Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome the Public Accounts Committee’s report into the accounts of Natural Resources Wales, and specifically in respect of the timber sales contract. Given the scale of the expenditure of public money in this particular scheme, it is no surprise that detailed scrutiny has followed, and a very apt and focused report has been published. As we’ve just heard, the sum of money involved is very, very considerable at £39 million. I think it does lead us to ask questions, but I think they are more policy focused than anything else, and that will be the tenor of my remarks this afternoon, Presiding Officer.

Only a year after NRW were set up, several bodies criticized NRW’s management of the forestry estate in submissions to various Assembly committees and their proceedings in the fourth Assembly, Presiding Officer. For example, in the submission that Wales Forest Business Partnership made, they complained that there’s a ‘complete lack of transparency’ in NRW in this area, and that the private sector had to rely on, and I quote, ‘hearsay and the published accounts.’ It was not an open channel of communication. I mention these because it’s quite clear that similar examples have been identified in the Public Account Committee’s report. So, I do think it’s an issue for the scrutiny of the Welsh Government and the role they have played in the general policy setting and the organisational decisions they’ve made.

Originally, when the board of NRW was appointed by the environment Minister, it did not include any representatives from the forestry sector, and the Forestry Commission Wales chairman, Jon Owen Jones—a respected former Labour MP—raised concerns that the forestry industry’s voice would not be adequately heard in the new organisation. Again, a similar issue has been highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee’s report, when they quote—. And I quote directly from their report: the auditor general added his serious concerns about the very significant loss of forestry expertise within NRW which was extremely worrying.’

So, I do think we have to ask the Welsh Government, Presiding Officer, whether the organisational merger is on track and is to achieve its intended purpose.

Back in 2011, when the details of the planned merger of the Countryside Council for Wales, the Environment Agency, and Forestry Commission Wales was first announced, the environment Minister said that the move would ensure more sustainable and effective management of our natural resources. Now, I grant you that three into one was never going to be easy—a very, very challenging situation for the management team at NRW—but, as we’ve heard, that team itself has undergone a shock and there will now be a change in its leadership. So, I do think the Welsh Government has to take more responsibility in this area—I know it’s arm’s length, but at the moment it’s an arm’s-length organisation that seems unclear of its direction of travel.