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 2:34 pm on 27 April 2022.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 2:34, 27 April 2022

I'm glad you thought the First Minister made some interesting comments. I thought your leader actually made some interesting comments. He actually said that I stated in committee that the agriculture Bill would not be introduced before Christmas. I do hope, Llywydd, he takes the opportunity to apologise for misleading the Chamber, because at the time I said I hadn't, and I certainly went back and looked at the Record of my committee appearance, and I said that I couldn't give a time, but it certainly wouldn't be this month, as in April, the month we're in now. So, I do hope the leader of the opposition takes the opportunity to put the record right.

In relation to the further delay, I have asked my officials to look at the challenges that Jenny Rathbone raised. There are a number of challenges that have meant the agricultural Bill isn't as ready as early as I would have liked, and I think the rest of the Welsh Government would have liked. The First Minister spoke about the impact of trade deals. He spoke about the impact of leaving the European Union. And as we know, we've also got the Ukraine war, and the food supply is very important. I've always made it very clear that food cannot be a public good because it has a market. So, if you look at the definition of public goods, they don't have a market. So, the carbon capture that you refer to is a public good. However, what we've done, as we've been developing the Bill—and it's obviously been in process now for probably four and a half, five years—is look at what we can do in relation to sustainable food production. And that theme flows through and has flowed through the consultations. When we had the first consultation, back in, I think it was 2017, 2018, I was really keen to make sure the word 'food' was in it. And if you look at the UK Government's proposals, the word 'food' wasn't in there. We were very, very keen to do that. The sustainable farming scheme, which will obviously go alongside the agriculture Bill, is being developed now. And it is really important that we continue to work with everyone, really, including our farming unions. And they're very keen for me to look at how we can have a carbon calculator, for instance, and a group of—and I'm sure you're aware of this because I know the young farmers are one of the signees to the letter they wrote to me, to look at what we can do. So, work with us on this—I'm very keen to hear your views around the agriculture Bill—we'll be sharing a draft—and I know we're meeting opposition spokespeople next week, and perhaps we can have a further discussion.