, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
The differential remains—. Well, it's a best guess, isn't it? But the differential remains similar.
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
The whole cost of it accelerates.
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I'll certainly try, Chair, and then Louise can correct me if I garble it. I'll give it a shot. Basically, the way that we do RIA costs are estimated in a real base-year price. So, that means the effects of general price inflation are removed from the…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, there was quite a swift payback period, really, in the first place, but I have absolutely no idea what the effect of the current inflationary pressures are on that, as I said. I don't know whether Gian Marco or Louise do, but I'm very hesitant to—
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I think in the current climate it would be really difficult to make that calculation, to be honest, because when we started this Bill we were still in an era of zero inflation and steady interest rates. So, I think the calculation has got a lot more complex…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, we've used [correction: we've not used] a population basis to try and extrapolate the figures from the UK-wide data.
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I honestly don't know the answer to that, Mike. I don't know whether Louise knows it.
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
We recognise the main interest of the Senedd is obviously the impact of the proposed legislation in Wales, and we always seek, where the data permits us to, to identify the costs and benefits as they apply in Wales specifically. But, it is correct for an RIA…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Mike, I'm told by the officials that we are asking contractors to do the modelling for us to update the model in the light of the current price increases. So, thank you for that, Louise.
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I'm not sure we are intending to update it, Mike. I'll just check with my officials. None of them are nodding happily at you, so I don't think we are. All it does is it makes the cost-benefit analysis for the Bill better, doesn't it, because the benefits…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
No, it was an estimate made at the time that we did the research, so that was back in 2019-20, so those items are even more expensive to make, actually, so I would have thought there would be a real business benefit in swapping to things like bamboo and…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, absolutely. So, there is a financial benefit to protecting the environment, isn't there, because what we get from the environment are a lot of ecosystem services that are damaged by pollutants in our rivers and so on. So, there certainly is a cost to…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Mike, I think you were aware that in Swansea we had one of our amnesties for fishing nets and so on. I think you went down to visit it, didn't you? We're very keen to make sure that that kind of plastic, which we know is a real problem for marine life, is…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I don't know the answer to that, Mike. Let me just see if one of my officials does. I think it's fishing in general. I don't know if we split it out into fly fishing or ocean fishing, do we? Gian Marco or Louise, do you know the answer?
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, that's right; it is covered. We've covered the initial one-off cost to local authorities for the set-up costs and the admin costs, and then the ongoing enforcement. We don't think there'll be a lot of ongoing enforcement; there'll be more education and…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, a very good point. So, we've considered this, of course, and we will be covering off in guidance to our trading standards colleagues what is considered to be a workaround that should be firmly stamped on and what we think is a genuine and reusable…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
I'm going to ask Gian Marco to describe that, Peter, because that's a—how do I put it—a term of art that I'd much rather the official who's got it at its fingertips undertakes, so I don't know, Gian Marco, if it's you or Louise, but—[Inaudible.]
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
So, on that, Peter, the oxo-degradable aspect of that is included in the Bill, but that's why we're delaying the implementation of that while we consider whether there should be agricultural exemptions and whether the products involved in them—silage wraps in…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
So, Peter, that's a very good example, because, actually, there are a large number of products of reusable cups, which have marketing slogans on them, and which are easily carried about with you, collapsible and all sorts of stuff, that satisfy the health and…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, thank you very much, Peter. The initial model, as you rightly say, was based on nine products, and we're seeking to obtain further market data and wider evidence gathering through targeted engagement and desk-based research, and we've used all of that to…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, so we are continuing to conduct research on a range of products, both the products involved in the initial ban, the oxo-degradable products, on which, as you know, we're going to be bringing in the ban later on in the Senedd's term, with it already on…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes. So, the RIA notes that a market-mapping exercise was undertaken as part of the initial research when we first started this work, to understand the scale and scope of current businesses and industries that might be operating in Wales that are impacted by…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
Yes, thank you, Jayne. Enforcement costs are estimated at around £100,000 a year falling to local authorities, which will be incurred every year from year 2, and they are included in the £1 million under the administration costs summary in table A. There is…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
We don't, because we're using our experience from the plastic bag charge. What we're looking for here is a social attitude change. Very rapidly, people got used to carrying a bag around with them, and didn't incur the additional charge of the single-use…
, Finance Committee
Financial implications of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill
We haven't got a mitigation package in this Bill, but obviously, the Welsh Government continues to support SMEs with £160 million targeted non-domestic rates support, for example, in the recovery from the pandemic. The UK Government, of course, has far more…
