Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 15 May 2019.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 1:40, 15 May 2019

Any assistance, obviously, the Government can give to being a facilitator to solving the problem, I think, would be very welcome, as I said, given the amount of on-farm plastics that are used and, ultimately, moving to a scenario in years to come where plastics aren't used and there are alternatives.

But I would like to take you up on the statistics that you gave me in the last questioning that we did on farm pollution. You very kindly corrected the record, because, at that time, you said there'd been a 200 per cent increase in the instances when, in fact, it was just under 200 instances. If you look back over the 20 years' worth of figures that Natural Resources Wales provide, they clearly show that the parameters are, in a good year, about 100 instances, and, in a bad year, under 200—194 is the highest, which, I believe, was hit in 2012-13. Given that these parameters have been relatively constant over the last 20 years, do you think that it is right that you've brought such draconian measures in rather than listening to, obviously, your own working group, which you set up yourself, that set up this document for you to consider with cross-sector buy-in to the recommendations that were brought forward? And, surely, the recommendations contained in this report offer a blueprint to go forward for the agricultural industry, given the evidence that this group collated.