I thank Simon Thomas for his questions and comments. I’m glad to see your jokes haven’t improved since last week’s oral statement, but I do look forward to celebrating both the NFU and CAMRA events to be held here tomorrow. Just in relation to Carmarthen ham, I’m expecting several items of food to receive the PGI later this year. I can’t give you a definitive date but I’m very hopeful it will be later this year.

In relation to the EU, clearly work has had to be done ahead of Thursday’s vote but I’m personally very confident that we won’t have to look that way later on. But we know that if we did have Brexit it would have a massive impact on the food and drink industry. The single market is the world’s biggest free trade area in GDP terms and is the UK’s and Wales’s largest trading partner. We know that businesses in the EU enjoy a home market of just over 500 million people, and that’s got the ability to sell goods and services without tariffs or other trade restrictions and with common safety standards. And, as you stated, it is the largest market for Welsh exports. So, we know what damage that would do to the Welsh food and drink sector.

You mentioned Courtauld 2025 and your disappointment that the UK Government hadn’t legislated in this area like France, and I’m very keen to have a look at what France has done. I think it’s very important that we do everything we can to reduce the environmental impact with food businesses and also food waste. Some research that was published earlier this year showed that 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK grocery supply chain every year. That’s a huge amount. Fortunately, from that about 47,000 tonnes is redistributed to people who need it, and that equates to about 90 million meals a year. But I’m very keen to do what we can to reduce that wastage, and I met with the FSA this morning where, I think, one aspect where we could improve things is I think people get very confused with best-by date and use-by date and sell-by date—you know, we have all these different things on food and I think it’s really important that people understand what all these different things mean.

You raised an issue around healthy eating and, certainly, when I was listening to the Cabinet Secretary for health’s statement several things came up where you can see the crossover to my portfolio around obesity and, you’re quite right, we should be doing all we can to encourage people to eat at least five a day. Your suggestion around fruit bowls in schools sounds eminently sensible and I suppose, like everything, it’s probably down to cost. But I’d be very happy to have a discussion with the Cabinet Secretary for Education in relation to that.

You talked about food security and there are increasing global pressures on food supply, but I believe that Wales is very well placed to respond to challenges of changing climate, for instance. I think the livestock industry in Wales dominates as the geography and climate of Wales is very well suited to grass-based systems and the sustainable management of our natural resources is critical to the future success of our economy and creating a future for all our communities.

I think football, actually, will have an impact on the Welsh food sector. We are seeing Wales on a stage that perhaps many people won’t have seen Wales on before, with the football, and more people will know where Wales is, and we can only build on that. So, I think it would be a really good opportunity over the next couple of months. As you say, we’ll have lots of summer shows and festivals, and I’m sure our paths will cross at many of them, but I think it’s a really good opportunity. We can always do more to celebrate. I do think we do a great deal to celebrate our wonderful food and drink sector, but, of course, we can always do more, and I’m very keen to do so.