I wasn't a member of the committee when evidence was taken for this report, so I've really enjoyed reading the work and discussing informally with colleagues, and it certainly is an impressive piece of work, challenging Welsh Government where it needs to be challenged, but supporting it too where the committee felt that they were heading in the right direction.

I don't want to repeat comments that others have made, Dirprwy Lywydd, I just want to highlight a couple of issues. I want to come back to the points that have already been touched on briefly about electric vehicle charging points. Now, I know that the Deputy Minister will say—or I imagine he'll say, and he'd be quite right—that of course we need to achieve modal shift. We don't want to replace a whole fleet of diesel- and petrol-powered cars with people still using electric cars to the same extent. But there will always be either people's individual circumstances, or communities where running public transport on a large scale—you know, much of the area of Mid and West Wales that I represent, that's not going to be feasible. And I do have some frustration about the slowness with which we've rolled out the electric charging points. There are lots of people I know in the region that I represent who would love to be able to consider an electric vehicle and they just can't, because there's nowhere within the journeys that they travel where they can charge it other than at home.

So, we have a lot of work to do there, and I think it is important that that's not at the expense of investing in public transport and investing in modal shift, but it is still an important part of the decarbonisation agenda. Because, as the Deputy Minister has said a couple of times in the Chamber recently, we perhaps in the past have maybe underestimated the importance of decarbonising transport, and I'd certainly agree with him there that it's not necessarily the first thing that anybody thinks about when they think about the green agenda, but, of course, it is enormously important.

I would just comment briefly on the integration agenda. Nick Ramsay is right to say that we've been talking about this for years, but I would also put it to him that it's the legislative structure around buses and rail that's kept them in the private sector that has actually made some of that integration really difficult to achieve. And the next Welsh Government, whoever forms it, will have to give some serious thought to going back to the bus legislation and possibly going further—obviously, that legislation couldn't proceed because of COVID, but possibly going back to that legislation, possibly taking an even more clear approach. Because the Government at the moment is looking to use contracting with private companies to promote integration, but, in the end, there is that ongoing risk that, if they're not making enough of a profit, they'll walk away. And if we look at successful integrated systems, particularly on the continent of Europe, those are usually public sector. So, we have to acknowledge that that lack of progress on integration may not be the fault of successive Welsh Governments alone; it's the fault of the framework within which they work.

I want to return to a point that was briefly touched upon by Russell George, and that's some of the work of the future generations commissioner's 10-point plan on the climate emergency, which talked about how the Welsh Government should be investing in sustainable transport, including the decarbonisation agenda. She puts forward strongly, and I would concur, that we really need to be able to see—. To be able to successfully scrutinise the Welsh Government on this agenda, we need to be able to see how the money is being spent. If decarbonisation is a priority, how are Welsh Government actions, particularly the budget—how is that following that agenda?

Now, I wouldn't ask the Deputy Minister to be responsible for the whole of the Welsh Government budget, because that wouldn't be fair, but I would like to ask him today to what extent, within the economy and transport budget, are the Government able, at this stage, to track their spending against the green agenda and the decarbonisation agenda more broadly. Is there anything further that needs to be done to make that happen? Is there further advice that he needs to seek? 

Because we do—. Deputy Presiding Officer, in Welsh we have a saying, 'Diwedd y gân yw'r geiniog'—at the end of every song there's always the penny—and we say, don't we, 'Follow the money'? We can talk about what we think is important, but, in terms of public spending and where the money actually goes, I think it's really important for a successor committee to the economy and transport committee to be able to see, when it looks at the budget, how the budgeting is matching the Government's ambitions when it comes, in the case of today's discussion, to the decarbonisation of transport, but more broadly around the green agenda.

So, I'd like, once again, to thank the members of the committee that did take the evidence and to thank the Chair and all of the staff—a really important piece of work and I look forward to the other contributions to the debate, and particularly to hearing what the Deputy Minister has to say.