, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay. And then, obviously, we're particularly keen for Welsh interests to be represented in the development of the current draft joint fisheries management plans. How is that being—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
You mentioned you have officials contributing to that. How are Welsh stakeholders' voices reflected or gathered in terms of their involvement in this as well?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay, thank you. So, what's the Government doing to encourage and influence the development of operational agreements for fisheries policy management, specifically the power to determine fishing opportunities?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, how are you promoting this amongst the sector, then, and what are the barriers maybe that might be in the way of fishers taking up these opportunities?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes, no, I understand that fully. Okay, thank you, Chair. There we are, maybe I shouldn't have asked. Moving on to fisheries, Minister. Can you give us some more information on what you described as 'gradual but positive effect of additional quota' for Welsh…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Picking up on the UK Government's Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill that was in the King's Speech, what's the Welsh Government's view on that? Because, obviously, it is going to limit export for farmers in Wales and that'll mean more supply on the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Do you not look jealously at the situation in England, where the last quarterly figures show a 21 per cent drop, I think, in slaughter rates, which is 10 times higher than here in Wales?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Do you agree with Labour's shadow DEFRA Secretary, Steve Reed, when he said that culling badgers showed, and I quote: 'enough reason to see it was a way of "preventing transmission"'?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Okay. Thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes, that's the point I'm making. But you weren't able to give any commitments on money for next financial year in other spheres, because you don't know, you told us, what you're going to get.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
In this financial year.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
You told us earlier that there's no way that you could predict that you could have money for the next financial year. Now you're saying you've already allocated some.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Social value and land value are two different things, aren't they? So, where in the consultation—. So, will you be asking about land value, and the impacts—potential impacts—some positive, possibly, in some contexts, but certainly, in terms of tree cover…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
But you can't deny that land will be less valuable if it has trees on, than if it was pasture land that's used to graze cows for dairy farming. There are people out there who've actually done this assessment, in terms of valuing, potentially, what their land…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Sure. So, can I ask, then, because, obviously, those participating in the SFS will be paid for certain activities and delivering public goods—. Now, the whole income forgone principle is one that we're familiar with, but we have a situation where you may be…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
You must accept that not knowing the quantum of any funding associated with some of these activities does undermine slightly, doesn't it? And I know we don't live in an ideal world, and I get it, but it does devalue, slightly, this process. And I'm not…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, can you confirm that when you are in a position to articulate what the budget and the likely payment rates are, that there will be stakeholder consultation on those rates—that it's not just going to be a Government saying, 'This is what you get'?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
I'll pick up on SFS. I'm just wondering, moving on to SFS, then, when are we likely to know what the budget is for the SFS and what the payment rates are likely to be, because you've indicated that that won't be part of the consultation.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes. Thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, that's sort of direct support to farmers, is it?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Sorry, what does that mean?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
So, can you give us a sense, then, of what your budgetary priorities will be for next year? What are—in order, if you like, if you can—your priorities in terms of protecting those particular budgets? Because you could have—. In order to give the sector…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
—as somebody once said, and I think throwing it back at that is a little bit of an abdication of your own responsibility, because we are where we are, and it's incumbent on Government to manage that situation. Surely there was a way of being able to at least…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial Scrutiny: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
You know, we're out—
