Can I just begin by commending the report—I think it's a good report—and the work that committee members and colleagues did, and the work of the Chair and, of course, the clerks and the support team as well?

One of the things that leaps out from this report, and it's echoed in the comments that have just been made, is the background introduction where it says that previous analysis by a group on diversity in local government established by the Welsh Government, 'On Balance: Diversifying Democracy in Local Government in Wales', noted that the profile of councillors in Wales is predominantly white, male with an average age of about 60. I think that's me. We're not all bad, by the way, but the problem is when we all look like me. [Interruption.] That's right. Most of them look like me. We can be quite good—. Nobody would criticize the late Paul Flynn, who passed away recently in his 80s and was still a highly active Member for Newport. So, there is place for octogenarians as well. But, the problem is, when you've got the majority that are white and male and around 60 years of age, it is distinctly off-putting to encourage diversity.

So, we do need to do this, and I think this report helps us along the way because it looks at practical steps by which we can do it. I welcome the fact that the Government has accepted the vast majority of them and a couple in principle as well. Let me just turn to some of these. First of all, I think it's very, very welcome, on recommendation 20, that the Government has accepted our recommendation about extending the sunset clause in the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 until 2050 to allow the continuation of all-women shortlists. I know all-women shortlists are controversial, they're not everybody's cup of tea, but they've been a necessary tool actually in extending diversity within representation. So, we still do need that in place there. We need other measures as well, but that needs to be there. 

I welcome the fact as well that it's accepted as a priority that the Welsh Government should establish an access to elected office fund to assist disabled individuals run for elected office. I have friends who would benefit directly from that but at the moment feel that there is a barrier to them running because of the additional barriers that are put on them because of the disabilities that they face. And on the possibility of extending such a fund to other under-represented groups, I think it's highly welcome that the Government have taken that on board as well.

Recommendation 18 was the one around mock Assembly elections at the same time that we have our elections. Now, I appreciate what the Government has said, which is that there was a mainstreaming of this, that there will be a great deal of mock elections in schools and other ways of encouraging awareness and understanding about the electoral process, but there is, as the Chair has said, a real opportunity here, once in an electoral cycle, to excite young people about what we do here. Today, we had members of the Youth Parliament here sitting behind us; there was a different buzz within the Chamber. It would be great to capitalise on that buzz around the Assembly elections with young people directly. So, we're not saying 'instead of'—keep on doing all the other wonderful work, but actually add to it. Have a look at this. Go back and have a look at that recommendation, because I think it is a worthwhile suggestion there.

Let me just turn to a couple of others here. The issues around technology: I'm glad the Government has accepted those, because, certainly, not only as we look at increasing diversity in the workforce, but also, I have to say, if we're looking at more modern ways of communication and also the decarbonisation agenda that we're very strong on as well, we should be exploring other opportunities that don't drag everybody in for every single meeting from the far outlying places of Powys, Ceredigion, or even Ogmore, quite frankly, and saying we should look at alternative ways to use technology. So I'm glad the Government has accepted those recommendations. 

And also, on the recommendations around job sharing, let me say that I'm very, very pleased that there's been an outright acceptance of the issue of job sharing with executive members. I was probably one of the most strident members of the committee who said that the same thing should definitely apply to the election of individual members when they stand for election. And, of course, I know there are myriad objections, such as that they'll just outcompete each other and that if you've got two people sharing a job, they'll strive to outdo each other. Well, we have that in multimember wards already. There are ways to do this, by agreement. And frankly, some of those people who face some of the barriers, such as disability, who might not feel that they want to commit to a full-time job as a councillor, might well say to me or somebody else in the future, 'Huw, I quite fancy doing a job share with you. If we can share the load, with your experience, with me coming in new, with the barriers that I face, we will do this.' So I welcome it's accepted in principle, but I'm glad that you're going to look at that. But I think we can go further.

This is a great report that I think will push the agenda on and will help the Government, and I thank the Chair for the way that he's chaired this as well and sought a real consensus around these issues. And I particularly thank the witnesses. They won't be pleased with everything within it, or they'll say we've missed some elements, but I think it's a significant step forward and I'm glad the Government has accepted the majority of the recommendations.