Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 17 November 2021.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 2:28, 17 November 2021

I do agree with you that it should be spent in full; I don't share concerns that it won't be. I remain confident that the RDP will be fully spent by the end of 2023, which is when it has to be spent by. I'm sure that you will appreciate that there have been considerable challenges for some projects due to the impact of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of us leaving the European Union. I recently announced Glastir agri-environment contract extensions for two years, through the RDP, which I think was very much welcome. Because I did want to provide certainty to those environmental projects that we didn't lose the gains that we have had through them, ahead of the transition to the sustainable farming scheme. The current project-level commitment stands at £764.7 million and that represents 91.2 per cent commitment of funds against a total programme value of over £838 million.