The Welsh Parliament is starting to develop a normal rhythm. Tuesday is predominantly for scrutiny of Welsh Ministers via statements and questions. Wednesday is predominantly for debates initiated by Members – some of which are more controversial than others. Mondays and Thursdays are given to committee work. This is where the detailed work on scrutinising and improving any proposed legislation will be done. Friday is exclusively for MSs to work and meet people in their constituencies.

Now to constituency matters. You may have heard that the Plaid Government has ruled out building the M4 Relief Road. This is the wrong decision – I see no other solution that will bring the economic benefits desperately required for south Wales. Witness the business developments on the M4 between Bristol and Swindon, and the M5 between Cheltenham and Exeter. Compare those with the M4 corridor in Wales. Very little has been constructed this side of the bridge since devolution.

I had a very useful meeting with Welsh Water. River and seawater quality is a major public concern, but few people are aware of how the ‘combined sewer’ system covers most of Wales. Our foul household water is simply put into the same pipe as surface water from our gutters and roads. In very heavy rain, the system can’t cope and it is designed to overflow into rivers or the sea. If it didn’t, sewerage would come up into many houses and streets. To solve this problem would cost over £10,000 per household because it involves digging up the vast majority of roads across Wales. This would still not eliminate the problem of dirty water from roads going into rivers. In my opinion, no water company is going to be able to fund that sort of infrastructure change. So it will be for politicians to decide whether to spend hundreds of billions of pounds of public money to build a completely new sewer system.

I’ll finish on a very different topic – that of tick bites. I’ve received a request for help to highlight the growing problem of tick bites which can transmit disease. I can’t go into the details here, but warmer weather and longer grass provide a good habitat for ticks, so the advice is to wear long trousers if you or your children will be in areas of long grass, plus be aware of the appearance of a tick and its bite. Seek medical advice if you suspect a bite. This actually raises a political point – some councils have stopped cutting the grass surrounding children’s play areas for biodiversity reasons and I have received reports of ticks thriving in those locations. Those grassed areas need cutting.