I think my question leads on nicely from my colleague Mandy Jones's question. I would like to endorse her grateful thanks to all our staff. I think it's been remarkable how everyone has adapted so well. 

3. What steps will be taken by the Commission to review the structures of and expenditure on its engagement teams in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ56100

The pandemic has led to a dramatic change in the way the Commission delivers its engagement work. Where possible, we've moved activities online. This has meant establishing virtual tours, virtual engagement sessions, explaining the work of the Senedd, and moving our sessions for schools and youth groups also. Virtual seminars and tours were delivered to a more diverse audience than ever before, and we have noticed that the demographic of those who have engaged with our virtual offers are more representative of all sectors of society than was previously the case when we achieved face-to-face engagement. We are learning lessons in terms of best practice in order to continue after the pandemic to reach those who are more marginalised and disengaged with our national Senedd.

Diolch, Llywydd. I have been making some enquiries about the Commission's expenditure on engagement teams. Now, in 2019-20, £1.3 million was spent on staff for the visitor engagement, the customer relations, the visitor experience, and four other engagement teams that currently exist within the structure of the Senedd. Now, despite the pandemic, the forecast expenditure in November for 2020-21—following year—was yet again £1.3 million. Now, looking at the details of the figures, I'm amazed that the actual expenditure in 2020-21 on the visitor experience team has increased, the visitor engagement team has increased, and the community engagement team has increased by £17,000, and finally, the education and young engagement team by £36,000. Now, nobody appreciates more than me that some of these staff have been seconded. But I would be grateful if you could explain why the expenditure has increased on some engagement teams, especially given that the offer now has shifted completely from physical to virtual, and whether perhaps, going forward for the next Senedd term, you might look to restructure the actual seven engagement teams, to bring in some savings, hopefully. Thank you.

Thank you for the question. And of course, the first thing to say is that moving virtual is not necessarily a means of saving money; the designing of virtual experiences can be significant in its initial investment. And as you've alluded to, Janet Finch-Saunders, there are of course changes that have had to be made to the responsibilities of work, and many of the people who previously worked in face-to-face engagement have done, and you acknowledged that there has been a considerable programme of secondment to other areas of greater pressure within the Commission work.

The Commission, in its early days of the fifth Senedd, set out as one of its main priorities to refocus much of our work towards public engagement and ensure that the people of Wales were aware of as much of our activity as possible. I think we've made strides towards that. I think our committees, in particular, have made significant strides on that. You chair the Petitions Committee, Janet Finch-Saunders, and the engagement with our Petitions Committee, I would say, has been significantly increased in the last few years, leading up to the pandemic, and during the pandemic. And hopefully you've been able to see that some of the work that those people working in this area have done has proved to be successful in encouraging more people in Wales to interact with us as a Senedd. I wouldn't want to do less public engagement work in the next Senedd. I want the people of Wales to be more aware, not less aware, of what we're doing here on their behalf. But, as you say, Janet, as always, we need to do so with a view to the expenditure that's placed on that activity, and to ensure that we are always reaching for as best value for money as possible.

Diolch, Llywydd.