Thank you, Minister, for bringing forward today's statement, 'Diversity in Democracy—Survey Results'. Thank you also, Minister, for the advance sight of the statement for Members today as well. As you outlined in your statement, Minister, the decisions councillors make have that real-life impact on our communities across Wales as a whole, and on this side of the benches we certainly welcome today's statement, welcome support being provided to our fantastic councillors and applaud their efforts to best represent their communities.

There are just three points I'd like to pick up and expand on from your statement. The first is in relation to flexibility. You outlined the work that's being done to ensure more flexibility for council meetings, which is, of course, welcome, to encourage that broad representation and improve accessibility. However, it's crucially important that our local councillors don't lose the focus of the in-person nature of representation as well. Often, some of the best work is undertaken in person. Regretfully, a number of councillors in Wales still aren't meeting flexibly—they're insisting to only meet online and seemingly taking advantage of this way of meeting, which, in my view, does put limits on democratic involvement. So, in relation to this, I'd be interested in your consideration of updated guidance on how hybrid meetings could or should be conducted in councils to ensure, yes, that flexibility, which is very important for diversity, but also—and some are doing this now—to stop councils from editing the proceedings of meetings, and to ensure virtual behaviour is in line with in-person expectation. It was only last month that we saw an example of a councillor allegedly voting whilst driving. I think that guidance would be very helpful, sooner rather than later.

In terms of improving democracy and diversity in democracy, one of the biggest areas of opportunity, I believe, is in working with employers to enable their staff to carry out their role as councillors—that flexibility for workers with employers. For my 14 years as a councillor, 10 of those years I held a full-time job, but I was lucky to work for a company that saw the benefits of my role as a councillor and allowed me the flexibility to carry out both of those roles. But, regretfully, many organisations still don't understand these benefits, which makes it difficult for councillors and those wanting to become councillors to carry out their role along with their day jobs. So, a question there, Minister, is: in light of this, will you work with employers to encourage them to have provision for their staff to carry out the role of the councillor, which will, of course, increase diversity?

The second point to expand on, Minister—it's an issue I've raised a number of times with you in the past, and you have certainly commented on it here today—is the abhorrent bad behaviour and abuse that many councillors and candidates receive. As you pointed out, 40 per cent of respondents to that public survey said they've either witnessed or experienced inappropriate behaviour by other councillors. And as you outline in your statement, there is a risk that abuse becomes normalised and is seen as part of the job, which we must not allow to happen as it really puts people off standing for election and certainly has an impact on diversity in our councils. So, the question there, Minister, is: what further work do you think can be undertaken to ensure we see a reduction in this abhorrent behaviour?

And the final point to expand on, Minister, is in relation to the point you raised around the level of commitment that many of our councillors put in. Because, as you said, on the public survey, 63 per cent of councillors indicated that they were available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which is a great commitment and a reflection of the work put in by councillors, but I would perhaps argue is a difficult expectation to sustain. And this expectation makes it very difficult for councillors and prospective councillors to juggle family life, a career, and then also representing their community. I would argue that this is linked then to the number of uncontested seats, because, for a lot of people it's just not a reality that they can commit to. That's why I also think we see that demographic where nearly half of our councillors are over the age of 60 years old. So, I wonder, Minister, in light of this, whilst being proud of the work that our councillors put in, getting the balance right about the expectation of access to our elected officials, what work could be done, do you think, to ensure our younger people who want to become councillors or who are councillors would have a fair expectation of the time and energy they're able to put into this role? Thank you.