I wish to refer Members to my register of interests, as I am a member of both Pembrokeshire County Council and Wales YFC. I would like to begin by thanking the Minister for bringing this debate forward, and by echoing the words of colleague, the MS for Monmouth: the devil certainly lies within the detail. And it is evident from this afternoon's debate that, following a record funding boost from the UK Government, this budget does not go far enough in delivering for the people of Wales. Fundamentally, this budget fails to meet several expectations, which has left me unable to support this afternoon's tabled item. While I welcome the rural affairs Minister's commitment to maintain the Welsh Government's basic payment scheme throughout 2022, the agricultural industry has yet to receive an assurance that BPS will continue into 2023 and until the sustainable farming scheme is launched in 2025. Therefore, can the finance Minister offer any assurance on the future of the BPS during these two years? I'm sure that she will recognise the importance of the basic payment scheme in assisting the agricultural community to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic whilst also ensuring that the industry can survive the rising input of costs and resources. The economic, cultural, and environmental benefits of family farms cannot be understated. I'm sure that the Minister will agree with me that the BPS is as important as ever in terms of underpinning the continuation of high-quality food production in Wales—something I'm afraid the sustainable farming scheme will ignore.

I was pleased to see the Welsh Government bring forward the animal welfare plan, which seeks to improve Wales's animal welfare, including our pets. Better late than never. While I'm still a firm believer that there is more to do, this strategy is a step in the right direction. Indeed, a significant part of this proposal was the Welsh Government's local authority enforcement training project—a pan-Wales training model that sought to develop an industry standard for all local authority enforcement officers to learn from. While this is an important proposal that seeks to establish parity across Wales, it must also be met with adequate, serious and ring-fenced funding that underpins the project's very purpose. Indeed, the rural affairs Minister was right when she said, and I quote:

'if the enforcement doesn't work, then you're not going to make any progress'.

The financial cost of enforcing the Welsh Government's new animal welfare regulations must not be allowed to fall on our overstretched and under-resourced local authorities. Whilst I acknowledge that local authorities have received an uplift in their funding for the 2022-23 period, I remain concerned that there are no safeguards in place to ensure that this trajectory of funding continues past the point at which the animal welfare plan has concluded.

Yet, perhaps more concerningly, this is not the only example where this is the case. The Welsh Government's new water regulations have significantly increased the burden on the Welsh Government's own body, Natural Resources Wales. The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations, more commonly known to us all as the NVZs, will add a massive workload to NRW, requiring an estimated 60 extra full-time staff to deliver the minimum viable product, or a further 200 staff to deliver the regulations in their full form. Yet, there is no mention of this in the Welsh Government's draft budget narrative. Instead of granting the organisation the funding that it needs to meet their staffing shortfalls, they have instead received a total of £7.2 million in capital funds in order to provide an updated operational ICT infrastructure. I believe this to be a total misprioritisation. Whilst I still think that there are better policies to improve water quality here in Wales, if this Government insists on NVZs, then at least fund NRW properly so that they can do the job in enforcing the regulations. Whilst the Government may try to dress this budget up as a positive, the reality of the situation is that it fundamentally fails to meet the policy narrative of this Government. It does little to touch the sides of the severe funding constraints not only facing our local authorities but agencies such as Natural Resources Wales, who, on a daily basis, are having to balance the weight of Welsh Government regulations against their own ability to deliver on their core aims and objectives. Happy to give way.