Thank you, Minister, for your statement, and I appreciate there will be some cross-over with, obviously, the remarks that the First Minister dealt with during his questions, but rightly so that they were taken in such high profile in the First Minister's questions segment of today's business.

I too would join in the comments that you have identified with and sided with on thanks to the emergency services, to the volunteers, and to individuals themselves, who, in the face of complete and utter devastation of whole lives being washed away, have been remarkable in their courage and fortitude in the way they've faced up—whether that be in the first week of storms, or whether that be in the second week of storms. Looking at the weather this morning, another great big blob of rain, sadly, is due at the end of this week again, it is. And to actually see that resilience in our communities really does show what it is be Welsh, and ultimately stand shoulder to shoulder with each other in their greatest time of need.

I'd like to touch on specific areas, if I may, because I know just from our benches we have six contributions on this particular statement, and so I'd like to be quite precise in what I'm asking you, and I'm sure other Members will deal with those points in the statement.

The coal tips that you touched on is a really important area of concern in many communities, but in particular in my own electoral ward, because most probably that was one of the visuals that people could see played night after night on the news clips. And as you've identified in your statement, there are some 1,200 tips of one shape or form or another across Wales and, as I understand it, a third here in the top category, category D. The First Minister in his answer identified three authorities who are responsible for inspecting those tips—they were the Coal Authority, NRW and councils. Can you confirm that they do have a joined-up inspection process and that when each authority inspects, that information is shared with the other authorities so that there is complete confidence that things aren't sitting on shelves, and when problems might or might not occur, one organisation knew about it but another didn't know about it? And also, can you identify what type of measures might be being considered by Government to move forward in making sure that any advice that is given is acted on, more importantly, because obviously this is going to come at a cost?

I heard what you said about the meeting with the First Minister and the Secretary of State. So far today, I've heard three costs of what people think the potential clear-up operation might be. Yourself in your press conference—this isn't a criticism—this morning touched on tens of millions. The First Minister in his radio broadcast touched on £100 million, and I think in First Minister's questions a Member said £180 million just in Rhondda Cynon Taf alone. So, it is really important for us to understand how Welsh Government, working with its partner organisations and the UK Government, are able to put a final figure on what might be required to support communities and support local authorities and other public agencies, and businesses as well, in seeking that money from the Treasury. Because I think in fairness to the Welsh Government, if demands were coming in thick and fast they would want to know the quantum of what they're being asked for, and I think it's vital that we understand how Government is working to bring that figure to a conclusion, so that we can actually understand the magnitude of what is required here.

I'd also like to understand exactly how the infrastructure points are being taken forward within Government. My colleague Nick Ramsay from Monmouth touched on the clean drinking water situation in Monmouthshire, but other infrastructure issues have stuck up above the parapet on this one. If you take Natural Resources Wales and the issue of the culvert in Pentre in the Rhondda, there are many issues about how this infrastructure is managed and how it is regularly maintained and, importantly, where faults are found, the timeline that is put in place to rectify the faults that are found. Can you indicate how your department interacts with Natural Resources Wales, local authorities and other partner bodies that are responsible, such as Dŵr Cymru, to make sure that when maintenance programmes are required, those maintenance programmes are carried out on that important infrastructure?

I'd also like to understand how you're working with the UK Government on the insurance side of things. I appreciate it's for the insurance industry to step up to the plate and, in fairness, in many instances I've heard of insurance assessors going over and above what would be expected of them to get claims processed and inspect properties so that people can have peace of mind that those inspection claims are being processed in a timely manner. But it is important that the speed of processing and the speed of assessment is kept up, and whilst we move further and further from the date of the actual flood, we can understand that there might be some taking the foot off the throttle on this. That cannot be allowed be happen and you in Government and, in particular, the UK Government working collaboratively, must make sure the insurance sector steps up to the plate on this.

I would again reiterate how important it is that we have the flood risk management strategy as soon as possible. This has been a piece of work that has been undertaken by Welsh Government for some considerable time, and as it is such a vital piece of work to inform Government and other public bodies of what the responsibilities will be, to know that it will be with us in a couple of months really does leave some questions to be asked. If you could be more specific, as it is your department dealing with this, to give us a timeline that we're working to on this and, importantly, the budget consequences that you think that current development work is looking at, then that would be reassuring to say the least, going forward.

With those questions, I look forward to the answers that you'll be able to give but, again, I would like to put on the record my thanks to everyone who has worked over and above and gone that extra mile to give people peace of mind in what has been a very bleak couple of days.