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Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee |
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Meeting Venue: |
Committee Room 2 - Senedd |
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Meeting date: |
Thursday, 19 June 2014 |
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Meeting time: |
09.00 - 12.35 |
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This meeting can be viewed on Senedd
TV at: |
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Concise Minutes: |
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Assembly Members: |
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Christine Chapman AM (Chair) Leighton Andrews AM Peter Black AM Jocelyn Davies AM Janet Finch-Saunders AM Mark Isherwood AM Gwyn R Price AM Jenny Rathbone AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM |
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Witnesses: |
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Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Housing and Regeneration Kath Palmer, Welsh Government John Howells, Welsh Government Jeff Cuthbert AM, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty Eleanor Marks, Welsh Government Kate Cassidy, Welsh Government |
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Committee Staff: |
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Sarah Beasley (Clerk) Chloe Davies (Deputy Clerk) Matthew Richards (Legal Advisor) Gwyn Griffiths (Legal Advisor) Helen Roberts (Legal Advisor) Hannah Johnson (Researcher) Jonathan Baxter (Researcher) |
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Transcript
View the meeting transcript.
1 Introductions, apologies and substitutions
1.1. The Chair welcomed Members and members of the public to the meeting.
1.2. Apologies were received from Mike Hedges AM. Mick Antoniw AM acted as a substitute.
2 General Scrutiny Session: Minister for Housing and Regeneration
2.1. The Committee received evidence from Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Housing and Regeneration, and his officials.
2.2. During the session, the Minister agreed to provide the following to the Committee:
a clarification of the technical definition of ‘affordable housing’, as it is referred to in relation to targets, and a note on the differences between the use of the term “affordable” by the Welsh Government and the UK Government;
a note including a breakdown of each local authorities’ status in relation to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) target completion date, including information of any which authority may not meet the target;
a detailed breakdown of the figures for the shared equity ‘help to buy’ scheme, by each county in Wales;
a note on the business plans and projects, relevant to the Minister’s portfolio, in relation to the intermediate care fund, and the outcomes expected;
details of the Section 180 review of the Homelessness Grant Programme, when it is available;
the outcome of the changes to the ‘supporting people’ programme, following the £5million cut that was raised during budget scrutiny 14/15 in November of last year.
3 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the meeting for the following business: items 4, 5 and 6
3.1. The Committee agreed the Motion.
4 Human Trafficking: consideration of draft letter to Minister for Local Government and Government Business
4.1. The Committee discussed the draft letter to the Minister for Local Government and Government Business, in relation to Human Trafficking.
5 Consideration of correspondence from the Business Committee
5.1. The Committee discussed the correspondence from the Business Committee.
6 Consideration of correspondence from Darren Millar AM in relation to the Holiday Caravan Sites (Wales) Bill
6.1. The Committee discussed the correspondence from Darren Millar AM, in relation to the Holiday Caravan Sites (Wales) Bill.
7 General Scrutiny Session: Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty
7.1. The Committee received evidence from Jeff Cuthbert AM, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, and his officials.
7.2. During the session, the Minister agreed to provide the following to the Committee:
the guidance which is provided to local authorities for their scrutiny of Communities First grants recipients;
the figures for increases in Credit Union membership figures, following the marketing campaign.
8 Papers to note
8.1. The Committee noted the paper.
9 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the meeting for the remainder of the meeting
9.1. The Committee agreed the Motion.
10 General scrutiny session: Minister for Housing and Regeneration - discussion of evidence
10.1. The Committee discussed the evidence received and agreed to write to the Minister for Housing and Regeneration on the points that were raised.
11 General scrutiny session: Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty - discussion of evidence
11.1. The Committee discussed the evidence received and agreed to write to the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty on the points that were raised.