8. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on actions the Welsh Government is taking to support the sustainability of environmental businesses in Wales? OAQ(5)0139(ERA)

Thank you. We have a large number of policies and programmes delivering green growth, such as Green Growth Wales. We’ve been working to decarbonise the public sector, and we provide flexible support to businesses, domestic energy efficiency programmes, and support for low-carbon developments, from community scale to centralised generation.

Thank you for that response, Cabinet Secretary. Some environmental businesses are based around the timber industry, and there have been concerns that I have raised about the sustainability of that industry in terms of its supply of timber for the future. Now, there have been many references this afternoon to the role of Natural Resources Wales and the functions that it undertakes, and I have to say they do an excellent job, for example, in terms of flood prevention and protection. But I am concerned about the way that they are managing our forestry resource here in Wales, and that they’re not doing a particularly good job. I was very concerned also about the timber sales contract that has been featuring in the media and is now a subject of inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee. That suggests to me that they need to pull their socks up when it comes to managing our timber resources. And I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, what assurances you can give us that this is going to be a matter of priority in the future for Natural Resources Wales, and that we will have a sustainable supply of timber for the Welsh timber industry in the future.

Commercial timber operations are absolutely a high priority for Natural Resources Wales, and just last week I met with the Confederation of Forest Industries and ensured there was an NRW representative there to hear their concerns. This year, NRW are restocking more than 1,200 hectares on the Welsh Government’s woodland estate, and that compares very favourably, I think, with any of the previous five years. It is really important that the confederation and NRW work very closely together. I hear very conflicting reports around where trees are planted, are they planted in the right place, are there enough planted, so that is something that I’m working very closely with NRW and with Confor on. I meet NRW’s chair and chief executive every month, and I think it is absolutely a standing item now, because it is of such importance.