Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I start by thanking the legislation and justice committee for their input into this set of regulations? Just to answer a couple of the questions that were raised by Huw in his role as Chair, we were anxious to avoid any unnecessary challenge to the regulations, so the vires point has quite a lot of weight with us. And then in terms of the impact on enforcement and the...
Julie James: Indeed, absolutely. So, there will be an exceptions process. The exceptions process—. I have to correct my colleague Carolyn Thomas: the exceptions process is not in the gift of the Welsh Government. The exceptions process has been developed by a group working with us and our local authorities to work out the most efficient way of doing the exceptions process, to take into account what is...
Julie James: No, because the evidence is, Sam, that for the average journey in Wales, the amount of time it'll take you extra is one minute to save all those lives. It's worth it, isn't it? That's the bottom line. People slow down; you've seen them yourselves. They overtake three cars on a country road and then you end up behind them at the traffic lights. It's really dangerous; they can't see around the...
Julie James: Of course there are areas that will save many, many lives, but you know as well as I do that if there's a road traffic accident close to a trauma centre, the hours of waiting go up for the A&E patients as those trauma casualties come in from road traffic accidents. So, that is not—. That's a completely wrong base on which to base it. This saves lives. This saves NHS resources, of course it...
Julie James: No, I was merely pointing out that Wales went first, and then England followed.
Julie James: And I was making the point that this will be the case—
Julie James: No, I didn't. I said that Wales went first, and England followed.
Julie James: And England followed, and this will happen here. So, Llywydd, I absolutely recommend this motion to the Senedd, and I think it is something that will make the people of Wales safer and very proud of their communities. Diolch.
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion. The Plant Health etc. (Fees) (Amendment) (Wales) (EU Exit) (No.2) Regulations 2022 amend the Plant Health etc. (Fees) (Wales) Regulations 2018. The 2018 regulations specify fees payable to the Welsh Ministers in relation to plant health services and, in particular, certain fees payable to the Welsh Ministers in relation to checks of imports of plants and...
Julie James: Just very briefly, we thank the committee for its work. We didn't provide a response as the committee didn't require one, but just to say that Lesley Griffiths and myself have raised this same issue in many inter-ministerial meetings, and indeed, we've written about the working of the framework agreements along very similar lines. I commend the motion to the Senedd.
Julie James: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about the very important and topical issues of both water poverty and water quality. Our water sector is indeed facing an immediate and unprecedented challenge. Climate change means that over the next 20 years Wales faces wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, rising sea levels and more frequent and intense extreme...
Julie James: We’re committed to working with water companies to make water bills affordable for all, and helping households that genuinely struggle to pay for water services. Again, as Joel said, in 2021 the Consumer Council for Water published a review of the affordability and financial support available for water consumers in Wales and England, and I’m very grateful to them for undertaking the...
Julie James: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Well, 'follow that', as they say—I'm not even going to attempt it. I really enjoyed the contribution of Rhun ap Iorwerth, and I can assure you that we are very aware of the really important work that the vessel, Prince Madog, has done in conjunction with Bangor University. I've had the real privilege of speaking to some of the scientists who have been involved in...
Julie James: 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 able to enjoy our beautiful natural heritage, we need to accelerate the actions we are taking to halt the decline in biodiversity. Over...
Julie James: 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 extremely important that our targets meet those targets and exceed them. So, I’ve said all the way through, we absolutely intend to...
Julie James: Yes, thank you, Delyth. I couldn't agree more; we all, obviously, need to play our part. Declaring the emergency is one thing; actually taking the very, very difficult actions that are required to make it happen is quite another. I'm afraid I have to say all the time to the Conservatives opposite that it's all very well to say that you have signed up to these things, but then to oppose every...
Julie James: Yes, thank you, Mike. On the apex predator point, I completely agree with that. I don't know if Members have seen the film of Yellowstone park and the reintroduction of the wolves. If you haven't watched that, watch it—just Google, 'Yellowstone park reintroduction of wolves'. And that's all they did. They had real biodegradation, they had overgrazing by all sorts—they had all kinds of...
Julie James: And the wolves. It's really important to understand what the ecosystem you're looking at now looks like and what is currently controlling that. What is the substitute for the apex predator? It's more complicated, isn't it, than that, because there will be other methodologies. Things move into the space vacated by an apex predator, for example. But it's really interesting—watch the...
Julie James: Yes, thank you, Carolyn. So, we had the water companies very much involved in our deep-dive and in our wider round-table, and our stakeholders. I personally have met with Ofwat—I always get the Ofs mixed up; Ofwat in this case—to talk about the new pricing structure, because for Dŵr Cymru in particular, not so much for Hafren Dyfrdwy, it's a not for profit, so we need to get the...
Julie James: I have to say at this point, Huw, to you that there are some people who would say there were already wolves in Singleton park. [Laughter.]
