<p>Homelessness in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 21 March 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:09, 21 March 2017

There are a number of issues that my friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney has identified, and that is, quite often, people cannot get themselves out of the rut they find themselves in: they can’t get a job, because they haven’t got an address; they can’t look the part for a job, because they haven’t got any money; they find it difficult to access help for mental health problems or for addiction problems. There are pathways that people can follow that are provided by a number of third sector organisations, but getting people onto that pathway is often the difficult part. I suspect that, for many individuals, it’s a tailor-made approach to that individual that will work most effectively, but, of course, we also face a situation where people are homeless because they literally have nowhere to live and they can’t claim housing benefit because of their age. Because of that, they find themselves living on the streets as a result of that, and that is something that could have been prevented by the UK Government.

Minister

Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.