I welcome this debate and this discussion very much and thank you to everyone who has submitted the motion. I'm eager to see the Deputy Minister and this Government looking specifically at bus services in our rural communities and I want to endorse what Alun Davies said earlier, because it appears that there is a disconnect between what the Government and Governments have said and what they achieve on the ground. If you consider over the past few decades, we have seen a very urban model forced on the communities of Wales, with services isolated from our rural areas. If you consider how many community hospitals have closed and if somebody needs a blood test or physiotherapy, they have to travel further. How many care homes are far away from our rural communities? If somebody wants to see a loved one, then you have to consider that distance. Think about the bus stations, the post offices, the banks, the job centres and the courts that have been lost or closed in our communities, forcing people to travel further and further. But, again, because of the nature of our rural communities and there are so few people living in those communities, it's these routes that are cut first, those rural routes, because they're not being seen as profitable. We've seen more of that happening because of this austerity that has been imposed upon us by the two Governments.

So, services have gone further away whilst, at the same time, we're seeing the funding to bus services decreasing, and I'll give you an example: there’s a constituent from Aberdaron who has contacted me this week—Aberdaron in the Llŷn peninsula—and they have to receive further education in Coleg Meirion Dwyfor in Dolgellau, which is a good long way away, and they have to travel hours on public transport. Or, another constituent who contacted me, in Harlech, having to travel to the hospital in Bangor. Now, that's 35 miles between Bangor and Harlech, but in order to get there on public transport, something that would take around an hour in a car, it takes three and a half hours, and almost four hours on a bus. So, we have to see solutions, and we have to see rural communities being considered in these plans. That would be my plea as the Deputy Minister responds to this debate. Thank you very much.