can reflect on that. This was always meant to be a push-pull, where…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. The Leasing Scheme Wales scheme, which I think is an excellent scheme, does seem to take quite a long time to get through the process—there are only 233 properties so far.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
We're not asking about enforcement. This is not about enforcement, it's about accessing the grants.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
I wanted to come on to that, because I wonder if there's a common theme with both Leasing Scheme Wales and the empty homes grant, and whether or not there's some kind of streamlining review that is worth doing, just to understand if these can be speeded up a…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Yes.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Okay. Can I just push on? There are a couple of things I wanted to touch on.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Sure. But I just wonder if, beyond information sharing, there's a role in understanding what are the pain points that are preventing those five from joining, and are there things that can be done at a co-ordinated level to remove those pain points.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
And some of it will be about capacity, won't it? As you say, Emma, others will just have different priorities for the capacity that they have. So, it's good to hear about the handbook, but the approach that you were describing there seems a little disparate…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Sorry, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Quite right. So, in terms of the role they have in terms of working with local authorities who may have barriers, what do they do to try and help local authorities overcome any difficulties they may have?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Sure, I'll come back to the pipeline. First, just to better understand why quite a significant part of Wales is missing out on the scheme. As you say, these are local government choices, but it would be interesting if some work was done to tease out whether…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Thanks. I just want to go through the approach to empty homes and the various different schemes that you have. So, to begin with, the scheme that you have for individual home owners, the grant scheme. You obviously have a mix of grants and loans. Just in…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session—Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Today is World Mental Health Day.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Impact of funding reductions for culture and sport: Evidence session with the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales (5)
Can I just finish specifically on that? Because you've mentioned, I think, the national museum and the Welsh Government—the national library, sorry, and the Welsh Government. Have you looked beyond those for sharing those?
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Impact of funding reductions for culture and sport: Evidence session with the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales (5)
Can I—
