Can I apologise for being a few moments late? I hadn't clocked the move-around in this afternoon's agenda. Apologies, Minister.

Can I thank you, Minister, also, for bringing forward today's constructive statement on the local government elections, which took place last week? I'd like to join you in thanking all of those who were involved in the smooth operation of last week's election, right from those monitoring officers through to those counters at the counting stations. I'm sure that many Members today in the Chamber also attended those counts last week and have been impressed with the whole overall electoral process, seeing at first-hand the exceptional work and dedication of all those in making the process such a success. I'd also like to join the Minister in thanking all those who stood in last week's elections, including those, of course, who were lucky enough to succeed in representing local communities, but also those who stood and were unsuccessful, sadly. It's really important that we have a range of people standing for election so that democracy can be active, and, of course, candidates putting their heads above the parapet, which is not always an easy thing to do.

As you outlined in your statement, Minister, in last week's election, we saw pilots for the flexible voting taking place across four authorities, and, as you say, early indications show that they have worked well. However, for Caerphilly County Borough Council elections, I understand that around only 180 people took advantage of those early elections over 68 wards. If this is correct, that would indicate that just three people per ward took advantage of this. Initially, to me, this doesn't seem good value for money for the investment required to make that happen. And as you state, you look forward to the Electoral Commission's independent evaluation in the coming months on this, but I'm just wondering whether you'd give us some more insight today on how these pilots went and whether you anticipate that they may be used in future council elections.

Secondly, Minister, in your statement you mentioned that the Welsh Government is taking steps to ensure that candidates and elected members' addresses do not have to be in the public domain. Of course, this is welcome in safeguarding the candidates and councillors, and this is an area we've discussed previously in the Chamber. In addition to this, I welcome your continued work with the WLGA to promote the importance and benefits of being a local councillor. Nevertheless, we did see 74 uncontested seats in last week's elections, which does continue to show that people are worried about putting themselves up for election due to sometimes, frankly, abuse and bullying that faces candidates in elections. So, I'm just wondering what particular action you're planning to take to reduce this abuse and bullying and how you will work with the ombudsman to ensure that their powers are sufficient to deal with tackling this issue as well.

And finally, Minister, something not raised in your statement today is the turnout of last week's elections. As we know, turnout continues to be low at council elections. Some of this could be attributed to people not fully, perhaps, understanding the extensive role that councils and councillors play in delivering our vital services. So, what assessment have you made of the turnout for the elections and what action do you think can be taken to enable more of our citizens in Wales to engage in these really important elections in the future? Diolch yn fawr iawn.