6. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:40 pm on 13 May 2020.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 5:40, 13 May 2020

Thank you so much, Minister, for emphasising the need to produce food to the highest quality and play our part in tackling climate change. Thank you also for reopening garden centres, which, obviously, safeguards the businesses of what are mainly small businesses. But I want to just remind us that whatever amateur gardeners are able to produce in the way of fruit and vegetables, it is not going to tackle the deficit that we currently have in terms of the huge amount of vegetables and, particularly, fruit that we rely on from imports. So, I know that the Landworkers Alliance Cymru has written to you about how we could expand fruit and veg production, and I wondered how the Welsh Government is planning to take forward commercial production to improve food security.

Secondly, I just want to ask you about air pollution. It's far too soon to tie down the correlation between air pollution and the spread of COVID, but we do know that 1,700 lives have been saved across Britain by cleaner air during this lockdown, and we also know that diseases caused by air pollution, like heart disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all exacerbate one's chances of getting and not surviving COVID. So, I wondered if you could tell us what work your Government is doing on ensuring that, in the recovery from COVID, we are maintaining the improvements in cleaner air and ensuring that it's really at the forefront of people's minds when we're reshaping our public transport systems and the way in which people can safely get to work and school.