Can I thank my colleague, the Member for North Wales, for proposing this debate and for all of his hard work in promoting the rights of disabled people? It is clear that we need to do more to create a fully inclusive society. Far too many barriers exist that prevent disabled people from being able to fully participate in everyday activities. As we've already heard, there are only 50 Changing Places toilets in the whole of Wales. This compounds the fact that the availability of public toilets has generally reduced over the past few years, whilst those that do exist are not fully accessible. So, it's not that easy to find a toilet as it is, but for a person who's disabled and who needs to use a toilet, it makes it extraordinarily difficult to find a facility that meets their needs.

Now, with my former local authority hat on, it is difficult for a council to balance all of the priorities that they have: you have limited budgets and some considerable pressures to meet, which can mean that things like toilet facilities sadly end up not at the front of the queue for funding. And, yes, whilst local authorities are required to produce and publicise a local toilet strategy, we know that not all local authorities reference the need for Changing Places in their strategy. In our Monmouthshire 2019 toilet strategy, we did make reference to the availability of a changing place, available in a local community centre. We also ensured that the locations of toilets and their facilities were made available via a mapping app that could be accessed on a mobile phone. But I recognise that we should have done a lot more. So, there does need to be dedicated financial support for public bodies, to ensure that they can provide suitable changing place facilities, as well as strengthened guidance so that public bodies fully consider accessibility when producing a toilet strategy and designing public spaces. We might think making toilets more accessible is a small step, but it can have a hugely beneficial impact on disabled people and open up more opportunities to them.

And quickly touching on the purple pound—that is, the spending power of disabled households. Statistics from the Purple charity do show that, for the UK as a whole, businesses lose around £2 billion a month by not meeting the needs of disabled people. Around 75 per cent of disabled people have walked away from a business before, because of poor accessibility. So, providing these facilities, we can actually promote economic benefits as well as the social benefits.

So, I hope, Deputy Presiding Officer, that the Welsh Government will approach this debate in a positive way, and that as a Senedd we can explore ways to ensure that we meet the needs of disabled people from across Wales. Thank you.