In the first instance, as a member of the committee, I wanted to thank those who gave evidence and, of course, the clerks, et cetera, for their work on this and putting this report together. And, of course, thank you to our committee Chair for his work on this and presenting the report to the Senedd today.

I wanted to touch on two particular aspects of the report. In the first instance, the evidence we had taken from drivers themselves was striking and very informative, especially when it came to highlighting some of the negative experiences on the road, most notably was the quality and lack of rest areas, which representatives of the haulage industry agreed was an issue, as well as driver safety in these areas. We heard about substandard wash facilities, with broken tiles and showers. We heard about the risk of being robbed when parked overnight, with one driver highlighting that he had been robbed over 10 times, as we've heard already, and that is accepted as an occupational hazard. That's unbelievable that that is the case in this sector. So, I was pleased to see that the Welsh Government accepted our recommendations from 3 to 6. Whilst this doesn't rectify the issue in the short term, it will go a long way to ensuring that we can create safer and cleaner places to rest for HGV drivers in the future, but I do hope the Welsh Government moves on this as soon as possible.

On driver work hours and conditions, I think there was a very clear disconnect between what haulage representatives were telling us was happening and what drivers were telling us was their reality, which, I have to say, as a former worker in the hospitality sector, doesn't surprise me at all. If you ever want to learn about the reality of work, you can't go far wrong with actually speaking to those who are working the day-to-day. Members will see on page 9 of the report the rules around driving hours, but drivers themselves were clear that employers often push them to front-load hours to remain within their average allowance. Often, that meant working 60-hour weeks, which is both physically and mentally draining. We have some work to do in tackling this, so again, I'm glad that the Government has accepted our recommendations on this front, and I would urge them to act on those recommendations as soon as possible.

Finally, a separate point to the report, but an important point for us to note, is that capacity element to training drivers. Both Rhun ap Iorwerth and I have spoken about this issue since the publication of our report as a committee, and he's highlighted a local issue in his area. Local to Rhun, they have waiting lists for tests of up to and exceeding 10 weeks. A trainer has recently left his post in the area, meaning it will become increasingly difficult for trainee drivers to book a test. Couple this with the DVSA's decision in February 2020 to close the test centre in Caernarfon and the challenge becomes even more clear. The intention is to close Caernarfon, by the way, and move testing to a site in Wrexham, meaning those from the north-west will need to travel across the north to now be tested, further adding to that issue with capacity.

To close, Dirprwy Lywydd, there are a number of challenges to address here, and I hope that the Governments on both sides of the M4 are serious in meeting them.