Lesley Griffiths: I haven't said at all that there will be a badger cull. I mean, please, I have not said that. What I have said is that I want to see bespoke action plans. I think it's really important that we look at pilots from other countries, but I think it's really important that when we have those bespoke action plans, which I think are very needed, particularly with the chronic heard breakdowns,...
Lesley Griffiths: I actually prefer evidence-based approaches, which I think is the same as science. Of course we use science, but I think it’s really important that we do maintain that evidence-based approach. I think it’s really important we go out to consultation. I would urge Members to submit responses—anybody that’s affected by bovine TB. I’m expecting a significant number of responses to the...
Lesley Griffiths: I’ve read a great deal of different reports. I had a new report on my desk last week from somebody who’d undertaken a Nuffield scholarship. I’m constantly reading about it, and believe me, we do have a policy. I think I’ve outlined our policy. I’ve also mentioned about trade. It’s not just Wales that has bovine TB. I think it’s really important that we understand that. Of...
Lesley Griffiths: I’m very happy, as always, to be scrutinised by the Member’s committee, and certainly, if you write in requesting that date, I’ll be very happy to come if I’m available. If not, as you say, we’ll look for another date. I know you have asked the chief veterinary officer to give evidence already, but of course I would be very happy to come to be scrutinised. Is the evidence changing?...
Lesley Griffiths: I thank the Member for his very positive comments. Absolutely, it’s really important, if we have that evidence-based approach, that we listen to, as you say, not just ecologists, not just scientists, but absolutely everybody who has those good ideas. As my colleague, Ken Skates, said before, I’m not the keeper of the only good ideas. No one person can eradicate TB on their own. It’s...
Lesley Griffiths: I thank Dafydd Elis-Thomas for, again, his positive comments and questions. Yes, I’m very happy to look at the border. As I said, we need to look at the governance, if we’re changing the regions from what we have now—for a variety of reasons, I think, we need to do that. I think, on the issue you raised about the evidence and the science that we get in, along with the responses to the...
Lesley Griffiths: Diolch, Lywydd. I’m really pleased that Plaid Cymru have brought forward this debate on climate change today, especially in the run-up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP22, in Marrakesh, where I will be attending to participate in discussions on this global challenge. As we’ve heard, last year, my colleague Carl Sargeant, in his role as Minister for Natural...
Lesley Griffiths: Diolch, Lywydd. I very much welcome this debate on the state of nature report and I’m happy to support the motion. I do recognise the important work done by the state of nature partnership and thank them for producing this very important report. I also appreciate the vital and important work undertaken by volunteers in Wales, whose efforts in monitoring and recording species and habitats...
Lesley Griffiths: Yes.
Lesley Griffiths: I’m unable to attend, but I will certainly have a senior official going in my place. As referred to by Simon Thomas in his opening remarks, we now have in place a legislative framework that addresses these issues. Our groundbreaking Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 mean we have the strongest foundation within the UK, and we are acknowledged...
Lesley Griffiths: Yes.
Lesley Griffiths: Yes, we are talking about ecosystems. So, to embed this, the Act sets out an interconnected delivery framework. I launched the first of these, the state of natural resources report, produced by Natural Resources Wales, last month. It forms a national evidence base, identifying the pressures and opportunities for the sustainable management of our natural resources. I will shortly be consulting...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Wales’s food and drink industry is a successful, growing, thriving industry, taking Wales forward. It is contributing to creating a prosperous economy and a secure society. My oral statement in June updated Members about Welsh Government’s action plan ‘Towards Sustainable Growth’, on which we’re making excellent progress. The industry’s sales...
Lesley Griffiths: I thank Paul Davies for his list of comments and questions. I think that is really important, that very ambitious target of growing the food and drink sector by 30 per cent by 2020, i.e. £7 billion. We're already at £6.1 billion, and we’re only nearly at the end of 2016. So, that's why I say I think we've got a really good news story to tell. I'm finding it really easy to sell Welsh food...
Lesley Griffiths: Diolch, Simon Thomas. You asked a significant number of questions there, which I will attempt to answer, but I’ll start by wishing your son well in his chosen career. You’re right about post Brexit, and I tried to say in my answers to Paul Davies that whilst, of course, we’re looking for new markets, these do take a long time to get in place. As I say, I’ve seen it with trying to get...
Lesley Griffiths: Jenny Rathbone raises a very important issue, which you will appreciate doesn’t fall wholly within my portfolio. I mentioned in a previous answer that I’m due to have a meeting with my colleague Kirsty Williams, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, around issues to do with raising the information around food for our children and young people—where it comes from, et cetera. This will...
Lesley Griffiths: I thank Eluned Morgan for those comments and questions. I think you’re right about more bureaucracy, and I think the penny is starting to drop now with many of the food producers and farmers that I’ve had discussions with. Again, Members will have heard me say that, over the summer, I asked people why they voted to come out of the European Union and bureaucracy was often given to me as an...
Lesley Griffiths: You’re quite right; I wouldn’t even want to begin to list all the food businesses that we have in Wales. As I mentioned, the reason for having that £2.8 million pot of money mainly targeting SMEs was because there are so many SMEs that are part of the food and drink sector. I think the issue you raise about infrastructure—. I didn’t answer Simon Thomas’s question now regarding...
Lesley Griffiths: Yes, I’ve visited Castell Howell Foods and had that very conversation with the owners. I think you’re right; we need to ensure that we absolutely maximise the procurement sector here in Wales. We need to look at our hospitals and our schools. I remember when I was health Minister undertaking some work in relation to lamb, and we couldn’t procure Welsh lamb because we had to have the...
Lesley Griffiths: Formally move.
