This report by the Public Accounts Committee into the accounts of Natural Resources Wales reveals an organisation that is not fit for purpose. NRW is Wales's largest quango. It is responsible for anything from protecting habitats and wildlife, woodlands, monitoring water quality and flood risk to regulating power stations and waste processing sites. For an organisation so important to have its accounts qualified for three consecutive years, as Nick Ramsay just earlier said, is unprecedented and unacceptable. And it shows how blindfolded one Government can be.

The committee found it difficult to find any logical explanation for why NRW allowed this situation to arise. You could only conclude that their internal controls were not fit for purpose, or definitely substandard. What is particularly concerning is that the same issues of irregularities were highlighted three years ago. Then, the auditor general expressed concern that NRW had not appeared to fully accept his criticism of their action in respect of the award of long-term contracts and sought to downplay its significance. This is demonstrated by the controversy over how timber was sold, repeatedly, without going into open market. Fair trading rules were totally ignored in this instance. This scandal lost the Welsh taxpayer at least £1 million and resulted in the resignation of NRW's chair—a situation described by one Labour Assembly Member at the time, and his quote is:

'there needs to be accountability from the senior leadership of this organisation which does appear to be out of control.'

There has been a consequent and widespread loss of faith in NRW. Ten timber firms recently sent a joint letter to the Welsh Government saying that they had no confidence in NRW's ability to manage forestry in Wales. They claimed 12,000 jobs in the rural economy and £100 million of new investment over the next five years were at risk. These companies concluded they had no confidence in the ability of NRW to deliver a commercially viable, sustainable and economically driven service. 

This lack of faith in NRW appears to be reflected in the attitude of its staff. The result of an internal staff consultation exercise on restructuring the organisation was leaked to the BBC in December last year. Almost two thirds of NRW staff responded to this consultation. Deputy Presiding Officer, of these, 62 per cent agreed there was a need for change but were strongly opposed to the plan and highly critical of the process. Concerns were also expressed that the new structure would not provide a suitable service for the people and environment of Wales. Expertise would be spread too thinly and staff spoke of high stress levels with people feeling undervalued and worthless. Natural Resources Wales has systematically failed the people of Wales. The Welsh Conservatives have made it clear that we would scrap NRW and replace it with two separate bodies: one handling the regulatory duties undertaken by the organisation and the other its commercial aspects. We can all agree that the current situation cannot be allowed to continue.

The committee has made three recommendations. All three have been accepted by the Welsh Government and by NRW. NRW is drinking in the last-chance saloon. This is their last chance to make the changes required to deliver value for money for the taxpayer and to provide efficient and effective protection for the environment of Wales and put the faith of public funding in an organisation. Thank you.