Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 12:10 pm on 1 July 2020.
Leader of the house, could I have two statements, if possible? I appreciate that they'll be done in a written form. One in relation to the Government missing its deadline for farm payments yesterday—30 June itself is the deadline to make all farm payments other than complex payments. I'm led to believe that the Government has missed that deadline and will be subject to EU fines for missing the deadline. We now need to understand what the new timeline will be for farm businesses to receive this money, especially with the COVID crisis impacting on many farm businesses, and the flow of cash into those businesses.
And secondly, the Auditor General for Wales's report yesterday touched on a very pertinent issue that has been plaguing the rural development plan and its delivery right the way through its lifetime since 2014. The auditor general did a report in 2018 that highlighted the same problems that were highlighted by the report yesterday. And, sadly, it does seem as if much of this money goes to favoured companies, individuals or Government agencies themselves, as the auditor general highlights. It is vitally important that the Minister responds to this report in a timely manner and that Members see that response so that, with the remaining time for the rural development plan, we can have confidence that the remaining money will not be frittered away and will be used to best effect.