5. Will the First Minister provide an update on the progress of the South East Wales Transport Commission? OAQ54772

I thank Jayne Bryant for that. The commission published its 'Our Approach' document in October. It sets out how it will go about its work. The commission will also deliver a progress report by the end of this calendar year.

Thank you, First Minister. When it was created, the ambition of the transport commission was to operate collaboratively and transparently, providing regular updates on their work. Today, I understand that the M4 commission meeting invited groups in Newport for the first time. While I'm pleased that an official from Newport City Council is part of it, many of my constituents have asked me how the commission will take into account the views of the people who are impacted the most by any recommendation they make. I'm sure you'll understand that my constituents and I are eagerly awaiting the commission's progress update in the next few weeks. In that, the commission promises a short list of potential fast-track measures, also eagerly anticipated by myself and my constituents, followed by the interim report in spring next year. First Minister, how will this be communicated with Newport residents, and in particular those who are not part of any group? How will they be able to have their say on any changes that will inevitably impact on them to ensure that any measures make a meaningful and real difference for the better?

Well, Llywydd, I thank Jayne Bryant for that supplementary question and the important points that she makes. I can give her an assurance, Llywydd, that, when I first met Lord Burns, in an attempt to persuade him to take on this important work, one of the points that he made to me then was that he would only be interested to do it if he had the scope directly to talk to people in Newport and others affected by the problem that he is going to help us to solve. And you will see that in the 'Our Approach' document, where Lord Burns says that the commission intends closely to involve stakeholders in its work. And one of its top priorities is to understand the choices made by people living, working and travelling in south-east Wales, and in particular, users of the M4 around Newport.

The same part of the 'Our Approach' document then sets out how the commission intends to communicate with those wider discussions with the public of the sort that Jayne Bryant has referred to, happening today. Stakeholder meetings and workshops, using social media as a way of reaching people who might not communicate with and through more conventional means, and reports and letters to Welsh Ministers.

I too look forward to receiving that initial set of ideas from the commission before the end of the year. And I intend to make whatever advice is given to me available for people in Newport and elsewhere to see as well, and then to invite them to comment on those ideas, to contribute any further ideas they have, and to make sure that the commission is, as it has wanted to be from the outset, a genuinely iterative body working alongside those people most directly affected by its work.

One of the responsibilities of this transport commission is to produce recommendations for fast-track implementation to tackle the acute problems of congestion and safety on the M4 around Newport. First Minister, can you confirm that work to implement any such recommendation will begin at the earliest opportunity and that they will not have to wait until the commission produces its final report at the end of next year? Thank you.

Absolutely, Llywydd, I'm happy to give that assurance. That is exactly the way the work of the commission has been structured. They will produce their most immediately available actions before the end of this calendar year. I certainly don't want to wait for those ideas to be implemented until further parts in the reporting process. The commission is focused on looking at those ideas that are closest to hand that can be put into practice as fast as possible, and we will certainly not wish to hold up anything that we can get on with as fast as we are able to.