May I also echo the Minister's thanks to the police for the work that they have done and do, particularly during the very challenging circumstances over the past year or two? We won't be opposing the motion before us today, but I do have a few comments to make, mainly around the fact that we do feel that the formula doesn't deliver for Wales as it should. The formula, for example, discriminates against council tax payers in Wales. In some areas, like north Wales, it's local taxpayers who fund 50 per cent of the police budget, but that compares with only 30 per cent in some areas such as the west midlands and Northumbria, where local taxpayers contribute only 30 per cent of those costs. So, there are questions about an imbalance or an unfairness in that regard.

The Home Office doesn't, either, provide any additional funding to police Cardiff as a capital city. We know that it attracts major national and international events, and that brings additional financial pressures, but there is nothing provided from the Home Office to cover those costs, although provision is made for London, although provision is made for Edinburgh, and provision is also made for Belfast. So, again, there is a disparity there in terms of how we are funded here in Wales. 

I would strongly argue, too, that the funding formula doesn't sufficiently recognise the specific challenges posed in policing rural communities. We regularly hear in this Chamber the concerns around theft from farms in rural areas, we hear about attacks by dogs on livestock, and those unique challenges in that rural context aren't sufficiently recognised, in our view. So, we do need to look at the formula, and it would be good to hear some support from the Welsh Government for that in responding to this debate. 

Now, over and above the formula and this funding, of course, we mustn't simply look at this settlement in isolation.