We now have questions from party leaders. The leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price. 

Diolch, Llywydd. Natural Resources Wales directly manages 80 per cent of Wales's forests and regulates the remaining 20 per cent. As a body itself, it produces 800,000 tonnes of timber each year. Yet, astonishingly, as we heard yesterday from the chief executive of NRW, no-one on the current board has either knowledge or experience in timber or forestry. In their report into the problems at NRW's forestry division, the auditors Grant Thornton referred to a merged entity without a single organisational culture and an isolated forestry function beset by serious failings including poor governance, poor people management, poor budgeting and an audit culture that was not so much dilatory as entirely non existent. The board of NRW must accept their share of the responsibility for this grim state of affairs, and indeed the former chair resigned. But, since it was your Government that appointed them, do you also accept your share of the blame in creating a board that so patently was simply not up to the task?

Well, Llywydd, I think the Welsh Government has recognised the need for the board of NRW to be strengthened. That's why we have a new and distinguished interim chair of the board. That's why the board has been reinforced by, I believe, five new members appointed by the Minister, including members with experience in land management. It's to that board that we must now look to take the actions that are necessary to address the findings in the Grant Thornton report and to work with the Public Accounts Committee and others to make sure that the deficits that have been identified are put right, and that this very important organisation that does very necessary and important work across Wales every single day is able to get on with those important duties, confident in the culture that it has and in the structures that are there to support it. 

It does beg the question why it's taken six years and four separate reports for these deep failings to be uncovered in this way. Now, the standard response we've heard from the Government in situations like this is that this is an autonomous body for which you only have arm's-length responsibility, but you do have direct responsibility for your own Government's strategy for forestry and woodlands. Almost a decade ago, you adopted the ambitious and widely lauded target of planting 5,000 hectares of new woodland every year until 2030. You only managed an average of around 500 hectares a year, so you dropped the target to 2,000 hectares. Now, you've raised the target back up to 4,000 hectares. But can the First minister tell us how far short of the previous target you have fallen over the last four years?

Well, Llywydd, I am aware that we've not reached the targets that we intend for woodland and for tree planting here in Wales, and that is something that I personally am very committed to addressing. In the campaign that was held during the autumn for the leadership of my party, I put forward a proposal for a new national forest for Wales. That's an idea I'm very committed to making sure that we take forward during the rest of this Assembly term and beyond in order to be able to make sure that the woodland of Wales is able to make its contribution both to climate change and decarbonisation and to the other things that ideas of that sort can bring to those parts of Wales whose future are most likely to be affected by Brexit. 

I think the idea of a national forest is all well and good and to be welcomed, but you have to ask the First Minister: you've been part of the furniture in this institution in different shapes or forms—part of the furniture whether it's made out of Welsh wood or not—and where have you been in terms of these targets? You weren't able to answer, and there's a very good reason, maybe, because you used to publish an annual report on the 'Woodlands for Wales' indicators; you stopped, and I think I know why, because, in the last four years, you've achieved an average of just 200 hectares a year of new woodland planting—just 10 per cent of the target. Can you think of another area of public policy, First Minister, where you've underperformed as badly as this? It's the worst four-year figure since modern records began in 1971. NRW hasn't produced any new woodland at all since it was created six years ago. Scotland has produced 10 times as much new woodland in that period. Restocking rates in Wales are the lowest they have been since 1990.

Now, to some this may seem like a particular problem in a relatively small sector. It's nevertheless an important one to the rural economy, significant in the national scale in terms of our climate change reduction strategy, but, First Minister, doesn't this deep failure at the heart of Wales's biggest public body tell a much larger truth that sums up 20 years of Labour Government—glossy strategies, ambitious goals, but no delivery and no accountability?

Llywydd, the Member moved from an important specific point to a general point that simply cannot—he cannot construct his general point on the specifics that he identified. On the specifics, I agree with him that woodland in Wales is a genuinely important part of what we do, that we do have to do better in it, that there are very good reasons why it is particularly important now to put a focus on that part of what we do; I'm personally committed to making sure that we do that.

The general points that he makes about NRW are being taken forward through the Public Accounts Committee and will be picked up in a debate here in the Assembly, and there will be a statement from the Minister on forestry on 12 March, as we currently plan it. That is an example of a Government that is prepared to grasp these issues to make the difference that is needed to be made, and that is the story of Labour Government here in Wales.

Leader of the opposition, Paul Davies.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, do you agree with the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru that the severe funding crisis in Welsh schools is having a detrimental effect on our young people?

Where I agree with them is when they point to the fact that the austerity imposed on Wales by his Government is having the effect that they regret, and I regret the fact, and regret every day, that we are unable to invest to the extent that we would like in our schools, in our hospitals, in housing and in all the other things that we would like to do in Wales. But the association that he points to—and I've seen their letter—puts their finger on where the blame lies, and it belongs with him and with his Government.

First Minister, you need to stop giving excuses and start taking responsibility. You are responsible for education here in Wales, and, First Minister, this open letter to your education Minister is a damning reflection on the way your Government has managed education here in Wales. Despite having £1.20 to spend on education here in Wales for every £1 in England, we still see a significant shortfall in school budgets, which is actually undermining hopes for future reform.

Now, according to the NASUWT, we know that pupils in Wales receive £645 less per head than pupils in England, and schools in Wales are facing a collective shortfall of £291 million in their budgets, and £450 million of education funding never reaches the classroom. So, why have you chosen to provide schools with what has been described as a totally inadequate level of funding, which has pushed schools to crisis point?

Llywydd, the last time that Paul Davies's party was prepared to say to the public in Wales where they would take money from in order to fund the many things that, week after week, they tell us need to be done, it was the education budget that they chose as the main sacrifice for the rest of their plans. So, I don't think that we will be taking too seriously the crocodile tears of the Member on this matter this afternoon. In fact, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has made it clear that the gap between funding in Wales and in England has narrowed to a point where it scarcely exists. And here in Wales, we have—[Interruption.] Here in Wales, we have a deliberate policy of passporting on to education in Wales all the money that came to us from his Government for teachers’ pay. We look forward to making sure that we have money from his Government to cover the increase in teachers’ pensions that they have introduced, and we will continue to do that, just as we ensure that the money that goes to local authorities and to improvement consortiums is then passed on, in turn, to schools.

First Minister, the facts are absolutely clear. As you know, for every £1 spent in England, your Government can spend £1.20, and you cannot deny those facts, given it was you—it was you—who agreed this fiscal framework with the UK Government in the first place. So, is there any wonder there is a crisis in our schools when they have received consistent cuts to their budgets by your Government?

Now, let’s look at the figures, shall we, First Minister? We know that, between 2010-11 and 2018-19, gross budgeted expenditure on schools has received a real-terms cut of 7.9 per cent. Now, this inability to support our education sector has seen a significant number of teachers leave the profession. Having seen a drop of just 29 pupils since 2010, figures by the NASUWT, again, reveal that there are over 1,400 fewer teachers working in Wales during that period. What will it take—[Interruption.] What will it take, First Minister, for your Government to realise that our schools are facing a crisis and that this failure to make education a priority will have serious consequences for our future generations? And will you now start listening to our teachers and to our educational professionals to start giving our schools and our children the support that they deserve?

Llywydd, the Member asks for facts, and let me give him 888 million of them, because that is the number of pounds less that we have to spend on public services here in Wales today as a result of his Government since the year 2010—£880 million less. Every one of those pounds is a fact that we could be using to spend on public services here in Wales. If he believes that teachers in Wales do not understand that the problems that they face in the classroom are the result of the decisions that his Government has made and that we have to deal with every day, then, really, he needs to get out a bit more and speak to the people who understand this at the front line.

Leader of the UKIP group, Gareth Bennett.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, a fortnight ago, you restated the Welsh Government’s intention to legislate on removing the defence of reasonable chastisement. I won’t ask you if you’re still intending to bring in a smacking ban, since what you said last time was quite clear. You stated that you were determined that the ban would get through the Assembly during this Assembly term and get on to the statute book. Given that this legislation is likely to be widely unpopular, why are you so intent on creating a new law in this area?

Well, we will bring forward a new law in this area, Llywydd. It was part of the Labour manifesto. It’s part of the manifesto on which my party is elected. We believe in keeping those promises to the Welsh public and we will bring forward a Bill, which it is then for the Assembly to scrutinise and to debate. My party will be committed to seeing that Bill on to the statute book, and we look forward to working with others in this Chamber who share that ambition.

Well, I thank you for your clarity on the issue. Now, the results of the official consultation on the smacking ban showed that opinion was fairly split on this. Half of the respondees felt that legislation would protect children’s rights, but half felt that it would not. It seems that, at best, the smacking ban is a law that will split the Welsh electorate down the middle. Now, this is the Assembly’s own consultation. All of the opinion polls conducted before this have shown a strong view against the smacking ban. I wonder if your Welsh Labour Government has thought enough about how the smacking ban is going to be policed. How will it be enforced? Will we have children informing against their own parents? And, if we do, who will be able to verify whether the claims are true or not? We could be heading into some kind of imitation of Stalin’s Russia of the 1930s, when perfectly law-abiding parents got sent to prison camps because their children were encouraged to whisper allegations against them to their schoolteachers. Is this the kind of scenario you want to occur here in Wales? 

Well, Llywydd, I recognise nothing in what the Member has said about the proposal that we will bring forward. We will bring forward a proposal to remove the defence of reasonable chastisement. No adult can be hit in this country, and such a defence mounted; why should a child be allowed to be hit and then that defence brought forward? This is the position that exists already in countless countries across the globe, countries where none of the entirely scaremongering possibilities that the Member identifies have happened, and none of which we expect to see happen here in Wales. 

Well, I'm sure, First Minister, you appreciate that we live in a time when we've had a whole catalogue of historic sex abuse claims made against people, some of them against perfectly innocent people. Many of these historical sex allegations have turned out to be pure delusion, but I'm sure plenty of innocent people have been caught up in them. If the state encourages children to start making allegations, then we could have a whole new catalogue of wrongful prosecutions. Are you really sure your legislation is going to be robust enough to prevent this possibility? 

Llywydd, where abuse takes place, we want people to speak out. If it happens in the home and children have a story to tell, then we want to encourage a position where they feel confident to come forward and make their stories known, just as we do in situations where people who have suffered in the past and in silence now feel able to come forward and tell their stories. On this side of the Chamber, and I think in many parts of this Chamber, that is regarded as a sign of progress, and a sign that things are better today than they were in the past when people were fearful, and felt unable to have their stories heard. I'm sorry that that view is not shared in all parts of this Chamber.