, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So, it's referred to within the Bill and, of course, it's also within your wider policy agenda, so somebody who looks into this Bill, or the proceedings of this committee, and says, 'So, Minister'—or, a lawyer—'what is sustainable land management?' What is it?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
No. What is it?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Just before you continue—and I'm genuinely not trying to ask a trick question here, but this committee tends to look at legal clarity and so on, and definitions become very important. I'm aware that I was on the committee the other day that you were in front…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
That's really helpful. Thank you very much. Thank you, Minister, and thanks, Mike. James, over to you.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you for that. Before we move on to another area of questioning with James, can I ask: are there any fine-edged judgments here around your human rights analysis, because it's always effectively a balance between the different human rights of different…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Okay. That's brilliant. Mike, we'll come to you, please, to take us on to another area of questioning.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Okay, that's good to hear. James, are you okay? I can see you were looking quizzical there—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you very much. Now, one of the things this committee has been very interested in is the operation of common frameworks and the potential they have to make some of these issues across the UK work effectively, if they're working well. So, can I ask you…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
Thank you, all, very much, and we're going to turn our attention directly to the Agriculture (Wales) Bill, which has been in front of another committee as well, but it's now within our remit today. Can I open, Minister, just with the very standard question we…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Ministerial evidence session
So we'll move, then, straight ahead to the substantive item in front of us to begin with, which is the session now with Lesley Griffiths MS, Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd, accompanied by your officials. Perhaps I could ask you…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Welcome, everybody, to this meeting of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee on 21 November. Proceedings for the session are being televised on Senedd.tv as normal, and of course the transcript after the event will be there on public record as…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to you all.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
That's great.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
So, it would be covered in the 'agricultural' definition. Right. Okay, that's really helpful.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Thank you, Chair. I'm conscious I'm probably going to wear out my welcome in this committee and never be invited back, but when we were discussing earlier on ancillary activities, and I don't want to go over the same ground again, but, as the discussion went…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Oh, okay. Thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Yes. What James was just saying just stole my rationale for what I'm now going to ask you. These opportunities very rarely come forward. You've chosen to use this opportunity to involve forestry within it, and this has been welcomed by many of the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Right.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
So, is your argument that it is not necessary to have that call for a duty placed on the Bill to bring it forward? Because, from what you're saying, many of these minimum standards are already in place. There's an act of consolidation that you need to do in…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Do you want to add to that?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Thank you, Chair. I want to turn to national minimum standards. It's quite noticeable how many of the external stakeholders, from environmental stakeholders, farming unions, the BVA and others, want to get their teeth into national minimum standards, and…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
Okay, thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
I just want to ask, on that working group, have you found space on that working group for all those parties you described, including not just those people who farm it, critical as they are, but also—and to draw on local examples—people like boards of…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Agriculture (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 10
These are people who access, in common, common land and some of them have different objectives. And we often note from our own areas, someone to do the very best by that land and the best by, not just farming, but also by the wider environmental remit they…
