Thank you very much, Commissioner, and thank you for your statement this afternoon, Deputy Minister. And it's really disappointing that you continue to ignore the advice of everyone concerned with social care. The pitiful wage being offered will not attract people into the care sector, neither will the £1,000 bonus you unveiled, with much fanfare. With household bills the way they are currently, care workers can't afford to live on the minimal salary being offered. You can't take advantage of the compassion and dedication of care workers. These amazing people provide vital care to the most vulnerable in our society, and they should be rewarded for it. As it stands, a career in social care is not an attractive option, and unless you grasp the nettle and accept that £9.90 per hour is insufficient, and unless we pay care workers a decent wage, the crisis in the sector will become a disaster. We will not only have a recruitment problem, but also a retention one.

Social care needs to be a rewarding career, but the rewards cannot just be spiritual, they also have to be material. And one-off payments, as welcome as they are, are not enough. Paying less than the retail sector is not enough. So, why are you continuing with the real living wage policy, when the sector and the unions say it isn't enough? Do you truly believe that paying the real living wage will do anything to address the recruitment and retention problems faced by the sector? Deputy Minister, one of the options you have presented was to align social care with NHS pay scales, costing around £54 million by your own estimates. Why did you not go down this route? Was it simply on the grounds of cost? And will you join me in welcoming the Welsh Conservative-run Monmouthshire County Council announcement that they are to pay their care staff £10.85 per hour? Do you expect other local authorities will follow Monmouthshire's fine example?

And you said in your statement that your measured approach is sustainable. How is it sustainable if it does little to address the current recruitment crisis? Why did you opt for a one-off bonus this year, rather than using the extra £96 million to pay a better wage to all staff? Staff cannot rely on bonuses, nor can they be counted towards such a thing as a mortgage. What assessment has been made of the impact of this policy in helping to retain staff? And finally, Deputy Minister, I welcome your aim of seeing more people join the care sector and start a long and rewarding career, as it deserves to be. In order to make social care a rewarding career, we not only have to ensure a rewarding pay packet, we also have to ensure rewarding terms and conditions. What steps are you taking in that regard, or does the sector have to just wait until you and Plaid Cymru hash out your plans for a national care service? Thank you.