Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for responding to this today. I’ve tabled this particular debate as a step in what I hope will be a successful campaign. It’s a chance for Members to begin considering whether what I’m about to talk about would be a useful, practical and reasonable step towards equality in their constituencies and regions, and it’s a chance for you, Cabinet Secretary, to expand upon the Government’s initial observation that:

'In principle, this idea seems to have some merit and we would be interested to see how the practicalities of such a scheme would work'.

In November, the Bridgend Coalition of Disabled People opened an e-petition via the Assembly website, which in due course will of course be considered by the Petitions Committee. I hope that this debate and your reply, Cabinet Secretary, will be of use to the committee in those considerations, and I urge all those Members who I hope are watching this from their offices to tell your constituents about this as it will be open for signatures until March. It’s already got over 1,700 signed-up supporters, but I’d really love it if we could get enough so that we can have a full Plenary debate on it.

The Bridgend Coalition of Disabled People is a very active and well-regarded campaigning organisation in my region, with some executive members also sitting in other national bodies representing people with disabilities. You will probably already know some of them from their engagement work with Assembly Members and of course Government. 

The coalition is calling for the Welsh Government to bring in an access certificate, showing numbers from zero to five, along the lines of the food hygiene certificate. All buildings used by the public—such as shops, food outlets, sports clubs, pubs and offices, as well as public transport services—should be assessed on how wheelchair accessible they are, as well as how easy it is for someone with a sensory impairment or learning disability to use.

I think this fits very well with the debate we had a little bit earlier today on some of those scores. Its members would also like premises to be given a number, which they could then display to show how disabled friendly their premises are. They argue that those who achieve high ratings could possibly persuade others nearby to improve access and get a higher rating themselves. They cite the obvious comparison here, which is the food hygiene certificate, as a success, saying that since the mandatory introduction of the food hygiene certificate, food standards have vastly improved and premises with a high number use the certificate with pride. Coalition members believe that businesses will make a big effort to improve access and services for the disabled community if a similar certificate were introduced for access, leading to hugely improved services for disabled shoppers and those who want to go for a drink, a meal or to use public transport—the facilities that most of us take for granted. It's a win-win situation: better services mean more customers.