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The Presiding Officer will call Party Spokespeople to ask questions without notice to the Minister after Question 2.

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The item started at 13.00

The first 8 questions were asked. The Presiding Officer invited party spokespeople to ask questions to the Minister and the Deputy Minister for Farming and Foods after Question 2.

E&S(4)-32-15 Paper 7

Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Natural Resources

Neil Hemington, Head of Planning

Matthew Quinn, Director Sustainable Development

Andrew Slade, Director, Agriculture, Food & Marine

E&S(4)-28-15 Paper 1

2.1 The Minister and officials responded to questions from members of the Committee.

2.2 The Minister agreed to:

• Energy consenting: A note on the rationale behind the 350MW ceiling for the further devolution of energy consenting powers.

• Marine planning: A note on the new European Commission marine planning directive.

• Water quality: The criteria for assessing whether a water body has a 'good ecological status' (GES).

• Water quality: To provide a comparison of the 42% figure for water bodies in Wales achieving GES with the percentage of water bodies in other UK countries and elsewhere in the EU achieving GES.

• Natural Resources Wales Coastal Review: Details of progress in implementing the seven recommendations that will not be completed during this financial year, including a timeline for completing these recommendations.

E&S(4)-12-15 Paper 9

Members noted the correspondence.

E&S(4)-10-15 Paper 2

Members noted the correspondence.

Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Natural Resources

Andrew Slade, Director, Agriculture, Food and Marine
Matthew Quinn, Director, Environment and Sustainable Development

Neil Hemington, Head of Planning

Tony Clark, Head of Finance, Natural Resources

E&S(4)-07-15 Paper 1

E&S(4)-07-15 Paper 1 Annexe

The Minister and officials responded to questions from members of the Committee.

The Minister for Natural Resources agreed to:

• Write to the Committee with regard to the prices paid by Gypsies and Travellers for energy and water, including how they could benefit from the Nest and Arbed programmes;
• Clarify the meaning of ‘self-reporting’ in relation to Arbed and Nest; and
• Update the Committee on the introduction of legislation to restrict the size of fishing boats in the 0-6 nautical mile area.

E&S(4)-25-14 paper 6

7.5 The Committee noted the paper.

E&S(4)-20-14 paper 1

Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Natural Resources

Matthew Quinn, Director for Natural Resources

Prys Davies, Deputy Director: Energy, Water and Flood Division

2.1 The Minister and officials responded to questions from members of the Committee.

2.2 The Minister agreed to:

·         Write to the Committee to provide a comprehensive note on the biodiversity policy agenda.

·         Consider publishing the report of the audit undertaken into biodiversity actions carried out by Government departments.

·         Consider providing the Committee with the key performance indicators/bassline data that will be used to measure the outcomes of the Nature Recovery Plan.

·         Write to the Committee with further informatiom on the points raised by Committee members regarding shale gas/fracking.

·         Consider making an updated statement on the Government’s position on shale gas/fracking.

·         Provide the Committee with the flowchart used by Government relating to the planning processes surrounding fracking.

·         Write to the Committee with an update on the Ynni’r Fro programme, where figures are available.

·         Write to the Committee to provide clarification on Crown exemption relating to Natural Resources Wales.

·         Write to the Committee detailing the date the Water Strategy will be published, and to be provide a note on the progress of the five recommendations which were accepted in principle.