Speeches by Tufnell.

“The problem I am struggling to understand is that you are regulated by Ofwat, and you asked Ofwat for a bespoke harm reduction. Every other water company that has come in here is also regulated by Ofwat. Ofwat did not allow you to have that because you did not provide compelling evidence as to how that would lead to ad…”

“I would like to go into some specific instances. The Cleddau Project, which operates in my constituency in Pembrokeshire, demonstrated that Picton in Haverfordwest is running at 80% capacity. That is 56,000 cubic metres—17 tankers a day—that should be going to a sewage treatment plant. Instead, it is going to a special…”

“I appreciate you saying it took you a while, but to be clear, it took you from July ’22 to February ’24. What steps are you taking to restore the environmental damage that has taken place?”

“Are you confident that you are not going to see an incident like this happen again?”

“You are confident this kind of incident will not happen again?”

“I am conscious of time, but there is reporting from the Wye and I want to detail some other specific instances. In the Wye in 2023, it was estimated that 23% of phosphorus in the Wye came from your own wastewater treatment works. To give you credit where credit is due, this is reporting from your organisation. In Octob…”

“I have talked about The Cleddau Project and mentioned the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution campaign and the work they have done. I was wondering whether you want to take the opportunity to commend them for their extensive continuing work in order to improve the water quality right across Wales.”

“I have two final questions. The first is about transparency. You said at the beginning to the Chair that transparency is incredibly important, but very recently in December ’24, it was reported that you were facing a large fine for not properly monitoring discharges from sewage and water treatment works. NRW—Natural Re…”

“We have been talking a lot about investment and enhancement in the north-east and in the south-east. Is there a danger of a two-tier rail network emerging in Wales? What are your thoughts on that potential?”

“Can I just piggyback off Andrew’s question on the criteria that you set out about those projects in respect of the business case? How are more rural areas best positioned to put their case in terms of GVA increasing connectivity within the framework? We talked about reliability west of Swansea as an example.”

“I have a question around Great British Rail. How will the creation of Great British Rail change the way in which infrastructure and maintenance enhancement is delivered?”

“Will the proposed Rail Reform Bill give Ministers in the Welsh Government statutory powers in relation to GBR Cymru?”

“It is very helpful and much appreciated. I had a question around the rail network enhancement pipeline. The previous iteration of this Committee said in 2021 that it was concerned about this. It said it was too slow and hampered rather than helped. How could the RNEP process be changed to accelerate the process of deli…”

“Before I move to Jenny, we have heard a lot about the New Zealand model this morning and the partnership between primary industries and Government. I wonder, what are your thoughts on that, particularly on the point about improving farmers’ confidence?”

“I am conscious of time but I just want to touch on the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 before I go back to the Chair. We heard from Sarah Tomlinson earlier around TB testing: the pressure on vets to conduct TB testing and the discrepancy between time spent on it and income made. What are your thoughts in terms of the bene…”

“We have talked about the problems with recruitment, but you do not view a vet school potentially closing as a significant issue in terms of trying to meet the challenges that the profession faces at the moment.”

“You mentioned the education point. I was wondering what the potential closure of the Cambridge Vet School tells us about the state of veterinary education in the UK.”

“In the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 45% of leavers had been in the profession for four years or less. Then, in terms of the registrations from the European Union, in 2016 you had over 50% of annual registrations from the EU and less than 50% coming from UK veterinary schools. Are those figures that you recogni…”

“Christine, the salaries aside, do you think there is a broader problem with recruitment and retention, just because the numbers seem quite startling?”

“Christine, you have been very vocal. Last year, you told the EFRA Committee—this former Committee—that the veterinary workforce shortage was around 11% or more. Could you also elaborate on the questions I asked Jenny around those challenges you are facing and how they affect our ability to respond to diseases?”