Image source, Getty Images

New Reform Wales leader Helen Jenner made her First Minister's Questions debut in the Senedd, and started off the session with a scathing attack on the Welsh government's stance on a grooming gangs inquiry.

She accused First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth of voting "shamefully" against her party's grooming gangs motion last week, which called for a Wales-only inquiry.

In response, ap Iorwerth said work was ongoing to understand the scale of the problem in Wales, and admitted "we have issues here that we need to get to grips with in order to safeguard people".

Also at the Senedd today:

• Dan Thomas, who quit as leader last week after being arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour and denies wrongdoing, was not in the chamber.
• Ap Iorwerth clarified that his target to eradicate two-year waits in the NHS means ending them within a year of coming to power.
• Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter warned Wales was "dangerously unprepared" for the extreme weather conditions that are predicted.
• And Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, who defected from Reform to Plaid Cymru this time last week, nodded when the first minister said Reform misled people on Brexit - even though the party didn't exist at the time of the vote.

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Image source, Senedd Cymru

In the closing moments of FMQs, the matter of Sarah Cooper-Lesadd - who defected from Reform to Plaid Cymru - returns.

Reform's Cai Parry-Jones asks whether a law that may ban lying in the next Senedd election campaign would apply to someone who "misrepresents their own beliefs to win votes" in a way that only becomes clear after polling day.

Ap Iorwerth accuses Reform of "sour grapes".

Cooper-Lesadd can be seen nodding in the background as the first minister says: "This is a party, of course, that misled that people in the Brexit vote. It knows all about misleading people."

Reform did not exist during the Brexit referendum in 2016. Reform leader Nigel Farage campaigned for Leave when he was leader of UKIP, before he co-founded the Brexit Party.

Reform Sir Gaerfyrddin MS Gareth Beer urges Rhun ap Iorwerth's government to treat river pollution with "far greater urgency".

He quotes a Royal Society report, external warning "regulators are flying blind" on the issue, and says the Welsh government "lacks a credible plan to clean up our rivers".

The first minister says river pollution has "multiple causes" and tackling it involves industry, agriculture and water companies.

"It's about making sure that we have good solid regulation made in Wales," he adds.

The first minister clarifies that his target to eradicate two-year waits in the NHS means he aims for them to be gone by the one-year anniversary of his party coming into power.

In response to a question from Reform's Llŷr Powell, querying whether the target was to eliminate the waits over months or years, ap Iorwerth says: "I said they'll go in months. That goes a year from coming into government. They are gone.

"That's months... months is not more than a year," he says.

The first minister had earlier told Radio Wales that the long waits would be brought to zero within a year, while ministers have said they would be scrapped within a matter of months.

It was not clear in the interview when the clock started and sounded like it could be next September, but the first minister now suggests he is hoping they will be gone by next May.

Communities should not have to bear the consequences of waste crime, the first minister says in response to a question on fly tipping concerns.

Plaid Cymru MS Marc Jones says people in Fflint Wrexham are dealing with historic legacy of illegal waste dumping and current active sites.

"Time and again, we see the companies responsible for these environmental crimes avoid accountability by entering liquidation and walking away from the costs of remediation," he says.

Ap Iorwerth says he is committed to supporting regulators to pursue those responsible.

Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter warns Wales is "dangerously unprepared for the predicted onslaught of extreme weather conditions".

He says the Welsh government allocated "just £1m" for "emergency preparedness" in budget adjustments in July.

He calls on the first minister to create a "climate shock fund" to show his government is serious about protecting communities this winter".

Rhun ap Iorworth says "concerns on the effects of heat, the effects of cold, and so on" were "something that we work across the UK on".

He says Slaughter "has my word that I will absolutely be looking at how we work between Welsh government and UK government to get the support that Wales needs to prepare for this wide range of threats that we face in future".

Image source, Senedd Cymru

"Why don't you help people with their council tax demands" rather than demand more power, asks Darren Millar, with economists warning of 4% inflation.

The Welsh Conservative Senedd leader reiterates Tory calls for a cap on council tax rises - and for referendums if councils want to go beyond that.

Ap Iorwerth says he understands that the leader of the Tories "wants to replicate policy in England".

"I remind the Senedd that we will be facing a real terms cuts in the day-to-day spending that we have available in the next financial year," he says.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates raises his party's call for more money to spent on additional learning needs (ALN).

Labour voted down the Plaid Cymru government's Supplementary Budget over the issue before the Senedd's summer break.

Skates argues disadvantaged children "risk coming second" behind "free childcare for millionaires", a reference to the Welsh government's expansion of universal childcare.

Ap Iorwerth says discussions with Labour before the budget vote "were putting £100m plus on the table, including £40 million for this year".

He appeals to Skates to "help us get it out of the door to help those families and the schools and local authorities who need that money spent".

Image source, Senedd Cymru

This is the first FMQs since Sarah Cooper-Lesadd defected from Reform to Plaid Cymru.

Helen Jenner puts a series of quotes to Plaid leader ap Iorwerth that she says were made by Cooper-Lesadd, including that "millions are being wasted" on a tree planting project in Uganda, and that it is "important" that Welsh people come first for prioritising council housing - positions that are seemingly at odds with Plaid's own.

The first minister says he admires Cooper-Lesadd's bravery for standing up "to this Reform group in the Senate and say, I now can see you for what you are."

"It is up to all of us to show that we are able to change, that we are able to see the light politically, if you like," he says.

He claims Reform is "scandal ridden" and "collapsing in chaos" around Jenner.

"One of your current ministers was accused by a grooming gang victim of downplaying her experience," says Jenner.

"Let's just have a look at the last 11 weeks alone. We've had two men imprisoned in Cardiff, five people convicted in Rhyl, and eight men across south Wales charged as part of Operation Oak or relating to grooming, gang type activity."

Rhun ap Iorwerth responds: "I can look to you in the eye every single day of the week and tell you that we have a government that isn't interested in scoring political points about what is a very, very sensitive issue and is interested in getting on with finding solutions.

"We said that we needed to understand the scale of the problem in Wales. Work was done to understand the scale of the problem in Wales, and it is apparent, obviously, that we have issues here that we need to get to grips with in order to safeguard people."

He says his government is supporting the inquiry by looking into "lessons that can be learned".

Image source, Senedd Cymru

New Reform leader Helen Jenner begins her contribution in the Senedd with her colleagues banging the desk behind her.

She says the first minister voted "shamefully" against her party's grooming gangs motion last week, which called for a Wales-only inquiry.

The UK government is carrying out its own.

After some nervous laughter as ap Iorwerth congratulates her for the new role, the first minister says there is nothing more important than safeguarding "people that we have a duty of care for".

Jenner follows up: "Can you really look me in the eye and say that you didn't let down victims last week by voting against wanting a grooming gang investigation in Wales?"

David Deans
Wales political reporter

Former Welsh Reform leader Dan Thomas has not arrived to take his seat in the Senedd chamber.

He was arrested last week on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour - he denies wrongdoing and is on police bail.

He quit his job as leader last week following the arrest, but he remains a Reform Senedd member.

Rhun ap Iorwerth says ministers are holding a review into the Global Centre of Rail Excellence - a rail-testing centre on a site said to be roughly the size of Gibraltar.

Concerns have been raised because while £70m has been spent on the site in Powys, the centre has not been built.

Tory MS Davies asks when the government will be in a position to say what it is going to do.

Ap Iorwerth says he won't criticise the project, but adds: "We have to understand what has happened as those tens of millions of pounds have been spent on the site."

Rhun ap Iorwerth is on his feet to answer the first question from Conservative Andrew RT Davies on the Global Centre of Rail Excellence

Jenner will take part in FMQs for the first time as her party's leader in Wales, following the resignation of Dan Thomas.

Here's a short introduction to the woman at the helm of the Senedd's second-largest party - and you can read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Rhun ap Iorwerth is set to face opposition leaders at a First Minister's Questions that will feature at least a couple of firsts.

As well as being Helen Jenner's debut FMQs as Reform's Welsh leader, after she was unveiled by Nigel Farage yesterday, it means all Senedd party leaders - including the first minister - are from north Wales for the first time.

As well as the usual sparring between party leaders, the list of questions from members shows we're expecting issues including cost of living pressures, river pollution, NHS waiting times, and illegally dumped waste to come up.

We'll bring you all the developments from the Senedd as they happen, and you can watch the session live by clicking play at the top of the page from 13:30 BST.