, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay. Many people say that not being in the EU has cost us £1 billion a year, but, looking at the bald statistics prepared by our research staff, actually, the export values to EU countries last year was broadly the same as the previous year, whilst…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
—what are the other key issues for improving the flow of Wales-EU trade?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay. So, in terms of the incoming Government and the review of the UK-EU trade and co-operation agreement, which you've mentioned in your written evidence, and particularly you mentioned the need for a veterinary agreement with the EU—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay, fine.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay. So, your trade policy advisory group, we note, has been looking to draft a paper on its approach-to-trade policy, going forward. Is it possible for us to see that in due course, because, obviously, we want to be able to scrutinise it in relation to the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Don't worry. I think a lot of these trade agreements have been made in quite a hurry post Brexit to enable the UK Government to show that something was happening, and some of them caused a huge amount of disquiet in this country, particularly the ones with…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
But, with the long list of other things that are in play, you've rather separated out Canada and Mexico, and I just wondered why they're on hold, regardless of the general election.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Thank you. I wanted to move on to EU and non-EU trade. You say that negotiations are currently on pause with Canada and Mexico. Is there are particular reason for that? I know they're all on pause at the moment because of the general election—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay, we'll come back to that.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Yes, very briefly. I'm less concerned about carrots and more concerned about products that we import from southern Europe, where, because of the drought and the climate emergency, it's likely that we're not going to be able to source those sorts of seasonal…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay. Can I just go back to carrots?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I'll probably contain my enthusiasm for this particular field of discussion, and just go back to how you're approaching the offshore wind market, in particular the negotiations or discussions you may have had with the Crown Estate. Because initially we were…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Yes, I have shares in Siemens and Awel Aman Tawe, and my partner's an advisor to Bute Energy.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
I nominate Sam Kurtz.
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: Investment in the education and training of healthcare professionals 2024-25
I just wanted to pick up on what you said earlier about how it costs the same to train somebody for a part-time post as for a full-time one. It's an important point, but it's also important that the work that we ask people to do isn't so intense that people…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: The Welsh food system—Producing food sustainably
Lastly, what action is being taken on eliminating ultra-processed food from recipes in this collaboration with food innovation centres, given that it's absolutely not sustainable from the health point of view to continue to allow these chemicals? And how will…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: The Welsh food system—Producing food sustainably
I don't disagree with anything that Llyr said at all, so I'll try not to repeat. I think ‘producing food sustainably’ is your title, and that wasn't quite what was in the statement, so somebody needs to change the titles. Puffin Produce has been very…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Today, we should celebrate the achievements of Douglas Gowan, following his observations of birth defects in cattle as part of his work for the National Farmers Union back in 1967. We now know that pollution was coming from the Brofiscin and Miskin quarries…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
It certainly slows down the process when people are having to have it explained what is involved in a legal process. As it points out, this really does get in the way of people's right to justice, because how is it possible that women involved in a contested…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of legal aid cuts, as highlighted in the report of the Commission on Justice in Wales? OQ61275
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government international relations: Scrutiny session with the First Minister of Wales
No, of course not.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government international relations: Scrutiny session with the First Minister of Wales
So, the question is: how do you ensure that the international strategy, how do you evaluate it to see what impact it's having and that it remains relevant given the pace of change?
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government international relations: Scrutiny session with the First Minister of Wales
I just wanted to—. I want to work out how all this international activity, which is quite rightly going on in most relevant Government departments, as well as the work that committees do in getting evidence of best practice elsewhere—. The Equality and Social…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government international relations: Scrutiny session with the First Minister of Wales
No, that's fine.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government international relations: Scrutiny session with the First Minister of Wales
Okay. Well, Wales has relations with Dubai and Doha. That's in your infographic, so is that not a conversation that could be had? These are both countries that are not short of capital, but we may be able to make other contributions, and it's about how we can…
