, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes. I've regularly said that we have to have a fairer fare regime in place, and, obviously, the Bill's going to be very important in franchising services, but it will I think also enable us to roll-out a fairer fare regime across Wales. In the meantime…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, absolutely—both. Both, you're totally right on. It's going to be quite exciting this year for buses with the bus Bill, and I'll have more to say about the purchase of new buses when I present the Bill to the Senedd. In regard to depots, where we can…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, and I’m going to say again that this is about clarifying and being more transparent with our budgets. Some elements of the funding previously supported through the bus capital budget have actually been moved to better reflect what their purpose is. For…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, we are going to be purchasing new buses. I think it’s around half of the £18.5 million that’s been allocated to fleet, depots and charging that will be spent on buses, but most of it is going to be for low-emissions vehicles for the TrawsCymru network…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, I absolutely do, Carolyn. If we're going to make bus transport a more desirable option for people, other than the private car, then we have to make sure that buses operate punctually, that they are very regular. And that can only be achieved in many…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
My priority is going to be to focus on passengers—so, focusing on additional resource for bus grants and concessionary fares to make sure that we prioritise, as I've already said, access to inclusive public transport. Focusing on providing sufficient funding…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes. I outlined right at the start of the session how, within the context of connecting communities, securing the bus network is one of the top priorities for the Welsh Government, and protecting the existing network as we move towards franchising is…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
I'll ask Peter to provide you with the challenges, but I think it's always going to be really difficult to confirm TfW's budget in advance of the publication of the Welsh Government's budget. It's always going to be difficult, without certainty. But, Peter…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
It's a really good question, because unless we get value for money being achieved then there is very little point in doing this, but my understanding is that that has been achieved, because essentially this approach has brought better working between teams…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, because that's the big capital project that we have responsibility for. Everywhere else on the network is the responsibility of, currently, Network Rail—soon to be GBR. So, it's the core Valleys lines that cause us most anxiety. But equally, it's going…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
To be brief, I think the main concern that I always have is with major infrastructure projects costing more than were budgeted for. The core Valleys lines enhancement programme is a massive programme, so the pressure that I’m most anxious about concerns that…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Absolutely. Thanks so much. I’m conscious that I could probably talk for hours on this subject. [Laughter.]
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Absolutely, yes. So, we've got—. There’s money that’s made available through the revenue support grant, but there’s also the local borrowing initiative, which will amount to £60 million. My understanding is that local authorities would like that to be…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
It will also lead to around 30,000 potholes being dealt with. The additional funding that we’re putting forward for the local borrowing initiative, which will enable £60 million to be borrowed, should then fix, if you extrapolate out the figures, around…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, thanks, Chair. And I’ll be as brief as I can, but I just want to touch on a few more points. The £25 million is a prevention fund for potholes. So, it will address 100 km of the strategic road network, but it will improve the entire service to prevent…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Absolutely. This relates again to our determination to be more transparent and clear with how we present the budget. So, last year, contractual commitments were blended with operational maintenance budgets, but this year we're taking the opportunity to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
I think I was the first Minister to attend that panel. It's an amazing panel, and I'm determined to have their work, their expertise, their lived experienced, incorporated more fully into the planning of not just active travel, but public transport as well.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
—and the barriers that they face? Is that okay?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Chair, if I may, could I offer an invitation to committee members to attend either the next or the subsequent meeting of the access and inclusion panel, so that they can hear first-hand the challenges—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes, I have—pretty extensive. As I said, I've met with the access and inclusion panel at TfW, which comprises some incredible individuals and organisations. I've met with the active travel board, I've met with local authorities, I've met with numerous…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
I think those concerns are unfounded, not least because we've recently implemented the biggest road safety initiative in 25 years with 20 mph, making roads safer, and that has made cycling safer, there's no doubt about it. And if you look at some of the data…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Okay. So, Janet raised, I think, a point earlier that is being debated and discussed quite widely, and, if I could just go to the core allocation in the active travel fund, that's an important mechanism to make sure that swift improvements for walking and…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Absolutely. Well, obviously, I meet my own duties as a Welsh Minister, and, for local authorities, it'll be built into the development, monitoring, reporting and evaluation approach for each of the regions that will be funded.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Thanks for that question. My officials have, indeed, responded to Audit Wales and their recommendations, and explained the concerns that need to be addressed, and they're going to be addressed as part of putting in place the new regional funding approach. So…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Absolutely. Your views are echoed by many people, Carolyn, and I'm very sympathetic to those views. Just to say that the Act itself is being reviewed, and so we will be looking at any shortcomings, any failures, with the Act, and we'll be seeking to address…
