Home Maintenance

Q7 Lorraine Barrett: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Assembly Government measures available to enable households to undertake basic home maintenance? OAQ(3)1470(FM)

The First Minister: There are 22 care and repair agencies in Wales, one for each local authority, and we provide core funding at a level of £4.5 million a year to enable them to carry out basic home maintenance for those who cannot do it themselves. We also provide an additional £2.1 million for the service that the agencies provide for those returning from hospital or the newly disabled, with rapid-response adaptations, such as the installation of grab rails, in homes.

Lorraine Barrett: Thank you for that response, First Minister, and for the support that is provided. I have been contacted by constituents in Penarth with regard to the care and repair service. My constituents feel that, although the service is excellent, it could be expanded to include housing association and council tenants who have small jobs to be done, such as fixing a curtain rail or putting up a shelf. While landlords are responsible for carrying out repairs to the homes of housing association and council tenants, it is sometimes the little jobs that can cause accidents—when you step onto a chair to try to fix something yourself. What opportunities might there be to look at expanding the care and repair service to the tenants of social landlords? The tenants would pay for those minor works, but it would be so much easier to have a friendly, helpful face turn up to do the jobs that no-one else can do.

The First Minister: We all face this problem. It is not worth paying a plumber a £100 call-out fee to carry out one small job, such as changing a washer, but it might be worth while if you have three small jobs that need to be done. The call-out fee might be unreasonable, but you have to get that job done or your tap will keep dripping, so there are problems in that area.

The difficulty if a service charge is paid to the housing association is that you are, in theory, paying public money twice—first to the housing association for coverage via the service charge, and then in additional sums via care and repair for a friendly handyman, handyperson, plumber or whoever to do the required odd job. It is a difficult issue. If you write to the Deputy Minister for Housing, Jocelyn Davies, I am sure that you will receive a considered reply.