Can I focus my comments just on three particular areas, the first of which is the apprenticeship levy issue? You will know, Cabinet Secretary, that the view of the UK Government is that they have devolved the resources to the Welsh Government to allow for this cash to be made available to Welsh police forces so that they can avail themselves of the benefits that the apprenticeship levy may be able to bring to them and their staff members. Of course, it's not an insignificant sum in the case of North Wales Police. For example, they have suggested to me that it's £423,000-worth of income per year, which they're currently foregoing because of the failure of the Welsh Government to seek some sort of agreement with the UK Government over the availability of that money. This is cash that is already in your pockets, so I think we do deserve an explanation as to why that cash is not being released to the North Wales Police force and the other police forces in Wales to enable them to upskill their workforces.

Secondly, I will also pick up on the point of the schools liaison officers. It has already been made in many respects. Now, the view of the Welsh Government is that in future the new curriculum will be able to pick up the work that is being done by the schools liaison officers, but as Siân Gwenllian quite rightly pointed out, it's not just substance misuse that these officers are dealing with; it's also healthy relationships, anti-social behaviour and personal safety-related issues. Again, just in the case of North Wales Police, we're talking about £388,000 per year that that force will be deprived of because of a deliberate decision by the Welsh Government to redivert that cash into the education budget and away from our police force. I wonder, when you add that to the cost that they're foregoing in terms of the apprenticeship levy, how you expect just that one force to make up for £800,000 in future financial years, which they are currently not receiving as a result of the way in which the Welsh Government carves up its Welsh block grant.

I listened carefully to the comments on PCSOs. I really value the work of PCSOs in my constituency. They're doing a fantastic job, particularly in terms of engagement with the local communities in which they work. I know that the Welsh Government has funded some 500 of these, and 101 of those are in north Wales at the moment, and I look to you today, Cabinet Secretary, to give a continued commitment to the funding of those PCSOs, because of the excellent work that they're doing. I don't think there's been a commitment beyond the next financial year, but it would be interesting to hear what your views are on that. I certainly want to see them continue for the whole duration of this Assembly, and I think some security around that would be very helpful indeed. 

Just finally, if I may, I want to comment on the partnership work that the police force is doing with local authorities and with the health board in particular in north Wales, and indeed some of the other emergency services. Many of the problems that the health board is creating for the police force are manifesting themselves in extra costs. So, for example, delays in ambulances arriving on the scene when they have been called by a police officer is a problem that's been cited by the North Wales Police that's causing them some angst. It takes officers away from other response duties when they're having to wait hours for an ambulance to turn up. Frankly, if a police officer calls an ambulance, or any other professional like a police officer or a doctor, they ought to be able to get that ambulance responding much more swiftly because of the extra pressures that it places on their services.

In addition, North Wales Police have also said that they're having problems getting the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to engage on mental health related matters. Again, that doesn't surprise me because of the problems that there are in that health board, but I do think that these are all adding to some of the pressures that our police forces are facing. I don't know what the situation is like in other parts of Wales, but certainly up there this lack of engagement from the health board and this lack of engagement from the ambulance service in terms of providing responses is certainly leading to additional costs.

So, that, coupled with this lack of investment as far as the apprenticeship levy is concerned, and this lack of resource in terms of the schools liaison officers in future years, is causing some real concern. I do hope that you'll be able to give us some comfort on those and that you will look at these issues in future years to make sure that the resources are getting through.