, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Thank you, Chair, and happy new year to you all.
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Okay. This does not mean that we’ve forgotten about the need to remediate and reclaim disused tips; that’s got to be a long-term aim, but we’ve got to be realistic and recognise that it’s not feasible right now in this current economic climate, given that it…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Alongside the continued investment from the Welsh Government—my apologies, but I think—. We will work with the UK Government ahead of the second phase of the spending review to ensure that Wales’s needs for future years are fully considered and to help make…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
And I can’t take another intervention, can I?
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Once the Bill is in place, it will then be important to focus on developing the resource capacity and the capability—something that the committee actually raised here—through considering an independent review of funding needs…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Indeed. And that, Delyth, very much on that point, is why we accepted recommendation 8 to clarify the respective roles of local authorities, the Coal Authority and Natural Resources Wales, and we've set that out in detail in the response document. So, even…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Carolyn, thank you for that. I genuinely appreciate that, out there in the wider world, it can look confusing and complex, and the truth is, it is complex, because there are overlapping responsibilities. But to be very, very clear, local planning authorities…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Yes, indeed.
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Now, that work has already started, Dirprwy Lywydd, and it is progressing well. The next stage after this will be to develop o long-term plan to restore those sites so that they are useful to the people of Wales, and that includes common land, environmentally…
, Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Restoration of opencast mining sites'
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee for their work in producing this comprehensive report on the restoration of opencast sites, and to everyone who contributed during the evidence…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Thank you for that supplementary question and for the advocacy that you and Vikki and others have been doing on behalf of the residents. I think that's been very important. And thanks for the opportunity to meet with residents of Clydach Terrace as well, to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
First of all, my heartfelt sympathies go out to all those affected by the recent flooding in Europe, particularly in Spain. The Welsh Government is taking steps to build more resilient communities as we combat the threat of climate change, and that's why this…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Jane, thank you very much. I'm at risk of repeating myself, but I do want to be really clear on this. Whilst the concerns about the impact of the changes are understandable, and there are a lot of people—a lot of individual farmers and their families—now…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Inheritance tax is a reserved tax controlled by the UK Government and it applies across the UK. HMT figures suggest that most farms will be unaffected by the changes announced by the UK Government.
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Thank you, Sam, for that question, and just to point out that the discussions with the UK Treasury were, of course, led by my colleague, who was here a moment ago, the finance Secretary, but in discussion with myself and my officials as well. Despite…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
We provide a wide range of direct and indirect support for farmers in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. Our grants for investment in on-farm improvements, equipment and technology, and the learning and development on offer from Farming Connect all…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Andrew, thank you for that follow-up question. I anticipated it would be about the wider budget in terms of Wales, but it's focused on inheritance tax and the agricultural property relief, which I'm happy to address again. In two other previous answers I've…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
It's too early to have made a detailed assessment, but Welsh Ministers, with the Senedd's approval, will decide how to allocate the Welsh Government's budget to reflect our national priorities in Wales, including the £1.7 billion increase to our budget…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Jenny, thank you for that supplementary. Can I applaud, because I was talking about that SuDS conference and they went to see the Greener Grangetown initiative, and they were blown away by it, and thought, 'Well, how can we make this mainstream in England as…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Yes, this is a problem in Cardiff, but right across Wales as well, the load that we have on what was a fit-for-a-previous-century approach of having combined sewers and water discharge, where the load could be safely carried at that time, at that level of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Thank you, Rhys, for that follow-up question. We're keen to do everything within our power, including some of the significant quantum of funding that I indicated in my initial response to you, which we are giving to Cardiff for a range of things. And you're…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
This year, the Welsh Government has allocated £1.7 million to Cardiff Council for three capital schemes and £119,000 for three small-scale projects under the flood and coastal risk management programme. We have also provided over £32 million to Cardiff…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
So, what the First Minister was doing was, rightly, referring to the published His Majesty's Treasury data. Now, the HMT figures show that most farms will be unaffected by these changes. They show that, for 2021-22, in the most recent available data, across…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
So, Llyr, look—thank you for that question—for the reasons I outlined before, that every single farm, as we know, is very, very different, and they're different in how they approach their tax advice, whether they gift, whether there is a spousal arrangement…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Laura, thank you for that question. Let me say where I am exactly. First of all, I think we should take real pride in the fact that, on 30 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, presented the first ever UK budget by a female Chancellor in…
