8. What is the Welsh Government doing to support farmers in Pembrokeshire? OQ56808

Farmers in Pembrokeshire received over £17 million of basic payment scheme payments during the past year, and our Farming Connect service continues to provide crucial support and advice. As you heard before, I was very pleased to attend the Pembrokeshire county show last month, and really enjoyed being able to meet the farming community in Pembrokeshire once more.

Thank you for that response, Minister, and I’m delighted that you enjoyed the Pembrokeshire county show a few weeks ago. Now, as we’ve already heard on the floor of this Chamber today, bovine TB continues to pose a significant threat to farmers in Wales, including farmers in Pembrokeshire and, despite their efforts to clamp down on it through cattle-based measures, it continues to place enormous emotional and financial strain on farming families. Therefore, Minister, what assessment has the Welsh Government made of the emotional and financial strain on farmers caused by bovine TB? And will you finally commit to looking at this issue holistically, including dealing with the disease in wildlife, when you bring forward your bovine TB refresh strategy later this year, so that we can stop bovine TB doing irreparable damage to agriculture and to our rural communities?

We’ve always looked at this disease holistically, and it’s really important that we work in partnership together with our farmers. It is a dreadful disease and I don’t underestimate the emotional impact it has. And as you say, it has a financial impact, of course, and I’ve spoken to several farmers over the summer on visits around this dreadful disease. As you have just referred to, I will be making a further statement for the next stage of the refreshing of the eradication programme in November. It's good to see that there's been a decrease in new incidents during the most recent 12-month period, and I will continue to do all I can to work with the sector, to try and eradicate this awful disease as quickly as possible. You will have heard me say about the discussions I've had with Glyn Hewinson, and, of course, the vaccination is only one thing that, unfortunately, is still about four years away. But you will be aware of the bespoke action plans that we've had, with the herds that are in long-term breakdown, and we've seen some progress there too.

I thank the Minister.