Decision details

Debates are one of the most frequent items of business on the Plenary agenda. Many types of debate are brought forward in Plenary, including:

• Opposition party debates on a topic of their choice;

Other than in the case of Government debates, the time allocated for all other types of debates and their frequency are determined by the Business Committee

The item started at 15.07

Voting on the motion and amendments under this item was deferred until Voting Time.

A vote was taken on the motion without amendment:

NDM5363 William Graham (South Wales East)

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes the Welsh Conservative policy ‘A Vision for Welsh Housing’;

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to work with the whole market to ensure that a solution to the housing supply crisis is found.

For	Abstain	Against	Total
10	0	38	48

The motion without amendment was not agreed.

The following amendments were tabled:

Amendment 1 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

Insert as new point 1 and renumber accordingly:

Regrets that decades of failure by Labour and Conservative governments left us with a housing crisis that forced rents higher and higher, left thousands of people with no hope of getting a foot on the property ladder, and resulted in 1.5 million fewer social homes available for rent.

A vote was taken on Amendment 1:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
4	0	44	48

Amendment 1 was not agreed.

Amendment 2 - Elin Jones (Ceredigion)

Insert at end of point 1:

‘fails to recognise that the most urgent housing issue is the devastating impact of the Bedroom Tax on many social housing tenants thereby affecting social landlords’ ability to increase housing supply, and therefore urges the UK Government to repeal the Bedroom Tax’

A vote was taken on Amendment 2:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
33	0	15	48

Amendment 2 was agreed.

Amendment 3 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

Insert as new point 2 and renumber accordingly:

Regrets that there are approximately 21,551 long term empty homes in Wales and that the Welsh Government has failed to produce a Wales wide empty homes strategy.

A vote was taken on Amendment 3:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
4	10	34	48

Amendment 3 was not agreed.

Amendment 4 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

Insert as new point 2 and renumber accordingly:

Acknowledges the concern of house builders that bureaucracy within the planning system is a major barrier to the development of new homes and calls on the Welsh Government to use the forthcoming Planning Reform Bill to remove key barriers to the delivery of an effective planning regime.

A vote was taken on Amendment 4:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
22	0	26	48

Amendment 4 was not agreed.

Amendment 5 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

Insert as new point 2 and renumber accordingly:

Welcomes the action being taken by the UK Government to stimulate new house building through equity loans and a mortgage guarantee scheme and calls on the Welsh Government to bring forward a date for the long overdue introduction of Help to Buy Cymru.

A vote was taken on Amendment 5:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
14	0	34	48

Amendment 5 was not agreed.

Amendment 6 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

Insert as new point 2 and renumber accordingly:

Notes that only eleven local councils in Wales still hold council housing stock which restricts the Welsh Conservative vision to rejuvenate a ‘Right to Buy’ scheme in Wales and that the power to suspend the Right to Buy for council houses in areas of high demand is a vital tool to help reduce homelessness and a lack of social housing.

A vote was taken on Amendment 6:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
38	0	10	48

Amendment 6 was agreed.

A vote was taken on the motion as amended:

NDM5363 William Graham (South Wales East)

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes the Welsh Conservative policy ‘A Vision for Welsh Housing’ fails to recognise that the most urgent housing issue is the devastating impact of the Bedroom Tax on many social housing tenants thereby affecting social landlords’ ability to increase housing supply, and therefore urges the UK Government to repeal the Bedroom Tax;

2. Notes that only eleven local councils in Wales still hold council housing stock which restricts the Welsh Conservative vision to rejuvenate a ‘Right to Buy’ scheme in Wales and that the power to suspend the Right to Buy for council houses in areas of high demand is a vital tool to help reduce homelessness and a lack of social housing;

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to work with the whole market to ensure that a solution to the housing supply crisis is found.

For	Abstain	Against	Total
12	0	36	48

The motion as amended was not agreed.