Diolch, Llywydd. I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring forward this short debate on the important role played by credit unions in helping tackling financial exclusion, a major issue in parts of my constituency and in areas of deprivation across Wales. I’m happy to give a minute of my time to both Jayne Bryant and Mark Isherwood in this debate.

Llywydd, the fundamental difference, of course, between credit unions and any other financial lenders is that they’re there to serve the members and not to maximise profits for shareholders. Credit unions are democratic, member-owned co-operatives focused on providing a genuine social benefit to local communities in which they are based. They vary greatly in size, ranging from the very small to some with over 15,000 members. Among their principal benefits, credit unions provide an affordable source of credit capped at 3 per cent per month—much lower than anything available from other sources. They secure savings: all savings up to £85,000 are protected under the UK financial compensation scheme and many credit unions offer life insurance at no additional cost. They are community focused and under the common bond arrangements they’re intrinsically linked to local communities—the money saved with and lent by the credit union largely staying within the local community.