5. What assessment has the Minister made of the effectiveness of the liaison between the Welsh Government and the Future Generations Commissioner? OAQ54292

The commissioner provides both support and challenge to the Welsh Government on a range of policy areas, in particular those that reflect her priorities.  

Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. I assume that you and the Government were delighted by the response from the future generations commissioner when you decided to ditch the M4 relief road on the grounds that it would destroy forever sites that we, as one generation, should not be depriving an untold number of future generations of. Turning historical, ancient landscape into concrete is a one-way action and there's no reverse or repair. So, I wonder whether your Government's desire to carve up a piece of rare wet woodland, destroying a large part of it and denying that rarity to our generation and every generation that follows in the name of the red route relief road in Flintshire, has met with the commissioner's approval. Has your Government asked the commissioner for her opinion and, if so, what was her reply, please?

This is an issue that, of course, has already been considered in terms of the red route by not just the Petitions Committee, but in response from the Minister for transport. We announced the red option as a preferred route to resolve traffic congestion in the Flintshire corridor in September 2017, and we're also progressing with the next steps of appointing technical advisers to develop a preliminary design on this route. It is important, of course, that this—consideration of it—forms part of the Welsh transport appraisal guidance, and officials work very closely with the future generations commissioner's office, as I said earlier on this afternoon, to update WelTAG to embed the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.