Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 13 June 2018.
If I could turn now to the entry scheme for young farmers. This is the result of an agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Government, and £6 million has been allocated for this. It’s open at the moment, and I know that many people have applied, and many people are discussing this scheme. Generally speaking, there’s been a warm welcome to it. Now, a few questions have arisen in response to the adoption of this plan, and I’d just like to mention these to the Cabinet Secretary. First of all, people are asking whether it’s possible to have more of a conversation and more of a response from Government in terms of submitting an application and how applications develop, to understand whether that application would be appropriate. People are also raising the desire to ensure that the plan focuses specifically on young farmers, some of them a year or two into their business, but able to benefit from this scheme to develop their business, and in so doing, as we discussed in the Assembly, developing a cohort of people that will lead the industry as we face some of the challenges that have already been discussed here. Could the Cabinet Secretary tell us whether she is content just to keep an eye on this programme as it gets towards the closing date and ensure there is sufficient flexibility within it to meet the needs and objectives agreed?