7. Welsh Conservatives debate: Natural Resources Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:47 pm on 13 March 2019.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 5:47, 13 March 2019

Well, it's clear what they've got to—they've got to balance their regulatory powers, which, in fairness, they've exercised, I think, with some purpose, with their commercial ones. Some of the commercial judgments just defy any sort of analysis as soon as anyone looks at them, let alone the auditor looking at it and pointing out the alarming failures in commercial practice in treating companies fairly and tendering properly. These are not towering tasks to manage for public agencies that should be able to draw on the experience to do that effectively, and I'm sure that the Government was telling them to do it effectively.

Now, we have heard from Plaid that, somehow, this motion, instead of rigorous and due scrutiny, is a vicious attack on the staff. In fairness, I think everyone finds that slightly sceptical. You may not like the motion, you may think it's misguided, but, as an attack on the staff, when the second point of the motion goes out to praise the staff—. But then we had this utterly bizarre argument that the word 'systematic' means relating to individuals. Well, I have to say, my understanding of 'systematic' is that it relates to systems, but, I've only got an O-level in English language, and I didn't pay that much attention to the comprehension exercises. No doubt Llyr was a star pupil there and would be able to show me why I make these basic errors. 

But I do think we also need a more hopeful message. We need to make a decision through a review whether this can be fixed, and I hope it can be. I have met the new leadership team, and I do think they've got every intention of turning things around. But if that's not going to be possible, then we do have to revisit these things and just agree a new approach. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.