AN ASSEMBLEY member has asked for more support to be given to rough sleepers left out in the cold this Christmas.

Alyn and Deeside AM Jack Sargeant raised the issue of rough sleepers in Deeside during First Ministers question time at the Senedd.

He says this year is the first time he can remember rough sleepers being on the streets in Connah’s Quay and Shotton.

Addressing the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, Mr Sargeant said: “This is not just a big city issue anymore. Towns like Connah's Quay and Shotton have, for the first time in my memory, experienced people sleeping rough on the streets.

“Now, councils like Flintshire could well be overwhelmed this winter, so I have written to you, First Minister, to seek what urgent support you can offer as the Welsh Government to councils like Flintshire to ensure people are not left out in the cold this Christmas.”

The Leader:

Jack Sargeant, AM for Alyn and Deeside

The First Minister replied saying Mr Sargeant was “absolutely right” to point to the fact that many in the Senedd chamber remember when “the sight of someone without somewhere to sleep would have been absolutely rare and shocking”.

Mr Drakeford said: “As Jack has said, not simply in our major urban areas, but in smaller towns across Wales, and it is authentically shocking that the fabric of our welfare state has been allowed to fray to the extent it has, that we see people in those numbers now forced into that position.”

The Welsh Labour Party Leader added that a homelessness action group chaired by Jon Sparkes of Crisis has reported with a series of immediate recommendations for things that we can do this winter to try to avoid the situation that Jack Sargeant has referred to.

The Leader:

Rt Hon Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales

He continued: “The Government has accepted all those recommendations and is working hard with local authority colleagues and with third sector organisations to implement those immediate measures.

“We have sustained the investment we make in Supporting People, which, as Jack said, is one of the flexible parts of the budget that local authorities and their partners are able to use to provide services to people, because while rapid rehousing is at the core of what we want to offer to people who find themselves sleeping rough.

“We also know that those individuals, because of the histories that they have been obliged to go through, often have needs beyond accommodation, and that's what the Supporting People grant is there to do, and that's why we have sustained it through the whole of this Assembly term, and intend to go on doing so.”