Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:01 pm on 4 June 2019.
Diolch, Llyr. I should probably say, to prepare everybody, that the consultation that we'll be bringing forward in July—you said you're looking forward to getting it—is going to be very detailed. It's probably going to be twice the size of 'Brexit and our land', so just a little bit of a health warning there, because it is going to be so detailed.
I think I've always co-designed. The whole point of having the Brexit round-table was to do that, and certainly the 'Brexit and our land' consultation that we brought forward last year—. I think most people who sit on that stakeholder group said they could see the result of our discussions in that document. So, I think I've always been very keen to co-design, but certainly, from the discussions I've had with the farming unions and other stakeholders, they are so keen to work with us. As I say, I'm very grateful for the responses that we've had, and certainly the help that they're giving us to do that. So, I set out in my answer to Andrew R.T. Davies the timeline that we're looking at to do that.
You mentioned two very pertinent words—active farmers. That came out very clearly in the conversation and the consultation responses that we've had. It is about land use; it's not about land owned, and I can absolutely confirm that that's what we're looking to do. Because that's not what the basic payment scheme did. So, in setting up the new scheme and the new support policy, that has to be at the heart of it.
You specifically mentioned tenant farmers, and I'm particularly interested in tenant farmers. I've gone out of my way to visit many tenant farmers in the three years that I've been in post. I passionately believe that they should not be disadvantaged in accessing schemes because they don't own the land that they farm, and the responses, I think, to 'Brexit and our land' absolutely echoed that view. You may be aware that we've got a consultation out at the current time around tenancy reform. That closes on 2 July, and that consultation contains proposals to enable tenant farmers to be able to access new agriculture and land management schemes. So, I'll have the consultation responses from that consultation as well as the forthcoming consultation, because I think both of the responses will need to be considered in the round, going forward.
You talk about the uncertainty of Brexit, and I was saying to officials this morning that everything that could go against us has seemed to go against us since we had the 'Brexit and our land' consultation. The consultation that I'm bringing forward in July won't finish till the end of October. Hopefully by then we will be a lot clearer. But we can't just sit and do nothing and wait. We know that we're coming out of Europe and we know we have to have that policy. You referred to the UK Government and us being hand in hand walking off. If you look, the Scottish Government—. It's only a transitional arrangement. Northern Ireland haven't been able to form a policy, obviously, because they don't have any Ministers at the moment. If you look at the 27 countries you referred to staying in CAP, CAP is going to go through reform. And if you look at the way it appears to be going, what we've done around sustainable management, public goods, improving water quality, that's all part of the CAP reform. So, I don't think what we're doing will be out of step in the way that you suggest. Only—I say 'only'—63 per cent of farmers access the basic payment scheme. It could be that not everybody will want to be part of this scheme. It is a voluntary scheme, obviously, but I think it is important that we get it right.
You're right—we can't—. I will hold them to their promise, but it's very difficult to believe everything that you hear. However, I can't imagine a time when the UK Government would not want to support farmers and they would not want that funding to come to us so that we can decide how to use that for the good of our own Welsh farmers.