English: I will be supporting the motion before us today on community transport, which has been tabled by individual Members, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak to it. I don't intend to rehearse the entire motion, but I do want to emphasise the opening point: 'that the National Assembly for Wales '1. Notes that community transport services play a vital role in our communities, providing transport for people who face barriers to accessing public and private transport, supporting people to live independently and access vital services, while also mitigating issues around loneliness and isolation.' Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is a rural community and encompasses a population that has areas of significant deprivation and a population that is significantly older than the Welsh average. Without community transport, so many of my constituents would struggle to access medical appointments, struggle to get their shopping done and struggle to engage with friends and family. I absolutely recognise the innovative and collaborative thinking that my local community transport providers offer, and I would ask that the Welsh Government recognise the vital role that they play. I have three key areas I want to highlight today. Firstly, that value to our communities. There is a recognition that loneliness and isolation is not only a great social ill, but also on the increase. Communities are more fractured, families more disparate, and people, older people in particular, can be left behind. We have those who have never had strong support networks and those whose networks have dissolved with the passage of time. For many of these people, the lifeline that is community transport really is their only point of contact with the world and is their only enabler. For example, in Pembrokeshire, Country Cars runs a service that not only relies on the use of volunteers' cars, but also has funded and run successful vehicles able to take a wheelchair user and their partner or carer, like the terminally ill gentleman whose bucket list consisted of desperately wanting to see his grandson play cricket - just down the road, but he had no other way to get there; or the isolated, severely disabled young man who was able to borrow one of the accessible cars for the weekend and went, with his two carers, to Swansea to see a favourite band and have the chance to be like young people throughout the country. Another outstanding initiative funded by the National Lottery is Bus Buddies, a system where people are able to not only call a bus to their door to facilitate their ability to get out and about, but can have someone with them. But, of course, the sad reality is that for a substantial number of people, the driver who drops them off on a Friday will be the last person they see until that driver reappears the following Tuesday. Nobody - absolutely nobody - knocks on a great many doors, which is a sad indictment of our society, and why we should be so very grateful to the volunteers of organisations such as Bus Buddies or the Bloomfield centre dial-a-ride, or County Cars. The second area I would like to highlight are the reasons as to why we've become so very reliant on this band of voluntary organisations, and the enormous pressures they find themselves under. Cabinet Secretary, there are three principal strategic documents that the Welsh Government have used to set out transport and community policies: 'Prosperity for All', the new economic action plan and the Welsh Government budget. And, to be frank, Cabinet Secretary, I find them to be incoherent, uncoordinated, and divorced from the front-line, day-to-day reality we see on the ground. In the first of these, the budget document, Welsh Labour has initiated over £100 million-worth of cuts. Welsh Labour have comprehensively failed to build a comprehensive public transport system. Congestion on our roads is crippling our economy. The rail network is staggering under 15 years of Welsh Labour mismanagement of the rail franchise, and bus services have been completely decimated over the past decade. Cumulatively, these policy and delivery failings have created horrendous and unfair pressure on community-based transport services. Community transport has also had to step up to the plate because the number of registered bus services operating in Wales has decreased dramatically in recent years. A total of 53 bus services were reduced, altered or withdrawn in 2015-16 alone. We're all concerned about the potential impacts the Department of Transport outcomes might have on the consultation, which is why, Cabinet Secretary, I'll be interested to hear what contingency plans you might have to mitigate any impact on transport provision through minibus services. My final and very quick area of concern, Deputy Presiding Officer, is the sustainability of these worthwhile services, given that there's a diminishing pool of volunteers and an ever-increasing demand for services. People are working later in life, they have more pulls on their time, and yet there's an increasing demand for community transport services because of the failures of Welsh Government. And I would be interested to know, Cabinet Secretary, how you intend to address those failures.
Welsh: Byddaf yn cefnogi'r cynnig ger ein bron heddiw ar drafnidiaeth gymunedol, cynnig a gyflwynwyd gan Aelodau unigol, ac rwy'n ddiolchgar iawn am y cyfle i siarad amdano. Nid wyf yn bwriadu ailadrodd y cynnig cyfan, ond rwyf am bwysleisio'r pwynt agoriadol: 'bod Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru '1. Yn nodi bod gwasanaethau trafnidiaeth gymunedol yn chwarae rhan hanfodol yn ein cymunedau, yn darparu trafnidiaeth ar gyfer pobl sy'n wynebu rhwystrau rhag defnyddio trafnidiaeth gyhoeddus a phreifat, yn cefnogi pobl i fyw'n annibynnol a chael mynediad at wasanaethau hanfodol, gan hefyd liniaru materion yn ymwneud ag unigrwydd ac arwahanrwydd.' Mae Gorllewin Caerfyrddin a De Sir Benfro yn gymuned wledig ac yn cwmpasu poblogaeth sydd ag ardaloedd o amddifadedd sylweddol a phoblogaeth sydd gryn dipyn yn hŷn na chyfartaledd Cymru. Heb drafnidiaeth gymunedol, byddai cymaint o fy etholwyr yn cael trafferth i gyrraedd apwyntiadau meddygol, yn brwydro i wneud eu siopa ac yn cael trafferth ymgysylltu â ffrindiau a theulu. Rwy'n cydnabod yn llwyr y meddwl arloesol a chydweithredol y mae fy narparwyr trafnidiaeth gymunedol lleol yn ei gynnig, a buaswn yn gofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru gydnabod y rôl hanfodol y maent yn ei chwarae. Mae gennyf dri maes allweddol rwyf am dynnu sylw atynt heddiw. Yn gyntaf, y gwerth i'n cymunedau. Ceir cydnabyddiaeth fod unigrwydd ac arwahanrwydd nid yn unig yn ddrwg cymdeithasol, ond eu bod hefyd ar gynnydd. Mae cymunedau'n fwy toredig, teuluoedd yn fwy gwasgaredig, a phobl, pobl hŷn yn enwedig, yn gallu cael eu gadael ar ôl. Mae gennym rai nad ydynt erioed wedi cael rhwydweithiau cymorth cryf a rhai y mae eu rhwydweithiau wedi diflannu gyda threigl amser. I lawer o'r bobl hyn, achubiaeth trafnidiaeth gymunedol mewn gwirionedd yw eu hunig bwynt cyswllt â'r byd a'u hunig alluogydd. Er enghraifft, yn Sir Benfro, mae Ceir Cefn Gwlad yn rhedeg gwasanaeth sydd nid yn unig yn dibynnu ar y defnydd o geir gwirfoddolwyr, ond mae hefyd wedi ariannu ac wedi rhedeg cerbydau llwyddiannus sy'n gallu cludo rhywun sy'n defnyddio cadair olwyn a'u partner neu ofalwr, fel y gŵr sy'n dioddef o salwch angheuol yr oedd ei restr o bethau i'w gwneud cyn marw yn cynnwys ei awydd taer i weld ei ŵyr yn chwarae criced - i lawr y lôn, dyna i gyd, ond nid oedd ganddo ffordd arall o gyrraedd yno; neu'r dyn ifanc ynysig ac anabl iawn a allodd fenthyg un o'r ceir hygyrch am y penwythnos ac a aeth, gyda'i ddau ofalwr, i Abertawe i weld un o'i hoff fandiau a chael cyfle i fod fel pobl ifanc ledled y wlad. Menter eithriadol arall a ariennir gan y Loteri Genedlaethol yw Bydis Bws, system lle y gall pobl ffonio am fws i ddod at eu drws er mwyn hwyluso eu gallu i symud o gwmpas, ond gallant gael rhywun gyda hwy. Ond wrth gwrs, y gwir trist i nifer sylweddol o bobl yw mai'r gyrrwr sy'n eu gadael ar ddydd Gwener fydd y person olaf a welant hyd nes y bydd y gyrrwr hwnnw'n ailymddangos y dydd Mawrth canlynol. Nid oes neb - neb o gwbl - yn curo ar lawer iawn o ddrysau, sy'n feirniadaeth ar ein cymdeithas, a pham y dylem fod mor ddiolchgar i wirfoddolwyr sefydliadau fel Bydis Bws neu gynllun deialu am reid canolfan Bloomfield, neu Ceir Cefn Gwlad. Yr ail faes yr hoffwn dynnu sylw ato yw'r rhesymau pam rydym wedi dod mor ddibynnol ar y band hwn o sefydliadau gwirfoddol, a'r pwysau enfawr sydd arnynt. Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, ceir tair prif ddogfen strategol a ddefnyddiwyd gan Lywodraeth Cymru i nodi polisïau trafnidiaeth a chymunedol: 'Ffyniant i Bawb', y cynllun gweithredu economaidd newydd a chyllideb Llywodraeth Cymru. Ac i fod yn onest, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, rwy'n eu cael yn aneglur, yn anghydlynus a heb gysylltiad â'r realiti rheng flaen a welwn o ddydd i ddydd ar lawr gwlad. Yn y gyntaf o'r rhain, dogfen y gyllideb, mae Llafur Cymru wedi cychwyn ar werth dros £100 miliwn o doriadau. Mae Llafur Cymru wedi methu'n llwyr ag adeiladu system drafnidiaeth gyhoeddus gynhwysfawr. Mae tagfeydd ar ein ffyrdd yn niweidio ein heconomi. Mae'r rhwydwaith rheilffyrdd yn gwegian o dan 15 mlynedd o gamreoli Llafur Cymru ar y fasnachfraint reilffyrdd, a chafodd gwasanaethau bws eu dinistrio'n llwyr dros y degawd diwethaf. Gyda'i gilydd, mae'r methiannau hyn o ran polisi a chyflawniad wedi creu pwysau ofnadwy ac annheg ar wasanaethau trafnidiaeth gymunedol. Mae trafnidiaeth gymunedol hefyd wedi gorfod camu i'r adwy oherwydd bod nifer y gwasanaethau bysiau cofrestredig sy'n gweithredu yng Nghymru wedi gostwng yn ddramatig yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Cafodd cyfanswm o 53 o wasanaethau bysiau eu lleihau, eu newid neu eu diddymu yn 2015-16 yn unig. Mae pawb ohonom yn pryderu am yr effeithiau posibl y gallai canlyniadau'r Adran Drafnidiaeth eu cael ar yr ymgynghoriad, a dyna pam, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, y bydd hi'n ddiddorol clywed pa gynlluniau wrth gefn a allai fod gennych i liniaru unrhyw effaith ar y ddarpariaeth drafnidiaeth drwy wasanaethau bws mini. Mae fy mhryder olaf, yn gyflym iawn, Ddirprwy Lywydd, yn ymwneud â chynaliadwyedd y gwasanaethau gwerth chweil hyn, o gofio bod y gronfa o wirfoddolwyr yn lleihau a'r galw am wasanaethau'n cynyddu. Mae pobl yn gweithio'n hwyrach yn eu bywydau, mae mwy o alwadau ar eu hamser, ac eto mae yna alw cynyddol am wasanaethau trafnidiaeth gymunedol oherwydd methiannau Llywodraeth Cymru. A byddai gennyf ddiddordeb mewn gwybod, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, sut y bwriadwch fynd i'r afael â'r methiannau hynny.