Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 16 June 2021.
Thank you, Janet. I think that is a fair challenge. Clearly, as the science indicates, these are going to become more and more frequent occurrences, and the ability of all agencies and all parts of Government—local and central—to deal with them is going to be incredibly challenged. There are lessons for us to learn from the flooding in Pentre and in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area a couple of years ago and all across Wales. I think there's a pragmatic judgement to be made about where the finite resources and time we have are best placed. Is that through a formal independent inquiry, as she asks, which will not be quick, and will not be cheap, and will snarl up other progress, or are there more rapid lessons that we can learn and apply in real time, because these things could be upon us within the next year again? That is our instinct, is to do that. I can promise her that there will be no lack of appetite to have difficult conversations with any Government agency or partner, and we are beginning our dialogue as we speak. So, I can give an assurance on that.
So, there's nothing to stop the Assembly committees, once they are convened, eventually, to do some work into this, which will be helpful to us. We are not against having enquiring minds finding better ways of doing it and learning lessons. Far from it. We do have, as a set of Ministers, a real challenge about the resource available to us and the set of challenges available to us over a vast number of areas, and I think we just need to be pragmatic about where we put our effort. But I would like to work closely with Heledd Fychan, on how we can look at the proposals in your manifesto, and how we can work together on some of them; I think there are some very interesting ideas there that we would be very happy to talk about. But I think we need to stop butting heads on what's happened with the flooding, and start working together to find solutions quickly.