I very much welcome the statement from the Minister this afternoon and welcome very much the proposals that he's discussing for reform of the sector. I think many people are looking forward to this, and I know that many taxi drivers want to see that sort of certainty as well—they want the framework within which they can plan their businesses over the coming years.

This has been an enormously difficult year for taxi drivers. It's been an enormously difficult year for the whole industry, and we’ve seen many people walk away from it because they simply cannot afford to carry on through this pandemic. I very much welcome what you said, Minister, about the discretionary fund and the economic resilience fund, and I hope that as much of that funding as possible can reach taxi drivers who are having, probably, the worst year of their professional careers.

In terms of taking this forward, I think there are two things we need to do in order to ensure that taxis form a part of the transport picture in the future. First of all, I think Government needs to do more to recognise taxis as a part of the overall public transport networks around different communities. You've spoken about rural areas and rural communities in the previous answer, but this is also true in urban Wales as well. For example, we've had the opening of the Grange hospital in Cwmbran over the last week, and it would be useful if taxis, for example, were a part of the recognised public transport network connecting our communities and patients with that hospital, and I'd like to see some more about how the Government will make that happen. 

And secondly, and perhaps more importantly in terms of the long term, I would like to see a taxi development fund established by the Welsh Government to enable local taxi drivers to compete with the technologically driven giants that are becoming dominant in the industry. It's going to be impossible for local taxi drivers to compete with Uber in the future unless they have help and support, and that means a development fund that enables taxi drivers to invest in their vehicles, but also to invest in the sort of technology that will connect them to their customers of the future as well.

So, I hope that we can take both these things forward and ensure that we have the regulatory environment, the funding available to ensure that taxi drivers are able to survive the pandemic, and then also the development that will enable them to form a part of the public transport networks of the future. Thank you.