English: I speak as someone who's not a member of the committee, but I do have the privilege of speaking on housing for the Welsh Conservative group, so I've taken a great interest in this report. Now, it's true that despite a number of good initiatives implemented over the years by the Welsh Government, such as the empty homes good practice guidance, which, I think, was 2010, and the introduction of the Houses into Homes scheme, we still don't seem to have solved the problem, and, indeed, progress may have stalled a bit. So, I think it's very appropriate that we're looking at this issue again. We've heard the figures: around about 27,000 private sector homes that are empty. Now, it's inevitable that a certain number of homes would be empty at any one time, but this level, surely, is well above that sort of frictional element that you would expect in a housing market. So, it is something that really needs to be sorted. When we compare it to the Welsh Government's target for the whole five years of this Assembly to build 20,000 affordable homes, it puts it in perspective, just the scale of the challenge and the number of empty properties that are out there. I certainly think that some of the schemes that have been suggested, making it easier when people do inherit property that may not be in a very good condition or they don't have the wherewithal, really, to deal with it anyway, and if a housing association, for instance, or the council could offer a reasonable deal to that homeowner to sell the property and then that becomes available as a social home, that's a very attractive, I think, and imaginative way of helping to solve this problem and then also reduce the danger of homelessness or - . The other thing we have - and Caroline mentioned the wider housing crisis - we have an awful lot of embedded households. These are households that have not been able to form because there isn't any appropriate housing for them to go to. So, they're in inappropriate housing, often with their parents, and this, I think, has been a real blight on this current generation, and one that most of us - certainly those of my age, anyway - didn't face when we were in our 20s. So, the supply of housing does need to increase markedly, and this is part of the solution. Earlier this year, the Welsh Conservatives published their housing strategy, 'Housing a Nation', and we revealed statistics that showed about 4,000 empty social homes were currently in Wales. Now, I note in this report it says 1,400, and there is an issue about how you count empty homes - what's the threshold at which they should be categorised as such? But I do think there's a general problem about our data collection, and improving the statistics would help us a lot. And I welcome, in particular, recommendation 5 of this report as a result. So, I think that needs to be looked at, and having a strategy - I think that's really key. I think the Government should have firm targets and we shouldn't have the drift that we've had since, say, 2010 - the last determined effort to move us forward on this particular issue. And I do think that the Government should aim, for instance, to bring all empty social homes back into use; they shouldn't be left vacant for very long, and certainly not for over six months. So, that's something I would really like to see as soon as possible. I also think that using the council tax database for a lot of the data collection itself has problems, because - and I think Caroline, again, mentioned this - it doesn't tell you much about why a property is empty, and that's really what we need to get to. And I do commend the organisation Action on Empty Homes for their work in this area, where they've outlined the many reasons why a property may be empty, and it is carrot rather than stick that's going to really improve the situation. So, there are a variety of reasons, then, why properties become empty, and I certainly think the state and local authorities have a role to play here. I finish just by commending the committee for its report. It's very useful, and I do hope that we will see greater implementation of the sort of policies that we need - many of them have been accepted now for 10 years or more, with party consensus, as Leanne indicated earlier. So, we really need to get on and do this.
Welsh: Siaradaf fel rhywun nad yw'n aelod o'r pwyllgor, ond rwy'n cael y fraint o siarad am dai ar ran grŵp y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig, felly mae gennyf ddiddordeb mawr yn yr adroddiad hwn. Nawr, er gwaethaf nifer o gynlluniau da a weithredwyd dros y blynyddoedd gan Lywodraeth Cymru, megis canllawiau arferion da ar gartrefi gwag, yn 2010 rwy'n credu, a chyflwyno'r cynllun Troi Tai'n Gartrefi, ymddengys nad ydym eto wedi datrys y broblem, ac yn wir, efallai fod cynnydd wedi arafu ychydig. Felly, rwy'n credu ei bod yn briodol iawn ein bod yn edrych ar y mater eto. Rydym wedi clywed y ffigurau: tua 27,000 o gartrefi yn y sector preifat sy'n wag. Nawr, mae'n anochel y byddai nifer benodol o gartrefi yn wag ar unrhyw un adeg, ond does bosibl nad yw'r lefel hon yn llawer uwch nag elfen amrywiol o'r fath y byddech yn ei disgwyl mewn marchnad dai. Felly, mae'n rhywbeth y mae gwir angen ei ddatrys. Pan fyddwn yn ei gymharu â tharged Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer pum mlynedd gyfan y Cynulliad hwn i godi 20,000 o gartrefi fforddiadwy, mae'n ei roi mewn persbectif, maint yr her a nifer yr eiddo gwag sydd ar gael. Rwy'n sicr yn credu bod rhai o'r cynlluniau sydd wedi'u hawgrymu, sy'n ei gwneud yn haws pan fydd pobl yn etifeddu eiddo nad yw mewn cyflwr da iawn neu nad oes ganddynt fodd i ymdrin ag ef, ac os bydd cymdeithas dai, er enghraifft, neu'r cyngor yn gallu cynnig bargen resymol i'r perchennog i werthu'r eiddo a'i fod yn dod ar gael fel cartref cymdeithasol, dyna ffordd ddeniadol iawn yn fy marn i, a ffordd sy'n llawn dychymyg o helpu i ddatrys y broblem hon a lleihau'r perygl o ddigartrefedd hefyd neu - . Y peth arall sydd gennym - a soniodd Caroline am yr argyfwng tai ehangach - mae gennym lawer iawn o aelwydydd mewnblanedig. Aelwydydd yw'r rhain nad ydynt wedi gallu ffurfio oherwydd nad oes unrhyw dai priodol iddynt fynd iddynt. Felly, maent mewn tai anaddas, yn aml gyda'u rhieni, ac mae hyn, rwy'n credu, wedi bod yn falltod go iawn ar y genhedlaeth bresennol hon, ac un na wnaeth y rhan fwyaf ohonom ni - rhai fy oed i yn sicr - ei hwynebu pan oeddem yn ein 20au. Felly, mae angen i'r cyflenwad tai gynyddu'n sylweddol, ac mae hyn yn rhan o'r ateb. Yn gynharach eleni, cyhoeddodd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig eu strategaeth dai, 'Cartrefu Cenedl', a datgelwyd ystadegau a ddangosai fod tua 4,000 o dai cymdeithasol gwag yng Nghymru ar hyn o bryd. Nawr, sylwaf yn yr adroddiad hwn ei fod yn dweud 1,400, ac mae problem gyda'r modd y byddwch yn cyfrif cartrefi gwag - beth yw'r trothwy lle dylid eu categoreiddio yn y fath fodd? Ond rwy'n credu bod problem gyffredinol ynghylch casglu data, a byddai gwella'r ystadegau yn help mawr i ni. Ac o ganlyniad, rwy'n croesawu argymhelliad 5 yn yr adroddiad hwn yn enwedig. Felly, rwy'n meddwl bod angen edrych ar hynny, a chael strategaeth - rwy'n credu bod hynny'n allweddol iawn. Rwy'n credu y dylai'r Llywodraeth fod â thargedau pendant ac ni ddylem adael i bethau lithro fel y gwnaethant ers 2010, dyweder - yr ymdrech benderfynol olaf i'n symud ymlaen ar y mater hwn. Ac rwy'n credu y dylai'r Llywodraeth anelu, er enghraifft, at sicrhau bod yr holl gartrefi cymdeithasol gwag yn cael eu defnyddio unwaith eto; ni ddylid eu gadael yn wag yn hir, ac nid am dros chwe mis yn sicr. Felly, mae hynny'n rhywbeth yr hoffwn ei weld cyn gynted ag y bo modd. Rwyf hefyd yn meddwl bod problemau gyda defnyddio cronfa ddata'r dreth gyngor ei hun ar gyfer llawer o'r gwaith casglu data, oherwydd - ac rwy'n meddwl bod Caroline, eto, wedi sôn am hyn - nid yw'n dweud llawer wrthych pam y mae eiddo'n wag, a dyna sydd angen i ni ei wybod mewn gwirionedd. Ac rwy'n cymeradwyo'r sefydliad Action on Empty Homes am eu gwaith yn y maes hwn, lle maent wedi amlinellu'r nifer o resymau pam y gallai eiddo fod yn wag, ac abwyd yn hytrach na ffon sy'n mynd i wella'r sefyllfa mewn gwirionedd. Felly, mae amryw o resymau pam y mae eiddo'n mynd yn wag, ac rwy'n sicr yn meddwl bod gan y wladwriaeth ac awdurdodau lleol rôl i'w chwarae yn hyn o beth. Rwyf am orffen drwy gymeradwyo'r pwyllgor am ei adroddiad. Mae'n ddefnyddiol iawn, ac rwy'n gobeithio y gwelwn fwy o weithredu'r math o bolisïau sydd eu hangen arnom - mae llawer ohonynt wedi cael eu derbyn bellach ers 10 mlynedd neu fwy, gyda chonsensws rhwng y pleidiau, fel y nododd Leanne yn gynharach. Felly, mae gwir angen inni fwrw iddi a gwneud hyn.