, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Well, I'm sure everyone would share that ambition, but, of course, as I've warned from the very outset with these regulations, farming to the calendar doesn't make sense. You don't need to look at the calendar; you need to look out of the window to see if the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
After everything we've heard over recent weeks about problems in emptying slurry stores and the appalling wet weather that we've experienced, do you still believe that farming according to the calendar works?
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
I attended the very first meeting of that public consultation on Monday night, but I was rather concerned, actually, because there were voices there from elected county councillors, and also town and community councillors, who didn’t really feel that they’d…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
May I ask for a statement from the Government, just so that the Government can explain whether you believe that it's fair that councils in Wales are paying significant fees to the Crown Estate in order to access beaches, sites and facilities within their own…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (vi) and (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting
Therefore, we'll move on to private session. So, in accordance with Standing Order 17.42(vi) and (ix), I propose that the committee will meet in private for the rest of the meeting. Are Members content? Thank you, you're content. We'll wait a second before…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Papers to note
The next item on our agenda is papers to note. There are several papers in the pack, as you can see. We're still catching up with correspondence from the summer, so if you're happy to note them together, then we'll do that. Yes, you are; there we are. Thank…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
There we are. Okay. Thank you. Can I thank both of you for coming before our committee this morning, or this afternoon by now? You will receive a draft copy of the transcript, just to check that it reflects what you've said today and that it's accurate, but…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Okay. Thank you. Finally from me, unless somebody else wants to come in, we, as a committee, have regularly expressed our concerns to Government about the somewhat unsustainable trajectory that NRW finds itself facing in terms of additional responsibilities…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Okay. And what about staff well-being, then? Because clearly, it's quite a challenge; it's a very challenging time for staff who are potentially at risk of redundancy, without knowing whether there might be opportunities for them afterwards. What work is…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Sorry, Siân, you wanted to come in.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
The danger is that you end up doing this in silos and not across the whole organisation.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
And do they come together at some point, as a corporate?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Okay. Has there been any sort of impact assessment work done on how the changes might affect your work and some of the aspects that we've discussed already in terms of delivering your remit?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
And can I ask to what extent is the Welsh Government involved in this strategic forward planning, or is it just left to the board?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Okay. So, do you recognise a situation where—? I've had people working with Natural Resources Wales contacting me, saying that departments are contacting each other, asking, 'Do you know what's going to happen? Do you know where we're going to sit, if there's…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Okay. Moving on, therefore, to the staff changes and restructuring that are happening currently. Clearly, I want to talk about the big picture, the vision. You're changing, perhaps, from one way of doing things to another, with different focuses on different…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Yes, okay. It has been raised by certain people, but there we are. I'll contact you again about that.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Because, very often, the pollution incident can be very short term, can't it? If you think of air pollution, within a few hours it may well have gone, and then you turn up and there's nothing to see. So, I think it's challenging, isn't it, to decide where you…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Sorry, we're getting feedback from somebody when we speak in this committee room. There we are. That's better. Okay, Siân, you said that very often, when you receive a report, it's too late because the incident has happened, but of course very often it's not…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Just on—. Sorry, Nadia, yes, if you want to come in.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Joyce.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Thank you. We'll move on now to Carolyn.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
If I could just interject somewhat here, we've heard previously from your chair and chief exec that the approach sometimes is not to hammer those who transgress financially, but to maybe work with them so that that resource can be used more positively to fix…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of Natural Resources on topical issues
Thank you. Diolch yn fawr. Janet.
