5. Statement by the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales: Future of Rail — Details of the new arrangements

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 3 November 2020.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 5:05, 3 November 2020

Well, can I thank Alun Davies for his contribution through his questions and for his support of the Welsh Government's decisions with regard to the Wales and borders rail services?

I think Alun Davies makes a really important point in that one in five people in Wales rely on public transport. They don't have access to a car, and public transport, therefore, offers hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to live their lives without relying on private vehicles. And had we not sustained services during this incredibly difficult period, and I know that it's cost a significant sum of taxpayers' money, but had we not done that, we would have been depriving those one-in-five citizens of Wales the opportunity to lead just a basic, decent life, and there is a massive social justice issue at the heart of what we have been doing during the course of the pandemic. We have wished to leave nobody behind. We have wished to leave nobody further disadvantaged as a result of what we are experiencing, and that principle we'll carry through to the recovery. Traditionally, during recessions and then through to the recovery from recessions, people who are most marginalised, who are furthest from the jobs market, who are the most vulnerable and who often experience their lives in a way that some of us would struggle to imagine, often they find that they are left even further behind during the course of the recovery, and we do not wish to see that happen here in Wales. That's why we remain absolutely committed to investing in public transport and in the services that so many people rely on.

I'm going to talk briefly about both the Williams and the Burns recommendations as well, because they have implications in terms of the Ebbw services. First of all with regard to Williams, and Alun Davies is absolutely right that we do need fair funding for infrastructure, well, our position is very clear. In our submission to the Williams review, we made the case for devolution of responsibility for rail infrastructure and for a fair funding settlement. And in terms of the South East Wales Transport Commission's work, we await the publication of the final Burns report, but I can tell Members today that I've asked Transport for Wales to start developing a strategy for a joint delivery unit to ensure that the necessary skills and resources will be available to ensure that we can deliver on the recommendations of the South East Wales Transport Commission. And I can assure Alun Davies that we remain entirely committed to taking forward those rail projects, such as the Ebbw Vale frequency enhancement, which will deliver better integrated public transport networks for the region and offer a viable alternative to relying on the M4. So, I can assure Alun Davies that there should be no delay in terms of delivering the enhanced frequency that he spoke about, but I must caveat this with the obvious point that we're also reliant on Network Rail in delivering those enhancements on time.