Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 1 February 2017.
I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that helpful reply. The Welsh Government is committed to clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse seas, and there has been good progress made on designation. But, I’m not sure that the same progress has been made on improved management of marine protected areas. In 2012, the Countryside Council for Wales, which is now, of course, Natural Resources Wales, said that 47 per cent of species and 54 per cent of habitats in Natura 2000 sites were in an unfavourable condition and, more to the point, 100 per cent of the species and 79 per cent of habitats were not under secure management regimes to improve conditions. Given that Natural Resources Wales has been financially constrained and has had to cope with a 15 per cent cut in budgets in the last two years, is she satisfied that they have sufficient resources to achieve the objectives that the Welsh Government sets in this respect?