1. What engagement has the Minister had with cabinet colleagues regarding animal health and welfare? OQ58436

Animal health and welfare has clear links across Government, including public health, climate change, economy, and biodiversity. I frequently discuss these cross-cutting areas with Cabinet colleagues. Statements have been issued on our animal welfare plan for Wales and TB strategy, and I have held further discussions on border controls. Ukrainian pet travel has also been an important point of discussion this year.

Diolch. The First Minister's statement on ministerial responsibilities last week stated that you'll take responsibility now for the protection and management of wildlife, although cross-cutting responsibilities with the Minister for Climate Change still include biodiversity and the nature recovery plan.

Speaking at the launch of Gylfinir Cymru's 'A Wales Action Plan for the Recovery of Curlew' last November as the Wales species champion for the curlew, I stated that the review of the wider biodiversity and ecosystem benefits of curlew recovery and applicability to Wales, commissioned by Natural Resources Wales, states that a literature review of 62 scientific papers provided a diverse array of evidence showing that curlew recovery would benefit multiple species, both directly and indirectly, and furthermore underpins our understanding of the curlew as an indicator species.

The Minister for Climate Change pledged at the launch to work with Gylfinir Cymru to ensure that the Welsh Government can finance the action plan and get it up and running. However, although she has committed funding to the nature networks programme, that only covers its protected sites, when the majority of curlew do not nest on protected sites, range widely and therefore need a landscape-scale approach. We now only have nine breeding seasons left to save this iconic indicator species from its projected extinction as a breeding population in Wales. This is now on your watch. How will you therefore work with the Gylfinir Cymru coalition to deliver the emergency intervention required?

Thank you. I'll be very happy to work with the organisation, if they would like to write to me, to seek a meeting. I'm very well aware of the urgency required in relation to the curlew, having obviously been responsible in the previous term of Government. So, if you have a contact there, please do ask them to write to me, or if they hear this, and I will be very happy to meet with them.

Question 2[OQ58441] is withdrawn, so question 3, Peter Fox.