Cefin Campbell: So, with exciting prospects for a rapidly growing sector, we need to know what the Government's future strategy is to support aquaculture in Wales, and indeed what its strategy is to take advantage of the potential to grow this industry in Wales for the future. Thank you.
Cefin Campbell: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Put simply, as I summarise, the motion before us this afternoon calls on the Welsh Government to work with industry stakeholders to develop a fisheries and aquaculture policy, backed by a strategy that has sustainability, investment and industry engagement at its core. Could I thank everyone who has contributed to this very interesting and very useful debate...
Cefin Campbell: Sam threw me the bait—excuse the pun—which I'm happy to take, around opportunities from Brexit. I'm afraid I don't quite agree with his analysis, because what I'm seeing across coastal areas of the UK and the fishing industry is absolute chaos at the moment. I'm looking forward to seeing, as the Minister outlined, some clear strategy from Welsh Government about utilising, from that chaos,...
Cefin Campbell: Rhun supports this in terms of job creation and economic benefits, stating that there is great potential for aquaculture, that we have expertise in Wales that is admired across the whole of Europe, that we have concerns that that expertise and that capacity and ability that we have in Wales is going to be lost, and, as we heard Rhun mention, the possibility that much of the potential is going...
Cefin Campbell: Thank you, Janet, for championing Conwy mussels. I'll have to try them one day. You're absolutely right to highlight the lack of targeted action, and it is quite astonishing that this hasn't happened over the last few years. You were asking and imploring the Minister to involve the industry in future planning, and the Minister has given an affirmative response to that, saying that she is...
Cefin Campbell: I thank Mabon as well, who was surprised, as many of us are, with the lack of strategy, and referring to the extractive economy: once again, Wales's wealth being lost to external nations. About 10 per cent, he mentioned, of Welsh fishers benefit from the payments made in Welsh waters. Mabon also referred to the lack of regulation in this area, and the need to establish a regulatory body, not...
Cefin Campbell: How does the Welsh Government plan to ensure a supply of Welsh teachers as part of the strategy to reach one million Welsh speakers by 2050?
Cefin Campbell: May I also thank the Minister for her statement? I will keep this quite brief because I don't want to rehearse many of the things that Sam Kurtz has already said that I happen to agree with. Let me start by saying that bovine TB continues to have a destructive impact on agriculture in Wales, not only in terms of its economic impact, but also the emotional and mental health impact that the...
Cefin Campbell: And the last point, Minister, is around vaccination. Where vaccination is available, it has a role to play, clearly, in TB eradication, but it can only be used to prevent and not to cure the disease. Field trials with cattle TB vaccination, as you've already outlined, are under way, and you are hoping an effective vaccine will be available by 2025, so my question is: how confident are you we...
Cefin Campbell: Sorry.
Cefin Campbell: Will the First Minister make a statement on delayed transfers of care in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area?
Cefin Campbell: Thank you, Llywydd. As we look beyond COP26, we must now, of course, turn our words into actions to tackle the climate emergency. During the summit, there was an agriculture day and leaders within the farming sector in Wales made ambitious and very firm commitments to help Wales reach its net-zero ambitions. Of course, we understand that we need a viable agricultural industry in Wales to...
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. Of course, the Conservative Government in Westminster hasn't only broken its pledges on climate change for the second year on the trot. We've seen promises broken on funding for agriculture in Wales. Now, the relative cuts to agricultural funding and rural development announced in the comprehensive spending review last month break a manifesto pledge made by the...
Cefin Campbell: Thank you. It's clear therefore that supporting Welsh farmers isn't a high priority for the Tories in Westminster. Now, in moving on and looking more particularly at future farming policy beyond the current funding, one of the concerns expressed by the sector is the capping of payments. To date, the Welsh Government has refused to commit to capping payments that would make the most of the...
Cefin Campbell: Thank you to Peter Fox for bringing this draft Bill forward for us to consider as a Senedd. I am happy to support the Bill, and I am prepared to support the opportunity for it to mature as the process goes ahead because I do believe that this Bill could help to provide a food system that is genuinely appropriate for future generations. And a great many of the objectives of the Bill happen to...
Cefin Campbell: In terms of your extremely important aim of delivering a more sustainable, localised food system and strengthening the public procurement aspect, certainly this is something Plaid Cymru's always supported and we want to see an increase in the number and viability of local food supply systems. Currently, too much Welsh produce is being shipped out of Wales for processing, with the loss of much...
Cefin Campbell: And just to conclude, Dirprwy Lywydd, I am very fond of the reference to eradicating all kinds of food waste. The Plaid Cymru manifesto called for targets to halve food waste from farm to fork by 2030. It appears that 400,000 tonnes of food is wasted every year by homes in Wales. So, I conclude by saying this: it is possible that Government might argue that all of this could be done in a...
Cefin Campbell: Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's plans to address the impact of fireworks on animal welfare?
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much, Minister, for this statement. I warmly welcome the statement. And as has been said by Mabon ap Gwynfor, I am very pleased to see that so many exciting and crucial policies for our Welsh-speaking communities have been included in the agreement between us as two parties. I welcome the ambitious aims and objectives outlined in this statement today, and I look forward to...
Cefin Campbell: I'm very pleased to be able to contribute to this debate today, but, before moving on, I do want to give heartfelt thanks to the commissioner for his work and his unstinting commitment to the Welsh language. The Minister has already mentioned the benefits of bilingualism, and I, too, am very proud to have two languages, because two languages means twice as much choice, of course, and I want...
