8. How is the Welsh Government ensuring the accessibility of ATMs in communities in north Wales? OQ58775

Responsibility for banking services is not devolved to the Senedd. While the Welsh Government cannot, therefore, ensure ATM availability, we work with those who are able to do so, including innovative services such as shared banking hubs. I welcome the plans for such a hub at Prestatyn.

Thank you. Research from consumer champion Which? this month found that one in five people say they would struggle to cope in a cashless society, with those on lower incomes, older people and people with physical or mental health difficulties being particularly dependent on cash. Speaking here in 2010, I raised the risk management and capital adequacy requirements and regulation a new community bank will have to comply with, which an established bank or building society partner would not. In 2017, I led a debate on banking services here, which called on the Welsh Government to examine the not-for-profit community banking model. I therefore welcomed your subsequent announcement of the community bank for Wales, Banc Cambria, in partnership with Monmouthshire Building Society, subject to your repeated assurances that this would not impact on credit union services and the Post Office 'right to cash' banking framework. However, at last month's Post Office Senedd event, they were unaware of your community bank proposals and how this may impact on them. Monmouthshire Building Society has told me that it's more important to launch something that's right than to launch it quickly, that they're still working to address the gap in their provision of a current account, and that their Banc Cambria outlets will not necessarily be branches. So, in terms of access to cash, including ATMs, what, therefore, is the current position?

First of all, Llywydd, I agree with the series of points that Mark Isherwood made at the start of his question. It is very important that we are able to provide access to cash for those many communities that rely on it.

I am astonished that the Post Office in Wales had not caught up with the developments of the community bank, given that they have been very widely publicised and discussed repeatedly on the floor of this Chamber. Given that this is central to their activity, it is very surprising indeed to find that they appear to have been unsighted on it. You'd think they would wish to take some responsibility to make sure they were better informed. 

The work with the Monmouthshire Building Society does continue. There are, as they will have explained, some regulatory hurdles that they have to pass. It's one of the reasons why we have formed an alliance with them in developing the community bank, because they are an established and well-respected financial service provider. Solving some of those regulatory hurdles is easier when you are working with them. 

It is very important; I agree completely with what Mark Isherwood said. The community bank is intended to be an addition to the services that are there already—alongside, but not in competition with, credit unions, post offices and other service providers. Part of the reason why they will have said to the Member that it is better to get this right rather than to get it done quickly is to make sure that, when the community bank is operational, it has the right range of services and is able to provide them alongside those other services that are already there and that do a great deal of good in the lives of people for whom conventional financial institutions have, in recent years, more and more, stepped back from providing a service.

Thank you, First Minister.