Diolch, Llywydd. I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to this petition, seeking an independent inquiry into the flooding in Rhondda Cynon Taf. I witnessed myself first hand the devastating impacts of these floods, and, without the swift action of our risk management authorities and emergency services, I am certain we would have seen even more homes flooded. We must also acknowledge how our network of defences protected thousands of properties, and the importance of keeping these structures well maintained. I of course recognise the impact on residents' well-being, as well as the effect on their homes and businesses. Knowing how those communities then had to deal with COVID-19 is heartbreaking, and has strengthened my resolve to do everything we can to help reduce future risk.

This Government acted quickly and decisively in our response to make the necessary repairs and improvements. Immediately after the February storms, I provided all risk-management authorities the opportunity to apply for financial support to undertake emergency repairs to assets. I provided 100 per cent funding for this, which has totalled £4.6 million. In addition, a funding package was also made available to directly support businesses and households. So, far, the Welsh Government has provided over £9.2 million across Wales. In RCT, I awarded £1.6 million of emergency funding to repair damaged flood assets, and this was in addition to the £2.1 million grant funding towards defences and smaller schemes across the county.

I've also provided funding for property resilience measures, such as floodgates, and, to date, have awarded over £1 million across Wales to benefit up to 594 properties. This includes a recent award of over £300,000 to RCT for 357 homes.

Today, I've announced additional revenue support for local authorities this year, providing up to £95,000 extra per authority to support with their flood-risk activities and to help ensure that assets remain resilient over the winter. My officials have written to all local authorities with further details.

In October, I published our new national flood strategy and this strengthens roles and responsibilities and sets out new objectives around communication, planning and prevention. It encourages natural flood management and adaptation, plus greater collaboration to create sustainable schemes that deliver wider well-being benefits. It's an ambitious strategy and reaffirms the importance we place on flood-risk management and the growing threat of climate change. This follows changes to funding that I announced to provide greater support and flexibility to our risk-management authorities, including 100 per cent support for natural flood-management projects and to prepare business cases for new flood and coastal schemes.

I strongly agree with the contributions from Senedd Members that we have to learn the lessons from the February flooding. There must be further scrutiny and engagement of affected communities and all those who face climate risks in Wales. Local authorities have a legal duty to produce reports that investigate the causes of flooding and bring forward recommendations to further reduce risk, and these reports are public documents and are prepared by teams of highly skilled individuals. It seems from contributions from some Members that they don't have confidence in the professional integrity of those people who will prepare the report and don't have confidence in their own ability and that of communities to scrutinise their findings. But I don't share that view, and I have absolute confidence in the professionalism of local authority staff and their commitment to the safety and well-being of the communities they serve. And if Members have evidence that should cast doubt on that belief, then they have a responsibility to present it, but I've not heard any such evidence offered to date.

All Members of this Senedd have a role in scrutinising those reports closely as soon as they're available and ensuring that the views and interests of their constituents are represented. And this Senedd has a role in ensuring that we do learn the lessons from those reports and apply them in national policy and local operational practice to keep Wales safe. I believe that the professionally prepared and legally required reports from local authorities will allow us to do that.

Local elected Members in RCT have gone beyond this to produce their own report, as we heard from Mick Antoniw, who co-authored it with Alex Davies-Jones, the MP. The report makes it clear that residents see a number of specific areas for improvement and solutions that we can consider not only to reduce flood risk, but to help support wider well-being. Contributions of this kind are welcome and clearly show ways in which local residents can scrutinise the issues and put forward creative and constructive solutions that work for them. And I hope that other Members will consider how they can similarly support the communities to be more resilient to climate-related threats and more engaged with issues.

NRW has, in addition to its statutory responsibility to produce flood investigations, published a full review in October, with a series of reports that provide a detailed account of the challenges in relation to their response and forecasting, and I would urge anyone who believes that there has been an attempt to downplay the challenges and the areas for improvement to read that review. It demonstrates not just the range and severity of the challenges we face, but, in my view, the organisation's absolute commitment to take the opportunity now to subject these challenges to public scrutiny, to work with communities to find better solutions for the future. Their conclusion was not that the report should be the end of the conversation, but very explicitly that the conversation must continue, continuing to learn the lessons of the devastating flooding in February and consider more broadly how, as a society, we prepare for the changing climate and its impact on our communities in Wales, and that's a conclusion with which I firmly agree and I hope that the Senedd would also endorse.

So, I do look forward to the further scrutiny of the flood investigation report, and I look forward to working with all Senedd Members, along with local authority partners and with communities, to learn the lessons of the dreadful February floods and to better prepare ourselves for the growing challenges that Wales faces from a changing climate. Diolch.