Item 6 on the agenda is a statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs on the food and drink Wales cluster network. I call on the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs—Lesley Griffiths. 

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Our Welsh food and drink sector continues to go from strength to strength and is a foundation of our economy, with 217,000 workers across the supply chain, which includes agriculture, manufacturing, retail, catering and wholesale, complementing tourism and projecting a positive image of Wales to the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at Blas Cymru 2019, our showcase trade event, where we brought international and UK buyers to our producers and products.

Success is built on partnership. The Food and Drink Wales Industry Board has been our energetic partner. Together we are catalysing ambition, creating routes to market, removing barriers and promoting a sector of growing reach and renown. Of course we face challenges, the most immediate being Brexit. However, we must also work to increase productivity, develop businesses to become more resilient and sustainable, and maintain our reputation for high production standards in order to ensure that the industry can thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Bringing businesses together is integral to tackling these challenges and promoting long-term success. This is a cornerstone of our approach and recipe for success. A key ingredient in this is our very well developed food and drink cluster network. The cluster network is an ambitious programme that aims to create real step change in the industry. It was developed to better support the industry by creating a platform for like-minded businesses to collaborate and receive sector-specific support. It facilitates sector growth, sharing of resources, knowledge and expertise through networking events and workshops, and it creates resilience in our supply chains by developing a web of connections and mutually reinforcing relationships.

Clusters are integral to success in industry throughout the world. They naturally evolve: technology in Silicon Valley; leather footwear and textiles in northern Italy; and finance in the City of London, to name a few. By bringing businesses and talent together, they promote innovation and development. Success breeds success. Our strategy is to accelerate clustering. Through integrated support from Government, technical know-how through Food Innovation Wales and Project Helix, and the ambition of our board, our growing cluster family can help Wales's food and drink industry to continue to develop and thrive.

There are now eight clusters within the Welsh food and drink cluster network, with over 450 Welsh businesses involved. At Blas Cymru, the cluster learning zone enabled face-to-face connections to be made between cluster members and other partners. Our clusters range from groups of businesses that produce a certain type of food or drink, to businesses with different products but shared goals and ambitions, such as export or high-value products.

Our export club enables businesses to collaborate and share experiences regarding exporting, facilitating seasoned exporters and those who are just starting on this journey to discuss hurdles and opportunities in exporting. We've introduced the export buddy system, pairing a seasoned exporter with an export novice to keep the companies accountable and motivated. We have also developed links to international collaborative initiatives, furthering our ambition to increase both exports and inward investment and raising Wales's international profile. The Atlantic Food Export Project is bringing businesses from Wales together with businesses from regions in France, Spain, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to overcome barriers to export and improve competitiveness in international markets.

The nutrifoods cluster includes over 75 businesses and organisations collaborating on projects ranging from food engineering to a strategic decarbonisation programme. It involves the future foods programme at Aberystwyth University and our food centres across the country, with the aim of increased research and development in the food industry, making it truly innovative and sustainable in an increasingly competitive environment.

The high-impact cluster is focused on addressing the urgent problem of waste. It has identified waste reduction opportunities, also worth tens of thousands of pounds of direct savings, for the businesses involved. This helps business and wider prosperity and it helps Wales’s well-being, being in alignment with the Welsh Government strategy 'Towards Zero Waste' and its aim of 70 per cent recycling by 2025, and 100 per cent by 2050. The cluster is now looking to take matters further, having recently held a conference focussed on waste and resource efficiency, which I am confident will generate new solutions to address packaging waste.

The drinks cluster has collaborated with the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board to develop an overarching drink sector strategy to support this diverse and valuable part of our industry. It is developing special interest groups, working towards specific and focused strategic projects. Our fine food cluster members have really appreciated the ability to network, with companies partnering to successfully pitch to buyers at Blas Cymru, and are now even sharing salesmen. This shows that the network is not just about companies being supported by the cluster, but the active support cluster members give each other.

The seafood cluster is raising awareness of our fishery products industry. They have created informative videos about this industry and established a branding and banding special interest group, aiming to increase traceability and awareness of provenance of the shellfish catch. They're also establishing the Welsh seafood directory to signpost where you can buy delicious Welsh seafood across the country.

More recently established is the honey cluster, which is raising the profile of the products of Welsh beekeepers and helping to share best practice amongst them.

As we develop the new strategic plan for the food and drink industry in Wales, we are looking to learn the lessons of these successes to build on these foundations and ensure that the cluster network continues to thrive into the future. The networks they are creating with each other, and into the wider supply chain, are creating resilience in our food system. This has proved an inspirational journey, a beacon for what we can achieve in Wales, supporting our vision to create a prosperous and fair nation of world-class renown.

Thank you. Andrew R.T. Davies. 

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. Most probably the most exciting thing that's happened to me today is that I get to use the lectern, because we've got a rural affairs statement.

But, it is worth reflecting on the size of the industry to Wales: £20.5 billion in total turnover, 210,000 or 217,000 jobs in total if you take the catering sector into mind. And the growth of the sector and the awareness among the consumers is staggering over, certainly, the last 10, 15 years. And people are very concerned about the provenance of the food that they're buying, and they are prepared to put their money where their mouths are and actually decide to spend that money on food that they can have confidence in. So, it is important that people do have the ability to grow their businesses here in Wales, and that where best practice can be identified in the various clusters, that best practice is shared. 

I think you've identified the breadth of the clusters, from the most recent, the honey sector, right the way through to the export market, which is a very complicated field to say the least. And, very often, to give customers confidence to go in that export market, they do need to obviously be peer-led and know that Government is there to support them. 

There are a couple of questions that I do have to ask. Obviously, only recently, Tomlinson's went bankrupt up in north Wales, or into administration, should I say, and there is a precarious state amongst some of the big processors here in Wales. When you look at the Tomlinson's model, which was all about backing Welsh produce—in this case, milk—and allowing that milk to get shelf space amongst the big retailers, it really does show that there does need to be a gradual evolution in this field, because, obviously, a well-established business can grow very quickly overnight, and put a particular financial stress and strain on the business. Can you give us a sense of how the processing sector here in Wales is benefiting from the cluster network, in particular in the red meat sector? Because I think, if you took one large abattoir out in Merthyr, there would be very little beef-processing capacity left in Wales. So, it's important to understand, from those two examples I've given you, how the processing sector is benefiting from the cluster network. 

I'd also like to try and understand how the rural development plan is helping inform the cluster network, and by the RDP informing, I mean how much money is going into the cluster network from the rural development plan. Because, again, the cluster network should be driving efficiencies within the industry, whether that be at the farm gate, or whether that be in the processing sector, or whether that be in the retail sector, so that we do have an efficient chain that can compete both in the export market and the domestic market. So, if you could give us some sense of how important the RDP has been to informing the development of the cluster network in Wales, I think that would be really, really helpful.

I'd also like to understand how you keep the cluster network fresh and vibrant. Because having eight sectors represented, it is important that they don't just end up turning into talking shops, and not developing what we want to see as the best practice, the innovation, and driving the new ideas, and that, when that particular sector does need revitalising, or revamping, that does happen, rather than we've just got the tick-box exercise of saying, 'Well, that sector's taken care of by that particular cluster network.' We all saw what happened with the techniums in the early part of the Assembly's life, and, sadly, they weren't the success that obviously people wished them to be, because they were felt that they just couldn't achieve what was replicated in other parts. And in your statement this afternoon you talk about various clusters, in California, in Italy, and they seem to have worked there well. Well, the technium model was very much focused on what was going on in California, but yet it didn't transfer across the Atlantic into Wales. So, I'd be very keen to understand how the department, and you as Minister, is working to make sure that the cluster network stays fresh and stays vibrant.

And importantly, obviously, on the consumers' agenda, radar—call it what you will—is the climate change emergency that has been declared, and carbon reduction. And I notice in your statement that you do refer to that, and some of the best practice models, and the investment that's been made into Aberystwyth University for research. I would be really keen to understand the Government's thinking on this, because, obviously, we are in a general election at the moment—I have questioned you on this before. Various political parties have this agenda to try and squeeze that carbon-neutral agenda into a 2030 target, as opposed to the 2050 target that the climate change committee says is the only credible option available at the moment with the technologies we have. How confident are you that the carbon reduction that is identified in your own plan as a Welsh Government will meet the goals of what the consumers want to see, which is a carbon neutral world, with a good environmental footprint, and is achievable without causing long-term harm to the industry, and the industry can go along with the goals that you are setting? Because it is about setting goals that are achievable and don't, ultimately, cause the economic damage that, potentially, some shortening of that timeline could, if the 2030 target was brought into play.

So, if I could receive answers on those couple of questions I've put to you, I'd be most grateful, Minister.

Thank you, Andrew, for the series of questions. I think you make a really important point about the consumers wanting to know more about the provenance of their food, and, certainly, in the three and a half years I've been in this portfolio, I've seen a huge increase in the numbers of people attending food festivals, food halls at our agricultural shows, and you can see they're very keen to buy the Welsh produce. And you see it also in the supermarkets, and I think it's really important that supermarkets have that offer of Welsh produce. And, again, it's something that I've been very encouraged about in our business lounge at the Royal Welsh Show, where a huge amount of business is done. I think we met with—officials met with some, and I met some—about 90 per cent of the entire supermarket network, for want of a better word. We met with representatives of those supermarkets to ensure that their consumer, and people right across Wales, and the UK, are able to buy Welsh produce if they choose to do so.

You talk about the cluster network, and this is probably the only example, I think, we have of this cluster policy in the Welsh Government. And I was very lucky to go out to both Catalonia and the Basque Country, about 18 months ago, to look at their cluster network—at the food cluster network in particular. But both of those countries, particularly Catalonia, have had a cluster policy for many, many years—I think it's about 30 years. So, they've got a cluster for children, for instance, and all organisations and companies can pay into that cluster if they make children's furniture, if they make children's clothes. So, it's not just about one type of food, and that's what we've done here—you mentioned the fine foods, we've got the drinks cluster—so it's about a variety of organisations coming together, and supporting each other. And the one thing I really like about the cluster policy is that—you mentioned the honey cluster, and, as I say, it's the newest one that we've got. And to actually sit round the table—I've been fortunate to meet them a couple of times—they are competitors, but they're really happy to share that best practice that you referred to.

I think it is important that we keep it fresh, and I suppose the way we keep it fresh is by ensuring we bring on new cluster networks, but it is peer-led, a lot of it, also. And certainly, I think the export programme that we've got, where you have people supporting each other—. So, I know in my own constituency I've got Wrexham Lager, and the managing director there is really keen to support other new companies who are looking to export. I know there's a company in Jeremy Miles's constituency in Neath that I visited with him, so they've buddied up with each other, and they in turn, then, support each other's food festivals, for instance. So, I think they're keeping it fresh themselves by ensuring that they support one another.

In relation to the climate emergency, I know you've asked a couple of times about different targets. You'll be aware that our target is for 2050, and currently it's a 95 per cent reduction in emissions. I'm going to the Conference of the Parties this weekend, where it will be good to hear about best practice from other countries. The UK Committee on Climate Change, which is our advisory body and gives me advice, have said that our target should be 95 per cent. I've asked them to go back and see if we can achieve 100 per cent. They are very ambitious targets, as you say, and I think it's really important that we do not just take companies with us, but we also take the public with us as well. And I think people do recognise that we can't just keep doing things the way we have done. We have to do different things.

You asked about the RDP, and it's a good opportunity to talk about Food Innovation Wales and Project Helix. We have three Food Innovation Wales centres of excellence, which I'm sure the Member's aware of, the ZERO2FIVE one at Cardiff Metropolitan University, one in Horeb in Ceredigion and the Food Technology Centre in Llangefni. We've also got Project Helix. That's now being delivered under the Food Innovation Wales brand, and that's supported by £21.2 million of RDP funding. Again, it will gather information on food production, on trends, on waste, which is very important and which you raised, from across the globe, and they will then transfer that knowledge to our food processors, producers and manufacturers. And it's expected to generate over £100 million to the Welsh economy, and create and safeguard thousands of jobs. I know the first data I received showed we were well on target to doing that.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I don't think there was any significant announcement made in the statement, but clearly it's a useful update on what is happening. I do believe that bringing various stakeholders together through the supply chain, sector by sector, will clearly bring benefits, to build on strengths, to share experiences, and to create some critical mass that will lead to the progress in those sectors that we're all so eager to see.

I do have some comments, of course, as you might imagine. Now, mainly, I'm picking up from both sectors, the food sector and also the agricultural sector, that there is a lack of linkage, or a disconnect, between your latest consultation documents on developing the food and drink sector in Wales and 'Sustainable Farming and our Land'. Now, the suggestion is that both documents should do more to be developed along with each other, or to create one integrated strategy. So, my first question is to ask you whether there is a fundamental weakness in that regard, that is that you have two separate processes, two consultations, two documents, in areas that should go hand in hand with each other. Perhaps you could give your response to that.

You mentioned in your statement developing the reach and renown of the sector. Of course, Welsh branding is at the heart of that renown and that reach, be that in the domestic market or in many of the international markets that we have access to. So, how do you ensure that the branding of Welsh food and drink is strengthened and not undermined by UK Government campaigns, for example Food is GREAT Britain—it doesn't work in Welsh, as it happens? There is a risk that that brand could dilute the Welsh brand and the values that the red dragon represents on our products.

You mentioned challenges, of course, particularly Brexit and the need for us to ensure that the sector is more resilient and sustainable. Will you therefore explain how you will assist the food and drink sector in the face of the possibility of losing some of our international markets and losing markets on the one hand, but also seeing cheap imports flowing into the domestic market on the other, and how that could risk being a race to the bottom, of course?

You mentioned how the high-impact cluster is doing work on packaging waste, and that's to be welcomed, but whilst they can play their part, there is far more that the Welsh Government could also do, and I want to know when we will see the Government at last coming to a decision on issues such as the extended producer responsibility, in order to make a very real difference. I know that there has been consultation, there's been discussion—well, the time has now come that we should see action, surely.

Finally, could you tell me what more you think you can do in terms of public procurement, because this is one issue that I don't think that the Government has got to grips with or resolved adequately? There are still far too many food and drink contracts in the public sector going outwith Wales. So, could you explain to us how you see the roles of these clusters and any other proposals you have, specifically in terms of the food and drink sector, in improving that situation, because we know that every 1 per cent that we retain in Wales leads to some 2,000 jobs? And all of that, of course, without spending more money, only spending the money we're already spending more efficiently and effectively.

Thank you, Llyr, for that series of comments and questions. We launched the consultation for our future plans for the food and drink industry board at the Royal Welsh Show. A few people mentioned that perhaps the two consultations should have been linked together; I thought it was really important to have them separate, but clearly there is an overlap. The food and drink consultation and the next action plan will obviously build on the current action plan, which finishes in 2020. Certainly, the very ambitious target of £6 billion to be reached by 2020—I thought it was very ambitious at the time—we will have reached, I believe, probably by the end of this year; certainly I think we were very, very close to it at the end of last year. So, whilst I absolutely appreciate the agri-food—and we use that sentence quite a lot, don't we, that 'agri-food'—it's really important you have that overlap. I thought it was the right thing to have them separate, and I certainly think, in the discussions I've had generally, that has been accepted. But it is important that when we have a look at the overall findings of both, we ensure that that overlap continues.

Welsh branding is very important to me. I am determined that we won't be undermined by the UK Government's 'Food is GREAT'. You're probably referring to what happened last year at the Royal Welsh Show. It didn't happen this year, and that was because I was very clear that the food hall is our shop window, and I didn't want 'Food is GREAT'. However, I will say there are some Welsh companies that do want to be part of 'Food is GREAT', and that's absolutely right for them, but I think the more that that sort of sustainable food brand gets into people's minds—the Welsh dragon is clearly a massive selling point for our food producers. So, I'm very happy to continue to ensure that that shop window stays just for Welsh produce, but, of course, I respect people's choice that they might want to be part of something else.

On the EPR, as you mentioned, we've been out to consultation. That now sits with my colleague Hannah Blythyn, who I will make sure provides an update. We went out to consultation and, clearly, it is right that producers have to look at their role in reducing food packaging.

In relation to Brexit and the challenges and future trade, we know that membership of the EU gives our Welsh food and drink producers unrestricted access to 0.5 billion people. There is, for me, nothing that can compare to that, so whilst, at the moment, they've got freedom from discriminatory tariffs—we've got non-tariff barriers and so our producers are able to export to EU countries very easily. We know that 90 per cent of Welsh lamb and beef exports go to other countries in the EU, so Brexit, for me, can only mean that exports will be more expensive if they're subject, obviously, to tariffs and non-tariff barriers. So, it's really important that we continue to work with, obviously, the UK Government to make sure they know our views. We know that we've got to support our red-meat sector particularly, and we've been doing that over the past three years. You'll be aware I gave funding for red-meat benchmarking to make sure our farmers are more competitive.

Again, the freedom of movement of people is going to have an impact on our food producers. I was looking at the figures of how many people—out of that 217,000 people I mentioned across the whole chain, how many are EU nationals, and I think it was over 30 per cent. So, you can see that's also going to make a huge difference to our food producers. So, massive challenges around Brexit, and we'll continue to work very closely with the sector.

Just following up on the previous two contributions, which covered some of what I was going to raise, I don't entirely share Andrew R.T. Davies's confidence that people are prepared to put money where their mouth is. Because, unfortunately, many people are forced to buy based on price and many people, even if they're not forced to, they do basically buy based on price. And often what appears to be cheaper is actually more expensive, because processed food is laced with adulterating sugar, salt and saturated fat, and, unfortunately, I am horrified to learn that, across the UK, something like two thirds of all people never eat freshly prepared food. So, we face some pretty big public health challenges on that front.

But you've already mentioned the existential crisis posed by Brexit, which has been postponed for now, but the threat of a catastrophic crash out of our main food export and import market hasn't gone away—it's just been delayed by a year. And so, just as the outgoing Government—UK Government—is happy to open the NHS drug procurement to US big pharma, so I fear they have no qualms about sacrificing food standards on the altar of so-called free trade agreements. So, that could mean US farming interests, dominated by multinational food processing companies, unconcerned by the environmental damage they're doing to our soils, our seas and our air, riding roughshod over Welsh farming interests. So, we have some pretty substantive challenges ahead of us.

I'd like to celebrate the things that you've already outlined in your statement. You mentioned six of the eight food and drink clusters, and I believe there is also a horticulture cluster, and you won't be surprised to hear me probe you on this, because I feel that this is one of the most important things for all of us. There are over 60 commercial vegetable producers on Tyfu Cymru's database. What progress can you tell us about their capacity to make Wales be a more sustainable producer of our own vegetables and fruit, and less subject, therefore, to the catastrophic crash out of the EU at the end of next year?

I also note that there's a meeting tomorrow of the winners of the foundational economy challenge fund in Llanelwedd, which presumably Lee Waters is going to. I'm very interested to know what plans there may be afoot to extend the ambition of the Carmarthenshire public services board to procure more public sector food closer to home from local business, and how you think that good practice could be spread to all the other PSBs. I particularly note that Professor Sonnino from Cardiff University's geography department was addressing the United Nations' food and agricultural organisation yesterday and was highlighting the importance of local urban food networks for combating climate change and decarbonising our food networks.

Thank you, Jenny. I think the point that Andrew R.T. Davies was making and certainly I would agree with is—and I've seen it myself over the last three years—that people—particularly in supermarkets, I think, I've seen it—seek out Welsh food and drink and are demanding that our supermarkets stock it, obviously, for them to be able to choose to do so. My own mum will look herself for Welsh cheese. She won't buy any other cheese apart from Welsh cheese, and, clearly, there are lots of varieties of Welsh cheese. But I think it is really good; you rarely now go in a supermarket in Wales and don't see Welsh cheese on display. 

I think the figure that you came up with—two thirds of people across the UK don't eat freshly prepared food—clearly, the impact of food on public health is very well recognised, and I think the food industry has a significant role to play in influencing what people choose to eat and drink. 

You mentioned the horticulture cluster. Indeed, there is a horticulture cluster. As you know, it's not a huge market in Wales, but I think one of the opportunities from 'Sustainable Farming and our Land', going forward, is to see an increase in the number of horticulturalists. I've visited at least two over the past year or so where they are very keen to ensure that they extend their offer. 

I'm not aware of the event that you referred to the Deputy Minister Lee Waters going to tomorrow, but he's just walked into the Chamber, and I'd be very happy to have a discussion if he is going to that event tomorrow at, I'm assuming, the Royal Welsh showground. 

You're quite right about the concerns, post Brexit, of what free trade agreements the UK Government do, and I always say that, if the USA is probably top of their list, it wouldn't be top of my list, for sure. I think it's really important that we have those discussions with the UK Government, and I know the Minister with responsibility for trade ensures that they are around the table for any discussions.

But, clearly, maintaining our very high standards of the way our food and drink is produced—we want to maintain those standards and we don't want the market to be flooded with cheap food, because, as you say, for a lot of people, price is certainly something that they absolutely have to look at when they're buying their food. So, it's about supporting people to be able to make sure they can make healthy choices, and also providing advice and information and support. And, clearly, that is part of the food and drink offer that we have. 

Thank you very much, Minister, and that brings today's proceedings to a close. Thank you.

The meeting ended at 17:52.