Item 6 is next—a statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales: BlasCymru/TasteWales: promoting Welsh food and drink to the world. I call on Lesley Griffiths to make that statement.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to update Senedd Members on the third BlasCymru/TasteWales event that took place on 27/28 October 2021 at the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport. BlasCymru is our signature international event to promote the food and drink industry in Wales. We have all felt the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and nowhere has this been clearer than in health, travel and the food and drink industry. Therefore, BlasCymru 2021 also showed how we can continue to support our industry during such a difficult time, as part of our COVID recovery plan.

BlasCymru was a landmark event that operated under a COVID-secure protocol. We implemented a range of measures to keep attendees safe. The event welcomed key industry partners, sponsors and UK-based international dignitaries from priority markets, such as the European Union, middle east, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Indo-Pacific region. This provided an excellent opportunity to showcase food and drink from Wales on a global scale and generate further interest from sponsors and buyers.

BlasCymru is a trade event. The brokerage and new product showcase attracted significant producer and buyer interest. I'd like to outline some of our initial outputs and data provided by our delivery partners. These include 200 trade buyers in attendance, which included most of the major retailers and key food service and hospitality trade partners; 1,695 COVID-secure meetings took place as part of 'meet the buyer', between trade buyers and Welsh food and drink businesses; 285 new products were featured and launched within the last 12 months and during lockdown; 102 Welsh food and drink businesses took part, including 21 rising stars—new businesses established in Wales within the last two years. Over 600 key individual visits took place over two days, with some visitors attending each day. The value of opportunities identified are in excess of £14 million to date.

The food and drink sector is our largest industry in Wales. It spans businesses from micro to multinational enterprises who have made Wales their home. Between 2014 and 2019, we have seen growth by a third in the food and farming priority sector. This surpassed a set target of £6 billion and reached an incredible £7.6 billion in sales value.

The mainstay of this success has been our range of strategic initiatives, driving technological innovation through Project HELIX, supporting start-ups and microbusinesses through Cywain, training and upskilling through Food Skills Cymru and connecting businesses and initiatives through our renowned business clusters programme. This has supported the scaling-up of businesses, whilst opening up new international trade routes—a true partnership between business, academia, Government and local government. 

In addition to the pandemic, we are also dealing with the climate emergency, and our sustainable journey is now more pressing than ever. In Wales we have embraced the principles of sustainability and fairness for our environment, our economy and our society as a whole. Sustainability and food for future generations was the key theme of the BlasCymru conference, where we welcomed a range of speakers, including Professor Mike Berners-Lee, author and leading expert in sustainability and carbon footprints, and Adam Henson, farmer and BBC Countryfile presenter. 

It is no longer simply about economic growth, producing more and selling more. It is about producing better. It is about responsible businesses and scaling success to benefit people and society through providing fair work, through producing excellent quality products and seeing sustainable practice as a way to run business more efficiently. Reduced packaging means savings. Repurposing surplus food makes it affordable for the poorest in society. Streamlined logistics mean a longer reach for exports and potentially more flexibility importing. It is imperative we use resources efficiently by reducing waste and our carbon footprint and also taking responsibility for higher standards in our supply chains, whether they originate at home or overseas. Wales as a food nation sets to promote the originality and distinctiveness of Welsh food and drink produce by building on our reputation for sustainable food chains. 

Our key priorities were showcased in the exhibition hall and included advanced manufacturing to develop and implement new technologies and high-potential opportunities for food and drink production, to address workforce and labour pressures, and help reduce the consumption of resources. Sustainability, where a new approach to address the sustainability challenges and what this means for businesses was outlined. It considered surplus food distribution, agritech technology for future food production, and built on the platform of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. This legislation is the foundation of our new vision for the food and drink industry, based on a multicriteria approach to food system sustainability. Innovation and skills: there is no single solution to the current workforce issues. We must get better at communicating available career opportunities and to ensure fair work and skills development. Innovation and automation will gain pace towards delivering increasingly sustainable food production and addressing the productivity challenge. 

The clusters programme demonstrated how diverse our food and drink industry really is. This flagship programme provides an important base for knowledge transfer, learning and development. It has contributed to technology transfer, the future of healthy foods, the circular economy and the development of green technology to reduce the consumption of energy and natural resources.

I was pleased to launch our new export advisory group, to further develop our exports for the food and drink industry in Wales. This is vital as we develop our sustainable journey and work with our export partners to develop the opportunities for the future.

Wales has a number of protected food names. This certified family of products has differentiated branding and gives buyers and consumers the confidence in the value of Welshness and the authenticity of the offering. Wales also had the first geographical indications designated under the new UK scheme. 

I believe we can all agree BlasCymru/TasteWales 2021 was a landmark event in the face of unprecedented challenges, and an important milestone for an innovative and resilient food and drink industry. BlasCymru is an essential element of our COVID recovery plans, reiterating our commitment to supporting the wider industry through these difficult times. 

The Conservative spokesperson, Samuel Kurtz.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. My thanks to the Minister for early sight of this statement, and I'm pleased to see and welcome the value that the Welsh Government is placing on our fantastic Welsh food and drink industry. I understand that the sector in Wales has a revenue stream of around £7.5 billion per annum, yet only 10 per cent of this revenue is gained from exports to countries outside of the United Kingdom. We all warmly welcomed the United States's decision to lift the import ban on British beef in 2020 and on British lamb at the end of last year, and while these new export opportunities are in their infancy, our next step is to ensure that our world-class produce, in terms of its sustainability, quality and environmental credentials, are making the gains in all available markets. 

In referring to the latest BlasCymru/TasteWales showcase event, I welcome the figures the Minister provided in relation to the numbers of buyers in attendance and the number of meet-the-buyer events. However, I would be interested to learn more about the actual economic benefit achieved from this event, and what, if any, targets or key performance indicators are in place to increase the number of exported products over the coming years, or to determine its successfulness.

One domestic area that the food and drink sector aligns with very closely is our tourism sector. With COVID-19 increasing the number of domestic visitors to Wales, can you outline what specific actions the Welsh Government are taking to ensure that both sectors are able to benefit from one another? Wouldn't it be fantastic to intrinsically link Welsh heritage and history with the food we create and the produce we export, creating a whole new market within our tourism industry that not only sees our fantastic produce being championed, but our proud heritage as well?

There is huge aspiration for the creation of better, more responsible and sustainable business opportunities within a whole host of sectors, and by aligning the food and drink sector with the tourism industry we can seek to develop upon emerging employment opportunities and sustain fundamental supply chain improvements. Just last year, we saw how vulnerable our supply chain can be. It is only through growing the sector and developing genuine partnerships across the supply chain between our farmers, food and drink processors, retailers and food service companies that we can seek to strengthen Wales's food security.

Last week, I wrote to Asda about how important this point is. After the supermarket made a welcome statement to British farmers at the back end of last year, they have since dropped their commitment to British farmers by stocking meat sourced outside of Britain. This roll back on its 100 per cent British beef promise goes against the commitments seen and stuck to by other supermarkets, such as Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons. Given this, I am pleased to see the Minister recognise the importance of producing better, which, against the backdrop of COP26, should see further emphasis on the environmental impact of what we eat and drink. A way we can achieve this in Wales is by adding value to the raw produce grown and reared here in Wales. Puffin Produce Blas y Tir in Pembrokeshire are an example of this, but Welsh Government policy must align in allowing the adding of value to Welsh raw produce.

Finally, Minister, I was incredibly pleased to see Senedd Members of all political colours support my colleague Peter Fox's food Bill, an important piece of draft legislation that seeks to establish a more sustainable food system, strengthening our food security, improving Wales's socioeconomic well-being and enhancing consumer choice. I'm going to use this opportunity to urge you and the Welsh Government to reconsider your objections to this Bill, to work with Peter and the numerous stakeholders who have already committed their support to this Bill. It is deliverable, achievable and would make a lasting difference to the food landscape of Wales.

I share your ambitions for BlasCymru and the wider food and drink industry. It can act as another way of promoting Wales to the wider world. However, to achieve its full potential, it cannot stand alone and needs to be supported across Government portfolios. As we emerge from COVID and the world reopens, we must do all in our powers to ensure the success of our industry. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.

Thank you very much Samuel for your positive contribution to the statement, and I will say straight away this is not just about my portfolio, it is very much across Government, and I mentioned about the zones that we had in BlasCymru—the innovation zone, the cluster zone, the investor zone. It was really important that we had that buy-in if we are going to look at the sustainability journey in the way that I certainly want to do. So, it's very much not a standalone event just for me, and it fits in with a lot of our cross-government portfolios.

You are quite right; the food and drink industry, from the previous food action plan—. We hit that target, as I mentioned in my opening statement, of £6 billion, surpassing it to £7.5 billion. The food and drink vision that I launched at the winter fair sets the target of £8.56 billion, which we are hoping to reach with our food and drink sector by 2025. One way that we will do that, you are quite right, is in relation to exports. That's why it was really important that I launched the export group as part of the food and drink industry board, which advises me and Welsh Government. We thought that it was very much needed because of the complexities of the current ways that we export. So, I was pleased to do that, to establish that sub-group. I think that what that will do is enable more time to be dedicated very much to specific areas of export.

It's also really important that we work with the UK Government in relation to exports, and it was important that we had UK Government officials at BlasCymru, because we do need to work across the UK. Obviously, that network that we've built up—. You mentioned food security and food supplies, and it is very important that we work on that integrated UK basis.

I think you're quite right about tourism. Since I've been in portfolio, it's an area that we’ve looked at because, clearly, people like to hear stories about their food; they want to know where their food comes from. I think that the provenance of our food and drink businesses is something that they tell me that people are more and more interested in. So, I think that is important.

So, if you look at what we've done with Welsh vineyards, for instance—. Perhaps people wouldn't think of Wales as somewhere where they would normally purchase wine, but there is a link now between the vineyards. That's really down to our cluster work, I think, where we've had businesses come together. They share their expertise. They share intelligence around their areas. I'm a massive fan of cluster work, and I think the food and drink sector has really led the way there.

I think one of the other things is the protected food names that I referred to. I think that very much helps our tourism. It was great that we had, I think, the first two, actually, of the new UK geographical indication schemes, and we've got several more in the pipeline. I think there are two that are very far down the pipeline, if you like, and we're working with about four others to get that status. Because they certainly tell me that it helps them with tourism. So, I think that is another area where we can support them.

You mentioned supermarkets, and I have to say that all the major retailers, I think, were at BlasCymru, and they were very keen to get new Welsh food and drink products on their shelves. Certainly, at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were in lockdown and I was meeting very, very regularly with the supermarkets to make sure that we were ironing out any difficulty that there could be around food supply, one of the quid pro quos for us both was that they had more Welsh products on their shelves, and certainly that seems to have carried on. But I think it's an area where we continue to work very closely. 

Certainly, BlasCymru bringing the buyers in, meeting with the food and drink businesses—. It's a bit like speed dating, apparently, where we have people sitting down and they constantly move around every 10 minutes or so. So, the number of businesses and meetings that took place—. You just wouldn't get that in any other place. It's really good to bring Wales to the world.

You mentioned wanting to know about the economic benefit. It's probably a little bit too early. I mentioned in my opening statement that we thought, potentially, that there was about £14 million of new business that will have taken place at BlasCymru. But, obviously, as the months go by, we will be able to give you that figure later on.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Mabon ap Gwynfor.

Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you to the Minister for bringing this statement forward this afternoon. Everyone, of course, is aware that food producers in Wales provide produce of the highest quality, and it's good to see that this is being exhibited through BlasCymru/TasteWales.

But there are challenges facing the food sector. If we are to continue to see the highest quality produce here, then we need to deal with the many uncertainties facing the various strata within the food sector, from farm to plate. So, we need to look closer to the eye of the storm if we want to ensure the feasibility of the sector as a whole, and that means giving the right support to our farmers and fishers. I'm pleased the collaboration agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government will secure payments for farmers in the mid to long term, but, in the short term, will the Minister outline the latest situation in terms of basic payments, as was outlined in the draft budget, and what assurances can she give in light of cuts to agricultural funding from Westminster? Likewise, we have a golden opportunity to develop our seafood sector. In the light of the lack of specific strategy from the Government, will the Minister listen to the sector and publish a plan in order to secure the growth of the seafood sector, since seafood plays a central part in our provision of Welsh foods?

Now, I want to move on to talk about the designation of our products. Minister, you've already mentioned this. We know that most people who see products branded as 'made in Wales' consider such produce to be of the highest quality. The Government at the other end of the M4 has started their own designations following Brexit. I would like to know what work the Welsh Government has done to measure the value of this new designation and how much consultation there has been between the two Governments on the designation.

Of course, in order to be true to designations, then as much of the process of developing produce as possible should stay in Wales, but there is a fundamental weakness here, namely the lack of processing capacity for food. Not only have milk processing plants closed, our abattoirs are under stress, and fish are being exported to be prepared for market, but many of the final steps of preparations are also outside of our communities here in Wales. There are many micro, kitchen table industries, for example, working hard to prepare excellent food and drink, and we must recognise the work of Cywain here. But the fact remains that we need substantial support in order to develop our processing capacity here in Wales and to enable as much of the process as possible to remain here in Wales and bring economic benefits to our communities. So, what steps is the Government taking to ensure that job opportunities are created as part of any strategy to develop the food and drink sector and to promote our produce for young people who want to come into this sector?

And, Minister, you did mention cross-departmental working. Have there been any discussions on a cross-Governmental basis, with the economy Minister, for example, to see how this can dovetail with other plans, such as the young people's guarantee? Thank you very much.

Diolch for those questions. You're quite right; Welsh food and drink is seen as being of the highest quality, and also you referred to farming, and clearly our animal health standards and our environmental standards are very high. One of my concerns when we left the European Union was that it could be seen that we would take a reduction in those standards, but we've made it very clear it's very important to do that. And obviously, we recognise that, if we are going to sell our food to the world, we need to maintain those standards. There are challenges. Clearly, COVID has presented a massive challenge to the food and drink industry, and leaving the European Union has, and that's why it was so important to work on the exports. And as you say, there is a great deal of uncertainty, and one of the reasons that I announced that I would be keeping the basic payment scheme for two years was to give some certainty to our farmers. It is clearly a matter of great concern that the UK Government are going back on their word around that we would not lose a penny less if we left the European Union, and those discussions are ongoing. But, as I say, I have committed to the BPS.

You referred to seafood, and seafood was well represented at BlasCymru. We have a seafood cluster. I mentioned about the cluster work that's undertaken in the food and drink sector, and we do have a seafood cluster. They showcase their seafood at BlasCymru. We had freshwater fish, we had sea fish, we had shellfish—really iconic produce from our Welsh coastal and inland waters. You referred to the lack of a strategy, and I think it's important—. Strategies can sit on shelves sometimes; what's really important is to be out there selling our seafood, and again we've had some real issues since we left the European Union, which you'll be aware of, that I'm trying to help the UK Government resolve, because we really did have a cliff edge with exporting our seafood. 

You mentioned the lack of processing facilities, and again I've worked very closely with the sector. We've given funding to dairy processing units. We had the processing plant that was closed in north-east Wales and we've worked to try and find buyers for that. We had milk going out to England to be processed, as you referred to. So, it's really important that if we can, we increase the processing facilities that we have in Wales.

Somebody else has mentioned abattoir concerns to me. I haven't heard anything about those concerns, and I did ask officials to look into it, but at the moment, I think our abattoirs are able to process the meat here in Wales that they are asked to do.

You referred to protected food names and the new UK GI schemes, and what consultation went on with the UK Government. This is something that, at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs inter-ministerial group meetings, the four agricultural Ministers have discussed, probably for about four years, so there's been a great deal of work. I mentioned that we had the first one in Wales; we had the Welsh Gower salt marsh lamb, and certainly, I went to the launch of that, and they believe that it will bring a great deal of business, being part of that UK GI scheme. And of course, once we left the European Union, we had to have our own UK scheme, and I'm really pleased that, as I say, we had the first one, I think we had the second one, and we have others in the pipeline, because the businesses tell me that because people know exactly where that meat is sourced from and how it has come about, that they place great value on that.

I think Cywain should really be praised. It was great to see the rising stars there, the new products. I found it really hard to believe that we'd had 200 new Welsh food and drink products during the pandemic, at a time when it was really difficult to do the work that we quite often do with the sector, so it was great to see those new rising stars there. And I have to say that Menter a Busnes is the organisation that runs the project and they really support the development of that sort of growth-orientated businesses. We've got 950 businesses in that project, so you can see the importance of the work that Cywain do.

I haven't had a specific discussion with the economy Minister about the young people's guarantee, but I have certainly discussed it from a skills point of view, because it's really important that we do have those skills that the food and drink sector require. I mentioned in my original statement today that one of the things I think we need to do is sell the food and drink sector in a much better way than we do. It's probably about four years since we had a couple of conferences that the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board organised, where we had a sort of pyramid, if you like, of all the skills, and perhaps there are skills that people wouldn't recognise as being required by the food and drink industry, but when you come down that pyramid, you can see that they're very much there. And as I said, it's the largest sector that we have in Wales. If you think about the whole of the sector, I think it employs about 0.25 million people, so it's incredibly important to our country.

Thank you, Minister, for your statements. It's very clear that you're incredibly enthusiastic about what BlasCymru is doing. It's going from strength to strength and it's a really important opportunity to promote Welsh food and drink to the world at a time when Brexit and COVID have put huge pressures on producers and exporters, and I just wanted to briefly just share concerns about the effect of Brexit on food and drink from Wales.

Having met with the FSB, the Federation of Small Businesses, around a fifth of the members have indicated that they've stopped exporting to the EU, citing concerns around VAT and rules of origin, and the burden of additional processes and paperwork and the impact of Brexit on the workforce. And I just really wanted ask you what steps are being taken by the Welsh Government to support those exporters, creating additional capacity among Welsh exporters to manage supply chains.

I just also wanted to mention that I look forward to the forthcoming agriculture Bill, and to seeing the detail in Peter Fox's food Bill, both of which could provide an opportunity for the Senedd and the Welsh Government to give much needed stability and vision to the future of the food and drink industry against a backdrop of uncertainty. Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thank you, Jane, for your comments and questions. I just realised I didn't answer Samuel's question around Peter Fox's Bill, and just to say: it's not that I object to it; I think we're doing a lot of what Peter had proposed, and I certainly look forward to working with Peter around the community food strategy. I think a lot of what he wants to achieve in the Bill can be put in there and, as I promised him, I will certainly work with him on that. I think you're right: I think there are great opportunities in the agriculture Bill. We're currently working very hard to get that introduced before the summer recess and, obviously, more information will be coming out over the coming months.

It's really easy to be enthusiastic about Welsh food and drink. I always say, 'What's not to like about being the Minister responsible for Welsh food and drink?' It's very easy to sell. I've been very lucky, pre COVID, I was able to go to other countries to promote it. And, of course, that has been stopped, and that's why it was so important to have that third BlasCymru. Obviously, it had been postponed from March of last year—we have it biannually—but I was really keen to make sure that we did go ahead with it. It was very important to do it in a COVID-secure way to make people feel comfortable. It is really our opportunity to bring the world to Wales to see what we have to offer. It's really important that we continue, having left the European Union, to attend events, such as Anuga, which is held in Cologne every other year, and SIAL, which is held in Paris every other year. And, again, Anuga was postponed. I think it's now going ahead in April of this year, and then Paris will be in October. And, again, we always take food and drink companies to these food events; we always have a big Welsh Government presence there. We'll have Gulfood coming up in Dubai next month and, again, there will be Welsh Government presence. And we've carried on doing it virtually, because it is so important that people are aware of our food and drink businesses.

I've already spoken about the export group that we've now got as part of the food and drink industry board to help work with our businesses, because certainly we are getting—and I don't think it's just anecdotal—evidence of the difficulties that companies are having just to continue to do what they had been doing previously to export to the EU—the red tape, the difficulties with logistics, et cetera. So, we are continuing to work with our food and drink companies.

I mentioned the rising stars before, and Cywain, in my answer to Mabon ap Gwynfor. It's really important that we nurture them in the way that Menter a Busnes have. You were at the winter fair—in fact, I think I met you in the food hall—where we always have some of the new food and drink companies at the Cywain stand. So, we will continue to work with all our food and drink companies over the coming months.

Minister, thank you for your statement. I agree with you and the previous speakers about the quality of the produce we have here in Wales, and we're all proud of the products that are produced in our constituencies. Minister, I do have three questions for you. Do you think that the BlasCymru conference has achieved what it set out to achieve, and have we seen any net benefits yet for the food and drink sector since the conference in terms of contracts and exports? Secondly, on sustainability, when do you think there'll be a time when we'll ban single-use plastics across the food and drink sectors, like other countries have done, to help us reduce the reliance we have on single-use plastics? I think that will help boost our environmental credentials. And finally, you mentioned this yourself about promoting food and about the industry levy bodies that we have, such as Hybu Cig Cymru. Do you think that there is more that they could do to promote our products outside of traditional markets, and that they are actually good value for the levy payers who are paying in to keep those bodies going? Diolch, Deputy Llywydd.

Thank you very much for those questions. I mentioned in an earlier answer that we think potentially the benefits will be about £14 million of new business and products. And certainly, when I went around the area where people were meeting buyers, it was very clear to see that a lot of new contracts were being struck with some of our very well-known and famous brands in Wales. I mentioned—no, I didn't mention before—Radnor Preserves. I think that is probably in your own constituency. They were there and it was good to talk to Joanna about the new business that she hoped to get. So, it is a little bit early to be able to give you concrete figures, but certainly, looking back at the previous two BlasCymru conferences, there have certainly been significant economic benefits.

In relation to sustainability, you ask about banning single-use plastics and this is obviously a piece of work that's being taken forward by my colleague the Minister for Climate Change. I can't give you the exact date, although I am aware that this is something that the Minister is clearly very keen to bring forward as soon as possible. But I'm sure that if you write to her, she will be able to give you a much more concrete date.

I think Hybu Cig Cymru do some excellent work and I know that they will be out in Anuga and SIAL making sure that everybody understands what it is we have here in Wales, our wonderful red meat—our beef and lamb. So, I think they do an excellent job for us. I meet regularly with the chair and chief executive to ensure that I know where they are and the work that they're doing to promote our red meat, but I certainly do think they are very good value for money.

Finally, Gareth Davies.

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you for your statement this afternoon, Minister. It's great to see the Welsh Government supporting the fantastic food and drink producers from across Wales. Naturally, I'd like to focus upon the amazing producers and retailers that we have here in the Vale of Clwyd. BlasCymru already champions one of my constituency's crown jewels, which is the Denbigh plum, but the Vale of Clwyd is home to a vast array of great produce and producers. So, how will your Government help to promote these products to a wider audience?

One great producer in the Vale of Clwyd is Lizzy Jones of Bodfari, who turns fruit grown on the family farm into an amazing selection of fruity liqueurs and gins. She received help from Menter a Busnes and their Cywain scheme to help develop Shlizzy into an international business. How can BlasCymru help Shlizzy reach wider appeal? And, Minister, do you agree that it's not just a case of promoting our produce for sale overseas, but we need to be encouraging overseas visitors to come to places like Denbigh or Bodfari to enjoy the blas lleol? Will you agree to work with groups such as the Clwydian Range Food and Drink group to help promote not only our fantastic food and drink producers, but also the farm shops, restaurants and tea rooms that stock the amazing produce that the Vale of Clwyd has to offer? Thank you.

Thank you. I quite agree: every constituency has wonderful food and drink businesses within them. But, of course, I'm very well aware of the Denbigh plum, and Peter Plum, the mascot, is normally around many of our events that we hold. I spoke in detail before about Cywain and it is really important that they help people like Lizzy Jones. There's this very intense period, and, as I say, we always have a Cywain stall at the winter fair, at the Royal Welsh, and certainly at the Royal Welsh we have probably five or six different small, new businesses every day, so that we can help them in the way that you suggest. I'm not sure if Lizzy has been one of those, but certainly that's what we've done, and we have worked with the Clwydian Range to make sure that they are able to promote their food and drink products.

We had an event at the Senedd, which Hannah Blythyn organised—it was before you came to the Senedd—where we had a fantastic array of food and drink products from her constituency. And maybe, once we're out of the COVID restrictions, it might be something that we can look to do again in the Senedd.

Thank you, Minister.