Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 18 January 2023.
I thank the Minister for that response. So, according to the Minister, there have been great benefits for communities in Wales, and you want to continue with this. How, therefore, does the Minister explain that almost half of the successful applications under the woodland creation scheme in window No. 10 had gone to applicants with addresses outwith Wales? According to an answer to a written question recently, of the 385 hectares of land accepted for the programme in window 10, 45 per cent went to companies registered outside of Wales. Does the Minister believe that this is right, that large companies from outside of Wales are taking advantage of Government funding and Welsh taxpayers' money to offset their carbon at the expense of our communities here? And is it in keeping with the Government's objectives, as we've heard, to support farms and rural communities in Wales?