1. When does the First Minister expect Wales to have an operational deposit-return scheme? OQ57293

Llywydd, earlier this month, powers to implement a deposit-return scheme were devolved to Wales. Early in the new year, we will publish our design for such a scheme and its intended implementation date.

Well, we'll look forward very much to hearing that date. The tragedy is that we've lost years to all intents and purposes. We've been talking about a deposit-return scheme for Wales for almost a decade, and we're still talking about such a scheme for Wales.

Now, you decided, of course, to run a joint consultation process with the UK Government. What if the UK Government's ambition in terms of the scope of their proposals, when they do decide, is very different to the ambition that we have here in Wales? You've said in other contexts that Wales always operates most effectively, and this Senedd operates most effectively, when we bring Welsh solutions to meet the challenges we face. So, for how long are you happy to wait for Boris Johnson to get his act together, rather than introducing, once and for all, a deposit-return scheme for Wales?

Well, the first step, Llywydd, was for us to take the powers. Without the powers, there'd be no opportunity for us to have any kind of scheme, and that is not in our hands as a Senedd; we have to draw the powers back to this place in order to be able to have a scheme, and that's what has occurred in collaboration with others. We have been collaborating not only with the United Kingdom Government, but with the Northern Ireland Government, to learn from the lessons in the work that they have done. 

Then nature of the border between us and England means that it's important for us to endeavour to create as much common ground as possible between us in order to facilitate the scheme, and the people who run the scheme on the ground, in a way that works for us and for the people here in Wales. And there are a number of practical issues to consider, and it will be a Welsh scheme when we bring it forward. As, I am certain, the Member is aware, the Scottish Executive, earlier this month, had to defer implementing their scheme. They have all the powers, and so that wasn't an issue for them, but they have faced a number of practical problems and they had to withdraw their scheme. 

We wish to proceed to collaborate with other people in order to resolve a number of practical issues—to produce the scheme, to appoint not-for-profit operators, and to agree flexible deposit levels, for example—and then, early in the new year, to return to the Senedd with a scheme for us here in Wales. 

First Minister, last November, I was incredibly proud to have brought forward a legislative proposal for a Bill that would make provisions to introduce a DRS and, importantly, a majority vote went through to back those proposals. Now, in the first Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee meeting of the sixth Senedd, I was pleased also to secure a further commitment from your Minister for Climate Change that the Welsh Government will ensure that any DRS would be all in. Not only would this ensure compatibility with the UK, but between 77 per cent and 83 per cent of survey participants reported that they would use a DRS on most occasions for the five types of containers explored, including plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal cans for all soft drinks, alcoholic drinks and milk-based products. With this in mind, and given the autumn deadline for laying legislation that you committed to in reply to my FMQ in June, what efforts—and I know that you've mentioned this here today—have you made to review  the cost impact of operating an all-in DRS on local authorities? And, for anyone who's carried out beach cleans, too often we see many bottle caps and lids left strewn, affecting our marine environment. Given that the Marine Conservation Society's 2021 Great British beach clean found 18.7 caps and lids—

Okay, we do need to get to the question now, please. We're only on question 1.

—per 100m-stretch of Welsh beach, will you incorporate, as well as the bottles themselves, the caps in the return scheme? Thanks.

I thank the Member for those questions and for her consistent interest in this whole topic. She will be very familiar with the scheme that was tried out in Conwy earlier in the year, and a great deal of learning has been taken from that, as well as a pilot scheme in Northern Ireland, and the work that was done previously in the Wirral that I know she is aware of. So, we will be bringing forward proposals. I'm afraid they will be in the early new year now, rather than the autumn, because of the delay in the powers being transferred to us. We'll respond to the consultation that was held back between March and June of this year. It will address a number of the points that the Member has raised this afternoon, and she is right to draw attention to the Marine Conservation Society report, which was published only a week or so ago, Llywydd. It does show a drop in some forms of litter, particularly those where there's been concerted governmental action—cotton buds, for example, and single-use plastic bags. But 75 per cent of litter collected on beaches was plastic or polystyrene, and bottle caps were very prominent in the litter that was collected. It definitely does demonstrate the need for us to act both in relation to deposit-return schemes and also this Government's commitment to bring forward legislation to ban the most commonly littered single-use plastics, which we look forward to bringing in front of the Senedd later in this term.