Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 15 December 2021.
That's very welcome. I think 'longer term', I suppose, is a better description, maybe.
Again, developing on a theme of younger farmers, really, concerns have been raised with me recently by tenant farmers, particularly, and the Tenant Farmers Association, that younger farmers are facing difficulty in acquiring land under succession rules. Now, I'm aware, through casework, of situations where families have been unable to transfer the tenancy to their son or daughter because the son or daughter aren't able to make their living purely from the holding. You'll be very aware that more and more farms depend now on off-farm income to get by these days, and, in fact, many of those tenant holdings are of a size where making your living from it is probably near impossible in any case. So, it's clear to me that tenancy legislation in Wales isn't keeping up with changes in farming.
Now, I'm aware that the Welsh Government is yet to bring forward regulations to implement certain provisions of Schedule 3 to the UK Agriculture Act 2020 relating to tenant farms as they apply to Wales. Regulations were brought into effect in England, by the way, back in May of this year. So, can I ask: when do you intend to introduce regulations similar to those seen in England, so that we can change the current outdated suitability and commercial tests, making the law more fit for purpose, and, of course, ultimately making it easier to enable tenant succession?