Can I thank Luke Fletcher for his contribution and the number of points he made there? You picked up at the start the very prescient point, the fact that we have fewer and fewer domestic fires now is testament to the success of the fire and rescue service, but, as you also pointed out, the challenges that we face through climate change and, potentially, the cost-of-living crisis have evolved, so the pressure continues, and for the service to evolve and have the support to do that is really important.

I'm just going to pick up on the point you make with regard to the potential challenge of people trying to keep warm in different ways if they, perhaps, can't afford to heat their home in the way they would have done usually—if they're plugging in heaters or using candles and things like that. The fire and rescue services do have a programme of—. We fund them through community safety grants to go in and do those checks. We're liaising very close with them and it also has been raised to have a look at how we could do that in the cost-of-living crisis, to perhaps look at some of the materials that are being used, to make sure we can address those issues, and perhaps looking for those dangers too. But it's an incredibly comprehensive programme they have of checking particularly vulnerable people as well—more vulnerable people in their homes. And it's meant that, clearly, if we look in the future to broaden the role, that's already something that they do in looking at those risks in people's households as well.

You rightly touched on the challenges of the retained duty system, and you referenced the chief, Roger Thomas, in mid and west Wales. I have regular meetings with the three chiefs, but also individually, and try and get out to meet them on location. The last time I spoke with Roger Thomas, there was very much a focus on concerns around the sustainability of the RDS system. You're right to say that, for many years, there have been tweaks around the edges, and it's got to the point now where we do need to look at it and address it, which is why I've highlighted it in the statement. It's something I would like for them to collectively look at, because there are different models elsewhere, but it's not just a challenge for Wales—it does exist in similar communities right across the UK. Whether there are things in the interim we can do in terms of using the levers across Government to, perhaps, work with employers to say, 'Actually, release staff to be part of the RDS system.' We're committed to doing that, but, obviously, we need to look at the longer term, how that works, because people's lives have changed, and the way people live and work has changed as well.

What's heartening is I've had the pleasure of meeting—slightly out of your region, Luke, in north Wales, in Rhyl—some new recruits to the fire service. I think they were in their third week in. So, they were very keen, coming from all different backgrounds, with a variety of reasons as to why they'd joined the fire and rescue services, and there really was an enthusiasm there for thinking what else the fire service could do as well within those skill resources that they have. So, I do believe there is an opportunity there, but, like I said, I think we have to get through those challenges around looking at training and getting those reassurances from the individual services, and making sure that we can have that proper analysis and look at how we move forward and address those broader issues.

I'll just touch on the points around firefighter pay and, of course, we're in a very different situation in Wales compared to elsewhere in the UK, in terms of how the fire and rescue services are funded. So, we don't directly fund them. Obviously, it's through the Welsh Local Government Association and local authority levies. I do regularly meet with the FBU as well. I had a meeting with them recently, last week, so what we can do to, perhaps, put those pressures on to get further funding, potentially from the Home Office through public sector funding to support the firefighters as they move forward as well.