I am pleased to be contributing to this debate, after an eye-opening inquiry into rough-sleeping by our committee. The estimate of 300 rough-sleepers across Wales is a worrying one, and I know that a number of towns and cities in particular have seen noticeable rises in their rough-sleeper population over the past few years, with studies showing increases of between 10 and 33 per cent over the past 12 months only.

Work undertaken in England, including bringing forward the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 earlier this year, complements the UK Government's aim of halving rough-sleeping by 2022, and eliminating it altogether by 2027—targets that have been most clear. I would be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary might confirm today whether, further to the recently published two-year rough-sleeping action plan, the Welsh Government have in mind a specific target date for the elimination of rough-sleeping in Wales. Certainly, our inquiry highlighted the need for such ambition, and it was disappointing to note that the Welsh Government has rejected the committee's request for the quarterly report on the rough-sleeping action plan to be published on the Welsh Government's website. The Cabinet Secretary may be able to explain how elected members, third sector organisations and the public are able to fully scrutinise progress on this issue without such data.

I also appreciate the number of recommendations made in this report. A number of which in relation to priority need, though, I have to say, I do not support, as I do not feel that the current model of priority need, under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, should change. I was involved in this Assembly prior to that, when a lot of evidence came forward to the late Cabinet Secretary, when this was coming about, and I actually believe that the fundamental reasons for that priority need status to be there are still there. The Welsh Government have noted the commencement of an independent assessment of priority need, and I do await with interest the findings of this assessment. Ultimately, of course, we would like to be in a position where we do not need to have the priority need classification, when we reach a situation where we are able to house everyone in need in an appropriate setting.

I note the intention of the Welsh Government to introduce a duty to provide an offer of suitable accommodation for all homeless people. Some responders noted financial concerns for local authorities in relation to suggestions for the abolishment of priority need. So, I would like to seek assurances that the designation of such a duty would be supplemented with the appropriate funding and support, for local authorities to be able to carry this out effectively. I know in my own constituency we have actually managed to re-home people who have been rough-sleeping, but, sadly, without a network of support to sustain them throughout, it hasn't always worked, and they've ended up back on the streets. So, I think we do need to look at this in its entirety.

Increasingly over the past few weeks, I have received approaches from people who are, or are in imminent danger of, becoming homeless. The local homelessness team undertake great work once they are contacted by someone, but it is that initial contact, and knowing where to go that people struggle with. There is certainly a way to go in tackling homelessness in Wales, improving accessibility to homeless teams within local authorities, and finding the appropriate financial resourcing for those local authorities.

I fully subscribe to supporting our homeless, our rough-sleepers, but I do solidly believe that it is down to the Welsh Government and our local authorities to work together in a very strong and robust partnership, and it does need to be on an ever-rolling forward programme of monitoring. Thank you.