Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Counsel General, the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee welcomes the statement today. It's in a very important area of policy. It's a pleasure as well to follow on from the comments of my committee colleagues, Rhys ab Owen and Alun Davies, which are well informed and, in the case of Rhys, professionally informed too. It's an area that he knows we're taking a keen interest in. 

We've already explored access to justice during evidence sessions with the president of the Welsh Tribunals, Lord Thomas, in relation to the work of his commission, and of course with the Counsel General himself yesterday. In that session yesterday, we explored many of the issues referred to in his statement today. So, Counsel General, we were pleased to provide a practice run for you for today's main event.

Now, we note from the Counsel General's statement today that you refer to the findings of the Law Society on the impacts of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and the independent review of criminal aid, led by Sir Christopher Bellamy, and the worrying conclusions there on the state of the legal aid system, including the so-called legal aid deserts in parts of Wales, including rural and post-industrial areas. The committee would be grateful for any further up-to-date analysis of this that you could share with us either today or subsequently, and with Senedd colleagues.

We note also that you reference, as we explored in our committee session with you yesterday, the well-reported concerns over employment confidence, or the lack thereof, recruitment and training for the criminal legal aid sector, and the longer term sustainability of that sector, when faced with continuing uncertainty. We note also your worrying reflections on civil legal aid too, when you refer to it in your statement as a sector that is slowly dying. That is of extreme concern.

Now, the statement refers to the work that he and the Minister for Social Justice are undertaking in respect of access to justice. In your statement, you refer to the link between justice, access to justice, and our core public services as a key to tackling poverty, social disadvantage and inequality. And thereby it leads your Welsh Government to continue to seek the devolution of justice to Wales and an ambition to create a Welsh legal aid and advice service, if devolved with appropriate funding. So, can I ask you, Counsel General: how do you intend to take these ambitions of the Welsh Government for further devolution forward, and what engagement has he had with the UK Government to date and what response? And we further note your reference to the additional support provided by Welsh Government to organisations charged with providing social welfare advice, including through the single advice fund and other necessary initiatives. We would welcome, again, any update, in writing or today, on the continuity of that funding, as set out in the recent budget. 

Now, Counsel General, we hope to undertake more detailed work in this area, though, I have to say, our programme of work and the time available to our committee is somewhat constrained by what I know he recognises as a veritable mountain of legislative consent motions and statutory instruments and regulations and more, which assail this Senedd and indeed the Welsh Government. But because of the importance of these matters, in the background we have, through our communications team, started to use online focus groups to improve our general understanding of the challenges and experiences on the ground in accessing justice in Wales. And we look forward to contributing further to the analysis of legal aid and access to justice in the coming months, and at this point we would simply ask the Counsel General to confirm his willingness, and that of his officials, to continue to engage with our committee on this vital area of work, which, far from being an arcane or an academic topic, is vital to the rights of people in Wales and to their ability to have equal access to the law and to justice. Diolch yn fawr iawn.