Minister, I'd like to take the opportunity to welcome the report, and I'd like to thank Professor Elwen Evans KC for leading the work. This review is obviously a vital part of the co-operation agreement. I'm sure I've no need to remind the Senedd or the Minister that Plaid Cymru was keen to see an independent inquiry into the floods, given the serious nature of them, and I think there are questions unanswered. And some of the communities I represent, and other Members here, will still be asking where are those answers, and how do we ensure that the recommendations that came out in the Natural Resources Wales report as well, in terms of having that national conversation—where has that got to?

I understand from your statement, Minister, that a number of things are happening. But for those communities who are seeing the BBC headlines again today saying, 'Heavy rain weather warning as heatwave ends could cause flooding', you know the psychological distress; we've spoken many a time about the distress that it causes every time it rains heavily. They'll be asking, 'What has changed since I was last flooded?' And they won't have received the answers that they were seeking here, and I think that's a challenge for all of us then, about how do we ensure that communities who will be flooded again, because, unfortunately, we won't be able to save every home and business—that's just the reality. 

You've outlined as well in terms of the climate emergency that we face that that's going to be the reality for a number of our communities, and though the work is under way to ensure that more homes and businesses can be saved in the future, others will have to live with this situation. And, as we know, in many communities, people can't move out of those communities—there are no alternative homes, they can't afford to live elsewhere, and so on. So, I think what's missing here, at the end of the day, is that link with those communities. We can have all the strategies in the world, but we don't have flood action groups in every community and there is no Welsh flood forum, for example. Although some of these come out in the report and the evidence presented, I'm not sure we're any clearer about how we're actually going to support those communities while these plans are going to be put in place.  

I am pleased to see, to come out, something that many of us knew. As Janet Finch-Saunders was mentioning, many of us know that the section 19 process does not work, and I think one of the things that's really helpful from this review is the fact that it's very clear that it needs to be redesigned. We also need to look at accountability, because one of the things that doesn't work at present is the fact that perhaps you can have one river flood, and that's a matter of looking at each section 19 report—[Interruption.] There are no interventions in a statement, sorry. They're all individual section 19 reports. It's the same as it crosses local authority boundaries: you could have different section 19 reports.

One of the things I would be keen to see taken forward from the review, because it outlines this, is how we are actually going to put in place a system that allows us to learn lessons, because, frankly, you've talked about templates being put in place, but what we need from section 19 reports, or any report, is an understanding of what's happened and could anything have been done differently. I think what's not coming through at all at the moment is the response of local authorities or Natural Resources Wales at a time of flooding. All these reports look at is why did a flood occur and any mitigating steps taken afterwards, but we don't get that deep understanding of whether things like drains haven't been maintained, if there's anything like culverts that haven't been maintained, and so on, or whether there has perhaps been human error or lack of resources when it comes to local authorities. That's something that we do think, looking at the amount of investment the Welsh Government has had to make since the devastating flooding that we’ve seen, that perhaps maintenance is something that was as a result of austerity.

We also see that one of the challenges across Wales is the lack of expertise—that some local authorities fail to attract staff that have that expertise. So, have you given consideration, following Elwen Evans’s very useful report, to those section 19 processes, as in who should be responsible for investigating floods? Is there an element of being able to work across Wales to ensure that we do learn those genuine lessons?

I think one of the things you’ve mentioned as well is the fact that a lot of work is undertaken, and Elwen Evans says that further comments can be sent in relation to her report to those who are looking at this. But what would be your advice to those communities now that have suffered flooding, and continue to be at risk, in terms of how they can find any comfort from what’s been found, and what will change, and also perhaps the commitment from the Welsh Government on how we can work with them and take forward the Natural Resources Wales report, in particular the mention of not enough staff, and not being able to cope? And if we’re going to see these frequent events, how can we work more in partnership and ensure a voice for our communities in all of this, not just different taskforces?