Julie James: Well, I'm not one to be putting down any offer of a cocktail, Janet; let's start from there. [Laughter.] Quite clearly, we need a whole range of measures put in place to ensure not only that we develop a range of tidal energies: tidal range, tidal stream, tidal lagoons, all sorts—. We're very pleased to see the UK Government stepping into this space, but we need to see the action following...
Julie James: Yes, thank you, Janet. As I advised in my written question response of 18 March 2022, the Welsh Government is developing a marine energy programme. As part of this work, I am considering what funding will be needed in future years to support marine energy projects.
Julie James: Yes, thank you, Peter Fox, for that series of questions, and, absolutely, we understand entirely that the phosphate issue is a really serious issue across Wales. It's affecting the delivery of our 20,000 social homes, it's affecting the delivery of a number of market housing that should have gone ahead for local development plan purposes and so on. It's also affecting a number of other...
Julie James: Thank you for the question, Peter Fox. Housing, particularly social housing, is a key priority for this Government. This is reflected in our commitment to deliver 20,000 new low-carbon homes for social rent, and underpinned with record levels of investment. We also provide a range of support for house builders, including schemes specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises across Wales.
Julie James: Yes, absolutely, Sam, and that hits the nail on the head, doesn't it, really? Because this is about the climate and nature emergencies, but it's also about changing the mindset to see that as an opportunity, an economic opportunity, a tourism opportunity and a whole series of services opportunities, as opposed to a barrier to that kind of thing. I think we've worked really hard to do that...
Julie James: It's a very good point, isn't it, because we all recognise the challenge of balancing the day-to-day daily grind, if you want to put it like that, with a focus on critical and strategic work that's needed to respond to the climate and nature emergencies. I think I said yesterday in one of my statements that my colleague Rebecca Evans and I will be working with the new leadership teams in...
Julie James: Thank you very much, Carolyn Thomas. We are working very closely with local authorities to tackle the climate and nature emergencies, together with our partnership council, the local government climate change strategy group and the local nature partnership network. Our funding to the Welsh Local Government Association, and through Local Places for Nature, supports our work.
Julie James: It's a real shame that it's been delayed for a variety of reasons. That really is a shame for the globe, never mind for Wales. One of the pieces of work that I want to see happening, and this is part of the deep dive process as well, to get advice on this, is how we can structure the targets so that they can be tightened but not loosened. It's easy to structure targets that can be changed,...
Julie James: Yes, we are absolutely going to do that. I'm not going to promise it in the second year, Delyth, because I'm in the hands of the legislative programme to some extent. We have a large number of competing priorities, unfortunately, and it's about what's in the best position to go forward at any point in time and how we can get it through the committee systems, and so on. It's not about whether...
Julie James: Thank you very much, Joyce—I couldn't agree more. There's a need for a planned grid; there's a need for a grid planned for a different scale of attachment to that grid as well. One of the things we're very proud of doing here in Wales, of course, is having the Homes as Power Stations initiative. This is about retrofitting homes so that they come up to the best possible standard, reduce fuel...
Julie James: It's really nice to see a renewed interest in Wylfa and the development there. We're very keen to work—. We have a centre of excellence nearby for nuclear, and we have some of the world experts here in Wales for that. So, I'm very pleased to see the UK Government's renewed interest in that—maybe should have been a bit faster, quite frankly, over some of the more recent issues we've had,...
Julie James: Thank you for the question, Laura. We are using every lever available to us to develop the clean, smart and flexible energy system of the future, with renewable energy generation at its heart. The UK Government's energy strategy was a missed opportunity, we feel, to set a credible path for scaling up all renewables while supporting consumers through the immediate cost-of-living crisis.
Julie James: Yes, I was aware that Minister Pow had visited the reservoir. And in fact, I discussed it with her beforehand, in an inter-ministerial group, but I think she probably mentioned that at the time. We're very keen to work across the border for the catchment areas that flow across the border, and indeed to share good practice where that's effective for the communities on either side of the...
Julie James: Yes, thank you very much for that series of queries. And of course we understand the sensitivity of these kinds of issues for the people of Wales and also for all the people who rely on the rivers and catchment areas for a variety of things, including their drinking water. So, as I'm sure you already know, Hafren Dyfrdwy owns the Clywedog reservoir. Proposals for additional use of the water...
Julie James: Thank you very much, Cefin Campbell, for the question. The management of water levels and releases from the Clywedog reservoir are governed by well-established and clear legislation. The Environment Agency in England has responsibility for managing the releases and water levels, in consultation with Natural Resources Wales.
Julie James: Yes, well, I'm glad it's happening now, anyway, Darren Millar, and it is very beautiful, you're quite right, and I'm very glad for the residents that that flood defence is going ahead. So, part of the announcement I've just made is the announcement of the increased funding for capital works, differences when working with our local authorities to make sure that we have a priority set of works...
Julie James: Thank you very much for that, Vikki, and thank you for your kind words. So, part of what we're looking at is who is responsible for which bit of this, where does the data come from, who is responsible for collating and holding it and so on, and, as I said, we've got a number of split responsibilities. It may well be that it comes back with, 'That's good, but you need to do x, y, z', or,...
Julie James: Yes, so all the reports, published or not, will be available to the review. The review is obviously subject to confidentiality and so on, but they will be subject to the review, absolutely. One of the things I expect to come out of the review is better guidelines about when, how and where the section 19 reports should be produced, possibly a timescale, although I don't want to prejudge it in...
Julie James: Well, thank you, and, obviously, I can't comment on individual planning applications—I don't have all of the detail and it wouldn't be appropriate for me as the planning Minister—but I do take the point you're making. I mean, there are a number of things to consider when developing on a floodplain, which is what you're describing, of course, right next to a river. I mean, I'll take this...
Julie James: So, I work very closely with my colleague the local government Minister on these issues, and we've had many discussions with local government colleagues about resilience for it and how they work and how the flood responses—. And the local authority has blue-light responders in a number of areas that actually work. We've obviously just had the local government elections, so the new cabinet...
