Commentary on Sections Monitoring and reporting Section 6 – Sustainable Land Management reports
55.Section 6 requires the Welsh Ministers to prepare and publish SLM reports and details the content and timings of those reports.
56.Subsection (1) requires the Welsh Ministers to prepare a report in relation to each reporting period (as defined by subsection (9)).
57.Subsection (1)(a) provides that the report must set out the Welsh Ministers’ assessment of the cumulative progress made, since section 2 came into force, towards achieving the SLM objectives through the exercise of the functions to which the duty in section 2 applies.
58.Subsection (1)(b) also requires the report to set out the Welsh Ministers’ assessment of the progress made, during the reporting period, towards meeting those objectives through the exercise of those functions.
59.Subsection (2) states that the report must set out, in relation to each indicator in the statement (or revised statement) published under section 4, the progress made in relation to that indicator during the reporting period and how that has contributed to achieving the SLM objectives.
60.Subsection (3) provides that the report must also set out, in relation to each target in the statement (or revised statement), whether the target has been achieved during the reporting period.
61.Subsections (4) to (6) specify the provision the report must make depending on whether during the reporting a period a target has been achieved (subsection (4)), has not been achieved (subsection (5)), or the Welsh Ministers have not yet been able to determine whether a target has been achieved (subsection (6)).
62.Subsection (7) sets out other matters that SLM reports may assess and report on. These may include the key priorities, risks and opportunities in relation to achieving the SLM objectives, and the effect that the progress made towards achieving those objectives has on the achievement of other goals e.g. Wales’s net zero 2050 goal.
63.Subsection (8) provides that the Welsh Ministers must, no later than 12 months after the end of each reporting period, publish the report that relates to the reporting period and lay it before the Senedd.
64.Subsection (9) defines the “reporting period” and subsection (10) confers powers on the Welsh Ministers by regulations to amend subsection (9). This regulation making power enables the Welsh Ministers to amend, for example, the length of the reporting period. This power to make regulations is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure (section 50(6) and (7)).