I wanted to say a short word in this debate this afternoon. If I look back over the years that I've served in this place, concerns about some animal shelters and rescue establishments are one thing that I saw in Mid and West Wales, and I see today in Blaenau Gwent. I see people who are genuinely distressed by the things that they have witnessed. I see people who have done their best to support rescue centres but feel that they have been taken advantage of, and centres that simply are cruel. And we need to do something about it.

We have a responsibility, I believe, to act on this matter. Wednesday afternoons are well known in this place for talking. I think that we have talked enough. I was disappointed to see the Government amendment to this motion, which deleted the commitment to legislate and to bring in regulations by 2023. I'm looking to the Minister for a very clear and convincing explanation of why that is. Those of us who campaigned on Lucy's law in the last Senedd were exceptionally frustrated and disappointed with the time that it took the Government to act on this matter, and we do not want to enter this new Senedd with more frustration about the Government's inability to act on these matters. So, I think that we will be looking for very clear explanations for that.

I have seen too much suffering in these establishments to remain silent and to remain unmoved by these matters. So, I hope that we will be able to ensure that we have the law in place—and the law in the right place—to ensure that we do have the regulatory regime that meets the highest possible welfare standards at all times in the future. But, more than that, I believe that we do need then to have the regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure that the law can be properly delivered.

One of the things that I've witnessed in Blaenau Gwent is a local authority that is simply unable to provide the regulation that is needed. Members across the Chamber will know that I believe that the Senedd as a whole lets down people in Wales every time it allows small authorities like Blaenau Gwent to get away with not serving the people of the borough. In these matters, I have seen for long enough the borough being unable—simply without the resource—to deliver effective regulation of these establishments.

So, I hope, Minister, that we will be able to be reassured that we have in place the law. And then I hope that we will be able to be reassured that we will have in place the means of delivering the law. At the moment, I don't believe that, in many parts of Wales, we have either in place. So, certainly looking ahead, across the future in this Senedd, I will want to see not just a regulatory regime, but I will want to see the resources that deliver that regulation wherever it is needed. Thank you.