I'm very grateful for the opportunity to discuss this important issue today, namely animal welfare. It's an issue that I'm sure each and every one of us believes is important, because our constituents are of course very concerned about this issue. Indeed, data from 2019 suggests that a quarter of the Welsh population owns a cat and one in three is a dog owner—the feline friends and the canine companions, as Sam Kurtz referred to earlier.

However, one could argue that many of the laws relating to the trading of companion animals are very dated now. Selling pets online, for example, is something that couldn't have been imagined by those who drafted the companion animal legislation back in 1951, 70 years ago. The world has changed so much since that legislation was passed.

Plaid Cymru has called consistently on the Government to work with stakeholders to build on the high level of animal welfare that is already in place in Wales, and for that reason, Plaid Cymru will support the Conservative motion today, as it does reflect those principles in full and calls for further action from the Welsh Government that will have a positive impact on animal welfare.

The pandemic, of course, has had a huge impact on the capacity and funding of a number of animal welfare organisations the length and breadth of the country. For example, the Dogs Trust in Bridgend saw a reduction of 44 per cent in rehoming rates for dogs, whilst the demand for rehoming had increased by 73 per cent between April 2020 and March 2021—that's a very significant increase indeed.

Likewise, there was a significant impact on the dogs' school education programme because of the pandemic. The number of owners that participated in training programmes in 2020 was reduced by 73 per cent as compared to the previous year. The sector, therefore, needs our support to help them to reach out to communities across Wales to safeguard animal welfare. And although I welcome the Welsh Government animal welfare plan, the sector has concerns in terms of rescuing animals from harm and the rehoming centres, specifically in terms of the timelines outlined and the lack of urgency.