Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 29 January 2019.
The confidence that we have in NRW comes from the new chief executive that we have in place, the very distinguished interim chair that is now in charge of the board of the organisation, and the renewal of the board that my colleague Lesley Griffiths carried out towards the end of last year. NRW does enormously important work in all parts of Wales. It has a very dedicated staff group who carry out things that matter every day to people in Wales, let alone at times when there are emergencies, such as flood protection work.
As far as the specific matter that the Member raised in relation to a letter from a group of timber organisations—NRW met that group earlier this week. Officials of the Welsh Government will meet them on Thursday of this week—that is in advance of a meeting that we hope will be possible between the Minister and that group before 11 February, when the Public Accounts Committee will return to this matter, and there's to be a debate on the floor of this Assembly in this area in February as well. There will be ample opportunity there for us to be able to share with Members the steps that NRW are taking, with help from the Welsh Government, to put itself in an even stronger position to discharge the very significant responsibilities it has.