4. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: The future of farming in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:31 pm on 14 May 2024.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Samuel Kurtz Samuel Kurtz Conservative 4:31, 14 May 2024

Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement. Can I first start by thanking NFU Cymru, Farmers Union of Wales, the Tenant Farmers Association, common land associations, the Nature Friendly Farming Network, CLA Cymru, the organisers of the Welshpool mart protest and the mart protest in Carmarthen, and the organisers of the protest that took place on the steps of the Senedd? For three years, I've been plugging away with your predecessor, trying to get changes to the sustainable farming scheme, and it is only when the sector woke up and acknowledged that these big changes were coming, and saw the reality of what was being asked of them by the roadshows that were being held, that Welsh Government finally took notice and has brought forward a delay, which I believe is an acknowledgement that, up until this point, Welsh Government has been missing the mark when it's been coming to this sustainable farming scheme policy.

But one thing that I want to touch on, just briefly, in terms of the Habitat Wales scheme is the roll-out of that, riddled with errors, as you mentioned, where farmers weren't able to upload habitat data of their own farm to the system, which sometimes had been undertaken by Farming Connect. That's a breakdown in the data element of farming policy, which needs to be rectified. I've written to you previously about land mapping as well, and the apps available on that. And also around greenwashing and afforestation, of outside agencies buying up Welsh agricultural land, to totally afforest an area for greenwashing, and offsetting their conscience by not changing their business model but planting trees across a large swathe of agricultural land. I think that needs to be addressed, because there are specific cases in my Constituency, around Llanboidy, and other areas as well. How can that be addressed through the sustainable farming scheme?

Cabinet

The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.

It is chaired by the prime minister.

The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.

Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.

However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.

War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.

From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.

The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.

constituency

In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent