8. Will the First Minister provide an update on the work of the South East Wales Transport Commission? OQ56526

Llywydd, we have appointed Simon Gibson CBE as chair of the Burns delivery board. It will oversee the progression of the 58 Burns recommendations by the unit set up for that purpose in Transport for Wales. A budget of over £4 million has already been approved for that work, to make sure that we can take the recommendations of the commission forward.

Thank you, First Minister. The Burns commission has laid out exciting and deliverable improvements to the transport system in and around Newport—a public transport system that Newport deserves, made possible by forward-thinking and strategic investment by the Welsh Government. With the delivery unit in place, the focus and pace must be kept up, ensuring we see tangible results in Newport. However, key parts of this plan involve the upgrading of rail network infrastructure, an area where the UK Government has responsibility. Over the last few years, Wales has only received 2 per cent of Network Rail's enhancement budgets, despite having around 10 per cent of the UK rail network. The UK Government talks a good game on investment, but seldom delivers. Will the First Minister continue to encourage them to put their money where their mouth is, and deliver the rail investment that Wales both needs and deserves?

I thank Jayne Bryant for that and concur with what she said about the investments the Welsh Government has already made—the £70 million to secure additional services, rail services, between Ebbw Vale and Newport. And I'm very pleased to see that agreement has now been reached on extending on-demand fflecsi buses to cover the whole of the Newport city local bus network. And that's been funded by revenue and capital provided in partnership with Newport City Council. And that will play an important part in providing that local public transport network to which Jayne Bryant referred.

But as she will know, the major recommendation of the Burns review was for proper investment in the main rail line, to create new commuting possibilities that would serve the people, not just of Newport, but of Cardiff and further beyond. Now, the Hendy review—the union connectivity review, set up by the Prime Minister—published its interim report on 10 March. It pointed to the success of transport devolution, and amongst its first recommendations are that the UK Government take up that recommendation from the Burns review, and provide the investment that is needed to make that rail network an effective way of moving people across south Wales.

Now, I make a serious point to the leader of the opposition, that, if the UK Government genuinely wants to demonstrate its commitment to union connectivity, then here is an idea that is ready for it to take up—an idea developed in detail by the Burns commission, endorsed in the Hendy review and ready to go, and if the UK Government really is serious in investing in every part of the United Kingdom, to provide connectivity across the union, and I have no reason to say that they are not, given that the Prime Minister set up the Hendy review, that, when Hendy makes his final recommendations in the summer, this will be a big moment to see whether the UK Government is going to do more, as Jayne Bryant said, than simply talk the talk, but put the investment into making sure that the people of south Wales are served by UK investment in the way that both Burns and the Hendy review have now set out. 

Thank you, First Minister.