, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Biodiversity
Thank you, Janet. So, on the 30x30 and the targets put in law, I’ve said endlessly in this Chamber, and I’ll repeat it again: we expect COP15, which is now being held in December in Canada, and which I very much hope to attend, to set global targets. It’s…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Biodiversity
Diolch, Llywydd. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is a leading threat to humanity. The natural environment underpins our well-being and economic prosperity, yet our relationship with it is completely unsustainable. To ensure future generations are…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you, Huw. Diolch.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Indeed. That's why the amendments have become necessary, because in looking at the current wording, we were not happy that we were making that as clear as it ought to be—hence the amendment.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Yes. But if you're a consumer who went to Bristol and bought a bag of chips and they gave you a plastic fork with it, and you carried that home in your bag, you would not be committing an offence. I've looked at my lawyers for them to nod happily. Yes, that's…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Yes. So, Rhys, if you use the example—. This is the one I was talking through with officials. So, I think I've got a loophole in the law, so I drive to Bristol and I buy my packs of 50 forks and all the rest of it, and then I drive them back into Wales. The…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
We are, Rhys. The amendments that we're trailing already—which is an unusual situation; it's because we produced the draft Bill—are around the practical drafting effects of various language inside the Bill. I really am going to defer to Nick, I'm afraid, to…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
I think the committee's going to have to ask for evidence from the Counsel General as to the transformation of the policy, Huw. It's been my position all the way through that this is devolved to us, and that we should act. That's why it was in the manifesto…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Yes, I think it's fine. We take a very robust view that the internal market Act does not bite. So, having taken that view, it would be very odd to put it in our explanatory memorandum, wouldn't it? We just take the view that it's not relevant. It doesn't…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you, Peter. We will absolutely be co-producing this guidance with the WLGA, and we will be taking as much advice from the trading standards officers on the ground as we are from our other experts in terms of enforcement. We're also doing quite a bit of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, Alun, we take a slightly more robust view of that, basically. So, we're saying that neither UKIMA, as we do call it, or the exemption bite, because the Bill deals with non-reserved matters within the Senedd's competence, but we're clear and consistent…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, I'll defer to Nick in a moment on this, Alun, but, basically, what we're talking about here is making sure that we don't have supplies going on to the market in circumstances that would have a detrimental effect on the environment, obviously. This has a…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Well, quite. So, actually, trying to find out whether your teabag has plastic in it is actually quite problematic.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Yes, indeed. And, in fact, we were, as I'm sure that the committee is aware, very seriously considering adding wet wipes to the list of banned items, or wet wipes with plastic content. In fact, we have decided not to do that as a result of conversations with…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
No, no. And, in particular, we've worked very hard with the Welsh Local Government Association and our trading standards partners to make sure that their understanding of what is banned and our understanding of what is banned is the same; that we issue…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, absolutely, Alun.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you, Alun. So, it's not unusual for definitions or wording in a Bill such as this to be open to interpretation, in inverted commas, a little bit. Legislative drafting is, as you know, a trade-off between ease of understanding and absolute certainty. So…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Huw, let's see if Nick wants to come in and say anything more than I've said already.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
I wasn't at the Business Committee, Huw, as I'm sure you realise, so I'm not too sure myself, I'm sorry, about what quite was taken into account there. But we have consistently made the argument that the reason that we need to do this in this expedited way is…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
I've lost him. Have we only lost Huw, or have I lost everyone? Oh, no, other people are moving.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, we think it's very important that this is set out in primary legislation, and specifically, Rhys, we are very keen to be able to keep this up to date. So, in our consultation responses—and my officials will correct me if I get this wrong—around 60…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders through the development of the policies that fed into this Bill. This has been under discussion for some considerable time. We've also undertaken targeted engagement with key stakeholders, industry, retail…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
I'm not sure, to be honest—you'll have to ask the First Minister what the reasoning was for that. I'm very clear that the reason for the expedition here is that we do not want to fall behind the Scottish and English Governments, in particular. We certainly…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, on UKIMA, we think that UKIMA does not bite on this Bill. We think that the provisions of the Bill are entirely within the legislative competence of the Senedd. It's not our intention—. It's not for me to decide this as well, Rhys, I should say, but it's…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Diolch, Rhys. The focus of the Bill, as you know, is environmental protection, which is a long-term commitment to prohibit the supply of some of the most commonly littered single-use plastics in Wales. It's been drafted to deliver robustly and competently our…
