Minister, congratulations on your new role. I'd like to ask you:

6. What consideration has the Minister given to decarbonising transport when allocating the budget to the climate change portfolio? OQ56629

Tackling climate change is at the heart of this Government’s policy making. For example, this year we have provided £275 million of capital funding to support the continued delivery of our metro networks, increased investment in active travel to around £55 million, and allocated £38 million to support the roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, zero-emission buses, taxis and private hire vehicles.

Thank you, Minister. From 2013 to 2014, Wales replaced the bus services operating grant with the bus services support grant, with funding set at £25 million. This fixed pot of £25 million has not changed since the BSSG's inception, with 10 per cent top-sliced for community transport and a further £100,000 top-sliced as the operators' contribution to running Traveline Cymru, leaving £22.4 million net for local registered bus services in Wales. In contrast, the Scottish Government's bus service operators grant comprises of a core payment and an incentive for the operation of green, environmentally friendly buses. The core payment aims to support operators to keep fares at affordable levels, and networks are more extensive than would otherwise be the case. And the green incentive helps with the additional running costs of low-emission buses, to support their key uptake by operators. I'd like to know, Minister, what discussions have you had with the Minister for Climate Change to provide an incentive through the bus services operating grant to bus companies in Wales to decarbonise their vehicle stock.

Thank you for raising that issue, and I'm really pleased to say that we do have a debate on buses, of course, later on this afternoon, where some of these issues can be explored in more depth with the Minister with responsibility for transport. But decarbonisation of transport is critical, and, as I've described, some of the investment that we are making is specifically in zero-emission buses, so that the services are able to operate in a way that is more in line with our ambitions for tackling climate change. And throughout the pandemic, we've provided the bus industry here in Wales with significant funding to ensure that it kept going through the pandemic, knowing how important that service is for many key workers to get to their place of employment. So, our support for the bus industry has been significant. It's still here today, thanks to the support that we've given it through the pandemic, but that's not to say that there can't be and shouldn't be change in future, both in terms of ensuring a more carbon efficient service, but also a service that is just more responsive to the demands of our particular communities and one that is alongside our ambitions, really, for social justice. So, the current system, because of the deregulation of the bus industry, means that some of the places where buses are most needed aren't well served, but areas where people are able to pay more tend to get a better service, unfortunately.

Minister, constituents have been in touch with me saying that they find it very difficult, in Canton in Cardiff, to travel by bike back and forth to school, because of an absence of cycle lanes. What assessment has the Welsh Government made, in terms of decarbonising transport, of funding for Safe Routes to School for councils such as Cardiff council? Thank you.

Welsh Government has provided, over recent years, significant funding for councils for Safe Routes to School, Safe Routes in Communities, and also our active travel funding. At the start of the previous Senedd, we were only investing around £16 million a year in active travel, but, as I said, investment now has increased to around £55 million, showing the constant and increased priority that we are giving to active travel, for all the reasons that you described, but also in terms of our clean air ambitions as well.