Natural Resources Wales exists to make best use of our resources, to protect our environment, to conserve our natural heritage and to enforce environmental protections. Unfortunately, NRW is dysfunctional, as highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee Report into NRW’s 2017-18 accounts. I would like to thank the Public Accounts Committee for producing their report, and for the fact that they will be keeping a close eye on the organisation over the coming year.

In the face of global ecological disaster, environmental protection and nature conservation are some of the most important tasks for government. The decision to merge the functions of the Countryside Council for Wales, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission was not wrong, but to turn them into little more than an underfunded and under-resourced Government department was unforgivable.

Climate change threatens our very existence, and, as highlighted by yesterday’s Institute for Public Policy Research report, policy makers and politicians have failed to grasp the gravity of the environmental crisis facing us. It is therefore vital that we have organisations—preferably arm’s length away from Government—that can protect our environment and conserve our biodiversity.

A measure that assesses how intact a country’s biodiversity is suggests that the UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average. The index suggests that we are among the most nature-depleted countries in the world. According to the RSPB’s state of nature report, between 1970 and 2013, 56 per cent of species declined, with 40 per cent showing strong or moderate decline. Of the nearly 8,000 species assessed using modern red list criteria, 15 per cent are extinct or threatened with extinction from Great Britain. We lose around 2 million tonnes of topsoil due to erosion each year in the UK.

I realise this debate is about the financial accounts of NRW, but it is important to outline the scale of the challenges facing the organisation and the vital role they play in protecting our nation. The fact that NRW have had their accounts qualified for the third year running calls into question their financial management and places doubt on their ability to protect our biodiversity and safeguard against the changing climate.

The work of the committee and the Auditor General for Wales highlights multiple governance issues at NRW. I fully support the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendations. The fact that it has taken so long for the Welsh Government to act in the face of serious failings at NRW means that the independent review of governance of NRW is long overdue and must be made public. The fact that the Public Accounts Committee will keep a watching brief on NRW reforms is most welcome, but, given the importance of NRW’s role, it is vital that we also have a review, not just of the governance of the organisation, but of its entire remit, to ensure that it is fit for purpose. This goes way beyond mishandled timber contracts. The functions of NRW are vital to our nation. We must ensure that the organisation has the right funding, the proper resources and the best staff in order to carry out those functions. Diolch yn fawr.