Can I thank very much the Members that have brought forward this debate today? I certainly will be supporting the motion. The motion has my full support. Now, the Powys Association for Voluntary Organisations, or PAVO as they are known for short, have been raising concerns with me about the current threats that threaten the continuation of community transport in Powys. I thank them very much for their providing me with a very comprehensive briefing and report on this issue, which I shall refer briefly to today in my contribution. 

I think Members will understand that Powys's geography and sparse population and relatively limited public transport infrastructure mean that community transport, of course, provides an absolutely crucial lifeline to vulnerable residents who would not otherwise be able to access the services and opportunities that matter to them. Other Members have mentioned them in their contributions. Now, the Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations provides support themselves for a range of community transport schemes operating across Powys. There are Dial-a-Ride operations, school contracts, community car schemes, taxi card schemes and minibus hire for third-party sectors. Certainly, Dial-a-Ride as well—a number of trustees operating Dial-a-Ride services have been in contact with me with a range of concerns for some time.

I think all Members have mentioned—and I've listened to every Member that has spoken so far in this debate today—that it seems that the single largest area of activity and journeys with regard to community transport providers is associated with social care and health needs. In Powys itself, this financial year, groups in Powys drove over 800,000 miles for 8,000 people in Powys and delivered 108,000 single passenger journeys. Now, over 6,000 of these people are over 60, and 1,800 have a disability. I point this out, of course, to demonstrate the importance of community transport to people in my rural constituency who face barriers in accessing services with very limited private transport. Without these services, of course, not only is it estimated that half of the 8,000 passengers in Powys would lose their transport, but the financial consequences for the local authority and the health board would be significant. It's estimated that they would have to spend around just under £800,000 to cover the same health and social services currently serviced by community transport operators.

As the motion notes, there is real concern about the proposals contained within the Department for Transport consultation on community transport permits, which would mean that any service in receipt of payment in exchange for the transport provided, whether that be fares or grants or even lunch for the driver, would be considered commercially and subject to new licensing arrangements. This, of course, would have significant costs with regard to running services, limit the availability of community transport services to deliver contracted services for local authorities, and affect some aspects of licensing affecting the group hire of minibuses.

I'm just going to read a little bit from the report that PAVO provided to me. There are nine community transport organisations providing services in Powys. Now, as it stands, according to the Powys report, having discussed this issue with each of the nine providers, five would be forced to close altogether, two might continue to operate under the new requirements but would be forced to only operate within the commercial market and, as such, they might still close, and two currently use vehicles with under nine seats and would therefore not be affected by the change. They go on to say that because of the legal nature of licensing arrangements, it is anticipated that these community transport schemes would be obliged to cease, affecting services immediately upon confirmation or enforcement of the new licensing requirements.

The motion today calls on the Welsh Government to work in partnership with these groups and provide a clear strategy to recognise the cross-cutting aspects of community transport provision across Welsh Government departments, but I very much hope that the Cabinet Secretary will be able to respond positively to today's debate in a way that provides some stability for the groups that I and others have mentioned.