Questions now from the party spokespeople. The Conservative spokesperson, Andrew R.T. Davies. 

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Minister, is it still your intention to bring forward the regulations and enforce those regulations on water quality from 1 January next year?  

I will be making a statement before the end of term.  

I thank you for that. It is regrettable obviously that it will be in written form, rather than oral, but I appreciate pressures on time. I do detect that maybe there is a little bit of movement, and that would be welcomed by the sector, I'm sure. You did a regulatory impact assessment on this particular issue. Can you confirm today how many farms and how many jobs might be lost and what that regulatory impact assessment highlighted, because surely that's what it looked at if these regulations were to be implemented as understood by the industry? 

I'm not able to give you that information at this moment. There is a great deal of work going on—you're quite right. The reason I haven't been able to bring forward the statement up to now is because I've asked my officials to go back several times and get further advice. I met with the farming unions, again, I think it was a fortnight ago, to discuss the issue with them. You'll be aware of the Wales land and water management forum. They are meeting again on Monday. So, I am looking to get as much advice as I can before I bring the regulations in. 

Thank you for that response, Minister. I would be grateful to try and understand from the impact assessment how many farms and jobs would be lost, and if you could do that in written format for me, I'd be grateful for that, because I would expect an impact assessment to make that calculation. But you highlighted there the Welsh land forum and the sector coming together in bringing forward 45 recommendations in this particular area that the regulator and the industry agreed would make a significant improvement to water quality here in Wales. Are you minded to take those recommendations on board in your new deliberations in this particular area? Or is it still the case that you will be just implementing the regulations as outlined but it will be the date that will be moving rather than maybe more of the substance? 

I'm very happy to take all the recommendations into consideration, of course. It wouldn't be worth having them if I wasn't going to do that. So, you're right—the forum did make a number of recommendations. The NFU came forward with a number of recommendations. I think what was disappointing with some of the recommendations I received was that they were nearly all for Government. I think it's really important that the industry recognises that the level of agricultural pollution we're seeing in Wales is unacceptable. It rose significantly last year and we don't want that to continue. And I think everybody agrees that it's embarrassing for the agricultural sector to have these levels of agricultural pollution and that we need to do something about it. So, I wanted my officials to look very carefully at all the recommendations, all the evidence. One area I promised personally to look at myself was around the proposed closed periods for fertiliser applications, and I will make a final decision once the RIA has been finalised.  

The Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Llyr Gruffydd. 

Yes, it's quite embarrassing on other sectors as well, isn't it? Their performance isn't wonderful. There were 30,000 sewage spillages in this country back in 2017, and I don't hear the Government making as much fuss about that. But, there we are—that's by the way.

But do you accept that spreading during closed periods and having set dates for spreading slurry and farming by calendar can actually be counter productive? We hear people like Tony Juniper, the boss of Natural England, saying as much. So, is that something that you now accept and that you, of course, are moving away from that kind of approach? 

I think farming by calendar is always something that I've never been able to quite understand. I always said to the agricultural sector that it was one area that I absolutely really understood why they thought we should be looking at that. However, it has to be earned—that kind of flexibility has to be earned. And I think that's certainly one of the discussions that I've been having particularly with the National Farmers Union.

Well, if you don't understand it, maybe you'll ask the people who know best, and those are the people who actually farm that land day in, day out. I'm sure they'll tell you exactly what you need to know.

Now, of course, you're proposing, or we think that you're still proposing, blanket coverage across Wales for these regulations. And you'll remember, I'm sure, the 'Working Smarter' review, which, amongst its recommendations, recommended that the Welsh Government should operate a principle of a risk-based and targeted approach for the application of environmental regulations in Wales.

Now, I'd understand if you were looking to apply enhanced regulations in certain parts of Wales. I'm not sure—. I don't think we have an issue with that, if the rationale was there to do that. But your proposed whole-Wales approach isn't risk based or targeted at all. So, do you accept that introducing a closed period is likely to increase the risk of agricultural pollution? And, of course, as we've heard, the cost of meeting those new regulations will mean a cost of tens of thousands of pounds to Welsh farmers. And are you, as a Government, willing to play your part in supporting them in meeting that challenge if asked to do so?

So, if I can start with your first comment, I certainly have spoken with the agricultural sector to see what the difficulties are of farming by calendar, because I'm on their side. That's what I'm saying; I understand that.

However, I'm also the Minister for environment, and there has been an unacceptable number of agricultural pollutions. I've just had one this weekend. When I put my computer on at the weekend, invariably, I'm getting e-mails about agricultural pollution incidents. It's too many and it's embarrassing and I think everybody wants to see less pollution. I'm not saying it's just the agricultural sector, of course not, but my regulations are obviously to do with the agricultural sector.

We have been undertaking visits to dairy farms with Natural Resources Wales dairy inspectors. I think we've now—. I think it's about 250 that have now been visited and over 50 per cent of those farms are non-compliant at the moment in relation to agricultural regulations. That is unacceptable. I have always said that we will help support, with funding, the additional requirements. However, I will not give funding to bring people up to the legal position as it stands now. If they're not compliant, I'm not going to pay for them to become compliant, but we'll certainly look to provide funding, if that is what is required later on.

On another matter, I was wondering whether you could give us an update with regards to Tomlinson's Dairies, which closed, of course. And could you confirm to us which Government Minister is now leading on this piece of work, because I understand, given the fact that he represents the local constituency, that the Minister for economy isn't in a position to do that? So, some clarity around who's leading this piece of work for Welsh Government would be appreciated. And also what is the Welsh Government doing not only to support those farmers, clearly, who've been impacted by the closure, but there is a huge and modern facility there, sitting idle, so what kind of incentives and efforts are the Government making to attract alterative processors to the site?

As you know, we've done a great deal of work—my department have done a great deal of work—with Tomlinson's before the closure to try and support them, over the past 18 months, really, to try and help them resolve their ongoing business issues.

You are quite right, it is within the Clwyd South constituency of Ken Skates. At the moment, I am leading on it. Obviously, if there are decisions to be taken in relation to the ReAct programme, for instance—if that needs to be used—there is the Deputy Minister who can obviously look at those issues for the Minister for Economy and Transport. I asked for an update this morning as to whether there have been any movements around another company buying Tomlinson's and I'm not aware that that is the case. Obviously, it's the administrator that is now dealing with that. 

In relation to support for farmers, I met with both the farming unions and asked them, if they had farmers who they knew had specific difficulties, to let me know, and I know that my officials have worked—. I think it was about 15 different farm businesses that we supported around the closure of Tomlinson's.