Can I thank you, Deputy Minister, and express my appreciation for the support given by Welsh Government over recent months to maintain an essential network of bus services in our communities?

The decision to impose a firebreak—we all know that these challenges are going to continue for many months to come, and, of course, as you've outlined, in the short term, we'll be returning to public transport for essential workers and journeys only. But even before the firebreak, the pandemic had already impacted, as you've outlined, on many aspects of the bus network, including reducing the number of services. And like others, I've had similar situations in my constituency in Abercanaid and Aberfan, and the fact that you can get a bus to Prince Charles Hospital at the start of visiting time, but you can't get a bus at the end of visiting time—those kinds of things; the revenue streams and financial assumptions of local authorities and bus companies, including departure charges from bus stations, for example. In the bigger picture, post firebreak, we shouldn't lose sight, either, of what that means to the most vulnerable in our communities, particularly older people, for whom I know buses are often a lifeline, and I know that you're very alert to that. The reality is, however, that however much Government subsidises the bus companies—you have alluded to this in your statement—they are first and foremost private companies operating for profit, and if profit can't be made, they'll walk away leaving those in need of those services high and dry, and that remains the legacy of the privatisation of the 1980s.

So, while I very much welcome what you have announced today, are you confident that the measures outlined will be enough to sustain these essential services and that bus companies, more to the point, will co-operate? And I guess in line with the question that Helen Mary Jones asked earlier, if not, what is the alternative to ensure that bus services are maintained as public services for the benefit of the community and not for the profit of a private company?

I was going to ask you whether there was, for example, any scope for Transport for Wales to provide a more sustainable future out of the current uncertainties, but I think—