, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Yes. So, basically, there are differences, aren't there, for the way that Welsh communities work to the way that England works, and we don't think—. Sometimes, it's really great to be able to just mirror the provisions, and there's some merit in having a…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Yes, so this is very much part of the way that we work with our local authorities, Joyce. We very much work in partnership with the local authorities. We do actually have existing powers to direct local authorities to create a smoke control area, but I'd be…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Well, we're in the process of doing it. I guess we can report it when we've got some meaningful data coming out. So, I don't exactly know, but I'm sure we can write to the committee and say when we expect that to be available.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
No. So, we're currently working with a couple of local authorities to test out various approaches for how would this work, basically, practically. I'm all about making it practical and enforceable, really. So, what we're doing is we're testing out various…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
What we're going to have to try and do is, with the local air quality management support fund, get it to act rather better, really. We're going to have to fund some more data collection and air monitoring stations. As we've discussed often, what we've got at…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Yes, this is a very interesting question. It's part of the piece we were discussing earlier about the development plan cycle and the LDP cycle. They have a longer timescale than the proposed national air quality cycle, but we have a draft technical advice…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Yes. Very keen to have reporting arrangements in place, Cadeirydd, that give meaningful information to people about where we are and what the direction of travel is. We're very happy to have reporting arrangements in place that allow us to do that, and, as…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 2
Yes, thank you very much, Joyce. 'Absolutely' is the answer to that. Very much part of what we want to do is promote public awareness and public education, and a lot of this will not happen unless we get behaviour change. So, it's absolutely fundamental, as…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
But it doesn't give them a different right, Huw; it adds a duty to the list of things that the public would be able to challenge us for not having done. It doesn't give them a different challenge route, if that's what you're asking.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
No, it doesn't do anything one way or the other in my view. What do you think, Helen?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
There's nothing that weakens it. It doesn't give specific rights to citizens to bring a challenge—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
Do you want to go?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
Yes, so this places us under a duty to put in place a statutory target for the various things. Once the target's in place, it's a statutory target.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
What this Bill does is it puts the Welsh Ministers under a set of duties to do various things, and gives them a set of powers. So, the challenge would be by way of a judicial review to say that the Welsh Government had either not correctly performed its duty…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
—have any bite.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
What we have to make sure is that the regulations under which the prosecutions occur are fit for purpose and match the targets that we've got, so that the pollution incident is one that would register as an offence. So, that's what I mean about this Bill…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
—so that whole process has to be in place.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
Obviously, we're not seeking to dilute the tenets of the criminal law, so have to be able to collect the evidence to the correct level. You have to be able to conduct a criminal prosecution. People being prosecuted have the right to defend it and all the rest…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
I can provide the committee with a list of criminal prosecutions undertaken by NRW—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
It will take months, because it's a criminal prosecution—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
Yes, it's a criminal prosecution, Janet.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
So, there are three different bits of that, Janet. So, if the Government reports that we haven't met a target for that, then, obviously, all of the usual public challenges to a Government are open to the general public—so, by way of judicial review and…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
I'd be really happy if you did that.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
Sure. We do lots of things that influence it. What I can't do is say that any new development that's proposed for planning consent has to comply with the tenets of a Bill and its regulations that have yet to be passed. That's just not possible. So, we have…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill - evidence from the Minister for Climate Change: part 1
So, just on the last one, Joyce, I actually met the future generations commissioner yesterday morning and had a very good conversation about how the offices will link up with some of the work that we're doing. We certainly will be doing that. Obviously, we do…
