Julie James: Absolutely, Huw. Yes, thank you very much for that. The event that I spoke at just before I went, where I still had a cold—some things are always with us—that was great, and I actually met with the RSPB while I was there, and sat in the very chairs that the piece was from on that night, to discuss with them a partnership across the whole of Great Britain for some of the habitats that we...
Julie James: Yes, thanks very much, Carolyn. This is something we've long been interested in and I absolutely acknowledge your interest in it as well. This will have to be part of the review, because absolutely beavers need, probably, to be introduced in some rivers. There will be others, though, where they don't need to be introduced, and we need to understand what the ecosystem looks like now. So, this...
Julie James: I am committed to improving biodiversity in Welsh rivers through tackling poor water quality. This includes reducing phosphate pollution and improving river habitats for migratory fish through the Rivers4Life project. Following the biodiversity deep-dive, I am also working with stakeholders to identify catchment-scale solutions to drive water quality improvements.
Julie James: I should also say, of course, I'm the native oyster champion, which requires good, clean water to be able to thrive as well. It's a very important question, Huw, and thank you for asking it. As you know, the better river quality taskforce has been established to evaluate the current approach to the management and regulation of overflows in Wales and to set out detailed plans to drive rapid...
Julie James: Yes, thank you. Obviously, we want to get to the point where we don't have untreated sewage going into the rivers. We need an enormous amount of investment not just at the site that you mentioned there, but in sites right across Wales. We're currently in the negotiations with Ofwat and with the UK Government about the price review for water companies in Wales, and, of course, throughout the...
Julie James: Yes, Delyth, I completely agree with you. Obviously, we have to do something very dramatic to help our pollinators, and actually all of our wildlife species. It's why we did the deep dive to find out exactly what the scientific community could help us with in terms of the plans. It's why we've been speaking to local authorities across Wales about the wildlife corridors, No Mow May—I would...
Julie James: Delyth, that's something very close to my heart, and I will say I'm one of them. I've done that myself; I've put my coat around my hair, put a hat on, and tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible, because I've been travelling alone at night on public transport and it hasn't felt safe. There are several things to say about that. First of all, I hosted a Women in Transport event just...
Julie James: Diolch, Peter. Rent Smart Wales has a key role in the sector, taking enforcement action on non-compliant landlords and providing training to ensure landlords are fully aware of their legal obligations. We are going to commission an evaluation of the delivery and impact of Rent Smart Wales later this year.
Julie James: Thank you, Peter. I'll just run through where we've been, because we absolutely acknowledge that we've had difficulty with keeping the staffing at the level we'd like it to have been all the way through, as a result of the pandemic and a number of other economic issues. Back in August 2022, Rent Smart Wales did take the decision to close the telephone lines to incoming calls, due to a severe...
Julie James: Thank you, Darren Millar. I am committed to addressing the impacts of climate change in every part of Wales. As evidenced in our climate adaptation progress report, which we published in December, across the Welsh Government we continue to develop evidence and policy to address the emerging risks to our health, communities, infrastructure and natural environment.
Julie James: Thank you, Darren. This is an ongoing situation and, as we adapt to the changing climate, we're going to have to address it more and more. We've had a number of schemes already in Clwyd West, which I know you're aware of. There's Eldon Drive in Abergele; Llansannan; Top Llan Road in Glan Conwy; Kinmel Bay; the Colwyn Bay waterfront upgrade; Chapel Street; and the natural flood management for...
Julie James: Diolch, Siân Gwenllian. There are a number of programmes designed to help improve energy efficiency of homes across Wales, including in Arfon. These include the optimised retrofit programme and the Warm Homes programme.
Julie James: Diolch, Siân. I very much want to visit, and I hope you will invite me formally and I can do that very soon. We're very pleased with the way the decarbonisation hub is working out. You've set out the history of the factory that closed and so on there. We were very pleased to be able to give £239,000 worth of a Transforming Towns placemaking grant to enable the transition into the...
Julie James: I would respond with some surprise, Mark, because all authorities have met the standard for the Welsh housing quality, which is EPC D, apart from what are called 'acceptable fails'. So, if you have details of why he's concerned that the stock isn't up to standard, I'd certainly like to see it. His own council has submitted returns to us saying that they are satisfied that they have rolled out...
Julie James: Diolch, Cefin. As we move towards a more localised, renewables-based energy system, we are taking steps to ensure that the wealth from renewable energy projects remains in Wales. We are building on our support for communities and public bodies, developing additional offers for local businesses and supporting energy plans to highlight local opportunities.
Julie James: Diolch, Cefin. Yes, a very important point. So, we have 897 MW of locally owned renewable electricity and heat capacity in Wales in 2021, which was 90 per cent of the way towards our 1 GW target for 2030, which is really good news. We've got a total of 2,201 new renewable projects commissioned across mid Wales and the Swansea bay city region in 2021. They represent a capacity increase of 31.5...
Julie James: Sorry, I have absolutely no idea whether I'm the Senedd next Tuesday, but, if I am, I'll happily come along. Absolutely, but we've got to do it in the right order. So, we absolutely will want to make sure that the planning arrangements are in place, but, depending on the level that we're talking about, it might be a nationally significant infrastructure development, so it might be the UK...
Julie James: Diolch, Sioned. My officials and I hold regular bilateral and multilateral discussions with other Governments to share our experiences, good practice and challenges. Examples include the net zero interministerial meetings of the four UK nations, the British-Irish Council and the Under2 Coalition of state, regional and provincial Governments. So, we have quite a lot of contact,...
Julie James: Yes, I was really aware of that. It's a great idea. Obviously, if you travel in Europe at all, you'll notice that car parks have canopies over them anyway, because they're shading the vehicles from the sun. We don’t entirely have that problem in Wales yet. We have the rain problem, absolutely. The old joke about, 'Did you know that you could take your cagoule off when you go to England?’...
Julie James: Yes. Thank you, Ken. On 9 February, the First Minister will reconvene a summit of key partners in tackling excessive levels of phosphates in Welsh rivers, to discuss current progress and establish next steps. I'll set out the outcomes of that discussion, together with an action plan, in a written statement, which will go out shortly after the summit.
