9. Will the Minister provide an update on the Government's efforts to revive the rural economy? OQ59312

Future rural development support focuses on delivering our core programme for government commitments. I have already announced a package of support through my rural investment schemes worth over £200 million to support the rural economy and our natural environment. 

Thank you very much for that. The question that I'm asking here is who is driving that work of reviving the economy. What is the focal point that draws together what feels like a plethora of bodies and projects and programmes and strategies into one strategic, co-ordinated package. Where's the wider strategy and who is responsible for that? In the past, the Development Board for Rural Wales would have filled some of that vacuum that I feel exists. The question I want to ask is whether you think that the time has come for us to look at creating some kind of entity or some kind of medium that will be responsible for driving that agenda forward, because at the moment it just feels like a series of disconnected programmes that don't pull in the same direction.

I don't think they're disconnected at all. What I've been really keen to do with the rural investment schemes is for our stakeholders to work very closely with us and that they tell us what they want. For instance, we had, I think, three schemes specifically around horticulture, because that's what I was being told people wanted. Of course, you can tell by the number of bids you get with particular schemes how popular they are and whether you need to put further funding into that. As I said in my answer to Sam Kurtz, we're no longer having a rural development board. It was something that I had considered, but my focus really now is on bringing forward the sustainable farming scheme and that transition to the SFS in 2025.

Thank you, Minister.