2. How has cross-border public transport been affected during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ55539

Llywydd, public transport in cross-border areas has been affected in the same ways as such services more generally. I know Members in the Chamber will want to pay tribute to those operators and public transport workers who have done so much to maintain a core network of services during this crisis.

Thank you, First Minister, for your reply. Both the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales have rightfully said that no child should be left behind or have to change the pattern of their important return to education. But we do have a situation where Transport for Wales have made a number of changes to the Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury service, and the effects have meant that students in Montgomeryshire have had their travel to Shrewsbury disrupted, for education purposes. In fairness to Transport for Wales, they've put a number of bus services on, but often those are not viable because there are extended journey times and often the buses arrive after the beginning of courses. Now, as I understand it, the cancellation seems to be in regard to concern over staff safety on some of those services.

This does continue to be quite distressing for younger people, and I am sure you will agree with me that it's an anxious time for young people as they return to school and college. I'd be grateful if you could discuss this situation with your colleagues and see how Transport for Wales can indeed be supported by the Government in order to reinstate some of these services for younger people, for their education in Shrewsbury. 

Llywydd, I thank Russell George for raising these points, and I know of his previous concerns about them. I think Members will be reassured to know that Transport for Wales has reinstated the 06:29 service in the morning from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury. It was reinstated on 14 September. The Llywydd, of course, will be aware of that. That is the key train service to take young people for education into Shrewsbury.

Now, it is true, as Russell George has said, that that train service is sometimes filled to a point where it is not safe to allow further passengers onto the route. And in those circumstances, Transport for Wales has extra bus capacity on standby should it be needed. Now, of course Russell George is right that, at the furthest point, that bus journey does take 45 minutes longer than the train journey would. The excess is reduced the closer young people get to Shrewsbury. But in the current circumstances, where coronavirus remains, as we've heard yesterday and today, on the rise, making sure the trains are not overcrowded and young people and other passengers put at risk is very important, and that extra bus capacity, which is there every day should it be needed, is, I think, at the moment a proportionate way to make sure, as we would all wish to see, that no young person is unable to access the education that is so important to them.

First Minister, prior to this morning it had been many months before that the Prime Minister of the UK had called a COBRA meeting with the devolved leaders across the United Kingdom's family of nations. Would issues of cross-border transport during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on many other matters, be far better served by regular and routine communication between the relevant Governments in England and Wales? How can the Welsh Government continue to encourage the UK Government that it is good to talk?

I thank the Member for that. I was very glad that there was a COBRA meeting today. I was glad to have a telephone call with the Prime Minister yesterday. The point I made to him then, and again in the COBRA meeting today, is that we need a regular and reliable pattern of engagement between the four nations of the United Kingdom. Ad hoc, last-minute, paperless meetings are not sufficient for us to be able to respond to the crisis as it is continuing to develop. I was reassured that the Prime Minister said in the COBRA meeting that they would now be properly reinstated. That will give us all an opportunity to discuss matters. Public transport was raised briefly, as Rhianon Passmore has suggested, during today's COBRA meeting. A regular, reliable rhythm of meetings, in which we all know when we will have opportunities to share information, to look at the latest analysis, to pool ideas and then to make decisions that are right for the different nations of the United Kingdom, I think is at the centre of the way that we can get through all of this in the best possible way together.