6. Debate on the Public Accounts Committee Report: Natural Resources Wales's Annual Report and Accounts 2017-18

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:59 pm on 13 February 2019.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 4:59, 13 February 2019

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I thank Members who have contributed to today's debate? I think, as has been made clear, there were two fundamental issues at the heart of this debate today: what's gone wrong with governance at NRW and how long it will take to put it right. 

The fact that NRW has had its accounts qualified for the third year running, and will possibly have them qualified again in future, shows that there have been failings in the organsiation, which I think everyone appreciates needs to be addressed. This is not saying that the hardworking staff at NRW aren't to be commended. Of course, they are. We all recognise as members of the committee, and this came up time and again, just how hard they do work and how necessary their vital work is right across Wales. But it's important, as Helen Mary Jones alluded to, that they have that necessary resource, that they have that support, so that is the intention behind this debate and our review.

We welcome the new chief executive and chair. I share the Minister's comments with regard to those. The committee was very impressed with their appearance before us at committee. They clearly have inherited what they have inherited, and it's for them to try and turn the organisation around. What is going to be vitally important is it's not just operational issues that are turned around, but that there is a cultural change—a deep-seated cultural, deep-rooted change at Natural Resources Wales. That hasn't happened in the past. That will be necessary to address this in future.

If we're going to have an organisation created from mergers, then there has to be a proper merger of cultures, and I heard what Jenny Rathbone was saying about those strong arguments for having a merger of organisations into an NRW-type body. If that's going to happen then we need to make sure that there is a proper interlinking between all arms of that new organisation, because I think the chief executive and the chair told us that they didn't feel that that had happened in the past. They appear to have the determination necessary to rectify the issues. They commissioned the Grant Thornton review, which does turn over all stones and expose many issues, some of which we weren't aware of before, such as the standing sales contracts. Interestingly, the disagreement between Adam Price and Jenny Rathbone—or the discussion, I should say—about whether or not there should be forestry expertise on that board, well, whether or not it's on the board, or what form it might take, we certainly agree that there needs to be more of an awareness of current forestry issues within NRW. That's been lacking hitherto, and hopefully the new chair, the new team, will put that right.

These are problems that they've had for a long length of time. They will not be resolved overnight, but they will have to be addressed over the medium term, as I believe the Minister has recognised, because this is too large an organisation and it's too important an organisation to be allowed to continue to have these problems over the longer term. The purpose of this debate is to highlight these issues, to give the chief exec and the chair the support they need to make sure that, in the future, these problems can be rectified and NRW can be fit for purpose.