8. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the effectiveness of Natural Resources Wales? OQ57058

I thank the Member, Llywydd. Natural Resources Wales undertakes various functions on behalf of Welsh Ministers, but, as an arm’s-length body, operates independently of them. The Minister for Climate Change holds regular meetings with the chair and chief executive to monitor its effectiveness in delivering against its mandate, including our programme for government commitments.

First Minister, one of the key roles that Natural Resources Wales has here in our country is to support the Government in terms of flood risk management, and to provide advice and to follow up any floods that happen across the country. As you will be aware, there have been a number of flooding incidents in my own constituency in recent years in Abergele, Pensarn, in Ruthin, in Llanfair Talhaiarn, and in other places. One of the common problems that seems to occur in the aftermath of flooding events is the speed at which Natural Resources Wales completes its follow-up work and then actually implements any change on the ground in terms of capital investment. There have been problems in Llanfair TH over the years, in Pensarn, in terms of the follow-up work in terms of investigations, and now in Ruthin, where work is only just going to be under way in spite of the fact that there were significant floods there earlier in the year in January. 

What work does the Welsh Government do to monitor the speed at which NRW responds to such events to ensure that there is adequate follow-up, which is timely and can afford residents the best level of protection possible?

I thank Darren Millar for that important question, Llywydd, and I recognise the points that he makes. I was able to make a visit to Llanfair TH myself, and I was accompanied by Sam Rowlands on that visit as the then leader of Conwy County Borough Council. We had representatives of course from NRW there. We were able to see the plans as they had previously been laid out, and then the amendments to those plans, which will be considered as a result of the different course that the flooding had taken in that village during the last incident.

Llywydd, the Welsh Government provided £9 million in additional funding to NRW during this financial year, and that was on the basis that there will be the completion of a baseline review exercise of NRW's purposes on the one hand and its priorities on the other. And the review is designed to make sure that the money and the functions are closely aligned with us to deliver on the most important responsibilities that NRW has. I understand that a draft report of that review has been submitted to the Welsh Government, and that we're expecting the full report to arrive here in November. I'll ask my officials to look at that report in its current state, to make sure that it is addressing the points that the Member has made this afternoon.

I thank the First Minister.