Thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. The clean air agenda policy area is vitally important for Government and for politicians of all shades of colour. If I could just read this statement—I think, in itself, this would focus minds—

'Preventable deaths due to respiratory disease in the most deprived areas of Wales run at over 60 per cent in men and 66 per cent in women, compared to only 11 per cent in both the sexes if you happen to live in a nice leafy suburb or out in the country.'

That truly is a shocking statistic, to say the least, and something in a policy area that we do have many of the levers over, where we can make a difference.

It is also worth reflecting on Wales's position over the last couple of years, which has shown that emissions in Wales between 2015 and 2016 went up by 5 per cent, and, between 2009 and 2016, went up by nearly 1.5 per cent, as opposed to a 5 per cent reduction across the UK. So, the levers that Welsh Labour have been pulling in this particular area clearly haven't been working, although I do believe in the sincerity of the Minister's statement this afternoon to try and change the narrative on this particular subject. That's why it is with regret that I stand here and do lambast the Welsh Government for not bringing forward a clean air Act and actually legislating in this particular area. I can remember first calling for the then First Minister Carwyn Jones to pull partners together and actually get a discussion going where we could get a piece of legislation on the statute book by the end of this Assembly.

Regrettably, now, despite the current First Minister's leadership commitment, we will not see that Act come into this Assembly. I hear the Minister will point to Brexit as maybe one of the problems, because of the pressures in her department, but there is a consensus in this particular policy area across this Chamber to make those improvements. And, unless these improvements are enshrined in law, many public partners and private sector partners will not be able to deliver on the improvements that they're meant to make. And so I would again urge the Minister to reflect on this particular area. Time has not completely run out—there is still nearly another 18 months to go before the Assembly election, and, as I said, with goodwill, we could make progress on this matter.

However, if you do still continue to decide not to bring forward legislation in this area—as I understand in this statement, we're just talking of a White Paper—will you commit to creating time in the Assembly calendar before the Assembly goes into dissolution to debate this particular subject and vote on any recommendations that might come from the White Paper and the consultations that you hold? Because I do think that's an important area to understand how exactly you will take this particular item forward.

Also, as we heard in the business statement, there's a big issue around incineration in Wales, and the particulate matter that does come around. Whether it be my colleagues from the constituency of Monmouthshire, the Member for Swansea, or in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan in my own region, there does seem to be a cross-party consensus on this particular issue. Can you highlight today how the clean air strategy, or plan, as you've brought forward, will take forward and address some of the concerns in this particular area around incineration?

Biodiversity you've touched on and the importance of creating a biodiversity culture here in Wales. We know, regrettably, that the Welsh Government's tree-planting targets have been missed by a country mile. How can we have confidence that this particular plan, when it talks about increasing biodiversity across Wales, will actually be able to deliver on the improvements that you talk about making in this particular area?

Also, you touch on an expert group—an expert panel has been set up to look at interventions in the domestic setting, and, in fact, it does talk about eradicating all emissions from domestic sources. Could you enlighten us as to exactly what those interventions might look like, because that's quite a bold statement, and what interventions Government will be looking to make, because I presume you're in possession of that information, as you've had an expert panel, obviously, advise you on that particular area?

It is disappointing, as I understand it, that Welsh Government still does not subscribe to making improvements to World Health Organization standards on air quality, merely the EU standards, although you do touch on it in your statement—that you'll be guided, rather than actually saying you will want to hit those targets. Can I understand why you will not set yourself that very stretching target that the World Health Organization has, as opposed to, obviously, the EU targets that you've set yourself against?

We are all supportive of greater access to public transport, but there is a very clear divide between the country and the town. In many instances, in country locations, regrettably, there isn't a public transport option. So, I would be most interested to know how you will create the policy area that will make those improvements where public transport exists so that they are a valuable alternative to using private cars, without penalising people in rural locations, where, very often, the only mode of transport that they do have is via a private motor car that's parked on their drive.

I think that it's important now, obviously, as you said, that people do engage with this consultation and, ultimately, that we do see a response form the Government that does map out the future of this particular area. We cannot carry on having statistics from Public Health Wales that highlight that between 1,400 and 2,000 premature deaths a year are linked to poor air quality. I do refer back to that opening statement that I made in this statement, about how the inequalities—. If you live in a poor area, there is a 60-66 per cent chance of you dying of respiratory failure, as opposed to an 11 per cent chance if you live in a leafy suburb. That is an inequality that we cannot stand by and allow to continue.

My colleague David Melding, in his urban renewal paper that he brought forward some 18 months ago, did highlight how ambitious the Welsh Conservatives are in this particular policy area, and how we would willingly work with the Welsh Government to create those clean air zones in urban settings and safe spaces around schools, so that come 2021, we are still not talking about this, we do have action, and we can point to areas in Wales that can be beacons of excellence, rather than those statistics that I used in my opening remarks, which show that, actually, air quality has deteriorated in Wales by 5 per cent in recent times, as opposed to other parts of the UK, where it's improved by 5 per cent.