Diolch, Llywydd. I too would like to begin by thanking the committee and Chair for their work and for the recent report on the interim environmental governance arrangements. I think the committee's report is well considered and balanced, and I'm very pleased to confirm that the Government accepts all of its recommendations.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr Nerys Llewelyn Jones for the valuable work that she has done as the interim environmental protection assessor for Wales over the last 20 months. I am particularly pleased with how she has reached out to a broad range of stakeholders to facilitate important conversations about the functioning of environmental law in Wales. One of the most important aspects of the interim assessor role is being a champion of robust environmental protection measures—an element of her role where Dr Llewelyn Jones, I think everyone would agree, has absolutely excelled.

Over the past months, the interim assessor has hosted a number of stakeholder events aimed at gathering evidence on important environmental issues in Wales. These include hosting a panel discussion on the legal protection of hedgerows and a recent stakeholder round-table on the protected sites legislation in Wales. I very much look forward to seeing the recommendations resulting from these conversations, and just to confirm, Llyr, that we absolutely will be responding to them in the normal way.