Well, Dai Lloyd’s put himself through some intellectual contortions there in order to pin the blame on the Welsh Government, and I think that’s deeply unfair, particularly given the depth and breadth of evidence that was gathered in this report. I really don’t think that Dai Lloyd did it justice with that speech. I think it was deeply, deeply unfair. It is absolutely the case that the previous franchise is a failing franchise, and every time a constituent in Caerphilly gets on a train to travel either from Rhymney to Cardiff or any point on that journey, I can hear people getting angry. Overcrowded trains, poor quality carriages, trains that are regularly late and expensive ticket prices—these are all things that are not good enough, but that’s a failure of the previous franchise and it’s something that the Welsh Government is taking steps to address.

The other thing I would say is I’ve raised these issues with Arriva time and time again, and although I would question Arriva’s competence as a corporate body, individual members of staff at Arriva have been incredibly helpful and supportive in trying to find solutions, for example in finding ways to add two carriages in the morning to the peak first two-carriage service of the day on the Rhymney-to-Cardiff line, which travels through Bargoed and Caerphilly. They’ve been incredibly helpful in trying to achieve that, and have also added additional Sunday services on the Rhymney-to-Cardiff line. So, they are, I think, doing their best, including heroic jobs to keep the poor-quality Pacer stock running on the service.

With regard to the report, recommendations 5 and 7 concern that responsibility for the core Valleys lines and the need to secure adequate funding and mitigate liabilities and risk, and the Welsh Government has accepted those recommendations, and recommendations 10, 12 and 13 concern the issue of rolling stock that I’ve just mentioned and the need for the next franchise operator to ensure that enough is provided to deal with these numbers. The issue is, of course, rolling stock: that if it’s diesel and not electrified, it’s very hard to get hold of, and indeed procuring new rolling stock takes a number of years, which is a challenge I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary will be addressing immediately.