English: Yes, thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Hefin David's opening reminded me of the remarks said of A. J. Cook, the trade unionist - that he didn't know what he was going to say until he started to say it; he didn't know what he was saying while he was saying it, and he couldn't remember what he said after he finished saying it. I'll go in the spirit that he has implored me to, and it's possibly one those debates for other Members to intervene on the Minister responding, so I'd be happy to take interventions from the few remaining Members, should they want to intervene. I appreciate the spirit in which he's offered this subject up for discussion, because I think it is a ripe time to discuss it. And as it happens, I have invited the Bevan Foundation to attend the next meeting of the Valleys taskforce to debate this very paper. Because, like him, I read it and was engaged and convinced instinctively by much of it, and sceptical about other bits of it, and I really want them to come in, go through it and discuss it. I've also, by the way, issued a standing invitation for them to attend all future meetings of the taskforce, but explicitly with a mandate to challenge. I don't want to bind them into the taskforce and they're reluctant to do so, but there's a standing agenda item for them to come in and have a pop if they want to, because I think, just like Alun Davies before me in leading this, and Hefin David in the spirit of his remarks, we don't have a template here, exactly. We're trying to find a way against a tide that is pushing towns in a particular way, that's denuded them of much of their economic purpose. And even though, as Hefin said, people love their towns, sadly people are using them less and less, and that's the paradox of towns and the role we find, I think, as politicians in wanting them to thrive and doing a bagful of stuff to make them thrive. The only bit of the civil service briefing note I shall use is just to very briefly touch on four things that we are doing to help towns. We've got a £100 million targeted regeneration programme. We've got a £54 million building for the future fund for the acquisition and redevelopment of unused buildings. We've got a £31.5 million town centre loan scheme, and we're spending £23.5 million on business rates relief. So, we are doing a lot. I guess the challenge could be is whether that is sufficiently focused, and are we clear what the vision is. This is often true of local authorities. Certainly, my own in Carmarthenshire has been very good at renovating old buildings, but it's not clear to me what the town centre strategy and plan is, and that's a point that the Federation of Small Businesses have made in their work. So, I don't think we all have a clear answer about this yet, but the challenge is a correct one, and I want to continue in the spirit of dialogue in shaping the Government's approach to try and get that as right as we can. I think he slightly overplayed, if he doesn't mind me saying so, the differences between myself and Alun Davies on the role of the strategic hubs, and whether the previous conception is different to the current one and how does that fit with the Bevan Foundation's. I think there is some truth in it, in that in the original iteration the strategic hubs were a funding vehicle and they're no longer a funding vehicle, but they're still a very important part of the work of the taskforce and the work of Government, because they give a spatial focus to our work.
Welsh: Ie, diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Roedd agoriad Hefin David yn fy atgoffa o'r sylwadau a wnaed am A. J. Cook, yr undebwr llafur - nad oedd yn gwybod beth y byddai'n ei ddweud hyd nes y byddai'n dechrau ei ddweud; ni wyddai beth a ddywedai tra roedd yn ei ddweud, ac ni allai gofio'r hyn a ddywedodd ar ôl iddo orffen ei ddweud. Fe af yn yr ysbryd y mae wedi ei gofyn i mi wneud, ac mae'n bosibl fod hon yn un o'r dadleuon hynny i Aelodau eraill ymyrryd ar y Gweinidog sy'n ymateb, felly rwy'n hapus i dderbyn ymyriadau gan yr ychydig Aelodau sy'n weddill, os ydynt am ymyrryd. Rwy'n gwerthfawrogi'r ysbryd y mae wedi cynnig y pwnc hwn i'w drafod, oherwydd rwy'n credu ei bod yn hen bryd ei drafod. Ac fel mae'n digwydd, rwyf wedi gwahodd Sefydliad Bevan i fynychu cyfarfod nesaf tasglu'r Cymoedd i drafod yr union bapur hwn. Oherwydd, fel yntau, fe'i darllenais ac roedd yn ddiddorol ac roedd llawer ohono'n fy argyhoeddi'n reddfol, er fy mod yn amheus ynghylch rhannau eraill ohono, ac rwy'n awyddus iawn iddynt ddod i mewn, a mynd drwyddo a'i drafod. Rwyf hefyd, gyda llaw, wedi cyhoeddi gwahoddiad parhaol iddynt fynychu holl gyfarfodydd y tasglu yn y dyfodol, ond yn benodol gyda mandad i herio. Nid wyf am eu rhwymo i'r tasglu ac maent yn gyndyn o wneud hynny, ond mae yna eitem sefydlog ar yr agenda iddynt ddod i mewn a chyfrannu os dymunant wneud hynny, oherwydd yn union fel Alun Davies a arweiniai ar hyn yn flaenorol, a Hefin David yn ysbryd ei sylwadau, nid wyf yn credu bod gennym dempled yma, yn hollol. Rydym yn ceisio dod o hyd i ffordd yn erbyn llanw sy'n gwthio trefi i gyfeiriad penodol, llanw sydd wedi eu hamddifadu o lawer o'u diben economaidd. Ac fel y dywedodd Hefin, er bod pobl yn caru eu trefi, yn anffodus mae pobl yn defnyddio llai a llai arnynt, a dyna baradocs trefi a'r rôl a gawn fel gwleidyddion, rwy'n meddwl, o fod eisiau iddynt ffynnu a gwneud llwyth o bethau i wneud iddynt ffynnu. Yr unig ran o nodyn briffio'r gwasanaeth sifil a ddefnyddiaf yw sôn yn fyr iawn am bedwar peth rydym yn eu gwneud i helpu trefi. Mae gennym raglen adfywio £100 miliwn wedi'i thargedu. Mae gennym gronfa adeiladu ar gyfer y dyfodol o £54 miliwn ar gyfer caffael ac ailddatblygu adeiladau segur. Mae gennym gynllun benthyca gwerth £31.5 miliwn ar gyfer canol trefi, ac rydym yn gwario £23.5 miliwn ar ryddhad ardrethi busnes. Felly, rydym yn gwneud llawer. Tybiaf mai'r her o bosibl yw gweld a oes digon o ffocws i hynny, ac a ydym yn glir ynglŷn â beth yw'r weledigaeth. Mae hyn yn aml yn wir am awdurdodau lleol. Yn sicr, mae fy un i yn Sir Gaerfyrddin wedi bod yn dda iawn am adnewyddu hen adeiladau, ond nid yw'n glir i mi beth yw'r strategaeth a'r cynllun ar gyfer canol y dref, ac mae hwnnw'n bwynt y mae'r Ffederasiwn Busnesau Bach wedi'i wneud yn eu gwaith. Felly, nid wyf yn credu bod gennym ni i gyd ateb clir ar gyfer hyn eto, ond mae'r her yn un gywir, ac rwyf am barhau i drafod sut i siapio dull y Llywodraeth o fynd ati er mwyn ceisio gwneud hynny mor gywir ag y gallwn. Os nad oes ots ganddo i mi ddweud hynny, credaf ei fod yn gor-ddweud y gwahaniaethau rhyngof ac Alun Davies i raddau ar rôl yr hybiau strategol, a pha un a yw'r cysyniad blaenorol yn wahanol i'r un presennol a sut y mae hynny'n cyd-fynd â chysyniad Sefydliad Bevan. Credaf fod rhywfaint o wirionedd yn hynny, yn yr ystyr mai cyfrwng ariannu oedd yr hybiau strategol yn y fersiwn wreiddiol ac nad ydynt yn gyfrwng ariannu bellach, ond maent yn dal i fod yn rhan bwysig iawn o waith y tasglu a gwaith y Llywodraeth am eu bod yn rhoi ffocws gofodol i'n gwaith.