Diolch, Lywydd. Today, I’m pleased to announce the first year of our legislative programme. In this Assembly term I will make an annual statement, setting out the primary legislation the Government will introduce over the coming 12 months. Moving from a five-year programme to an annual programme and statement is one step in developing our practices to ensure they befit the parliamentary responsibilities of this place. As I said in my statement on 18 May, we will not introduce new legislation in the first 100 days of this Assembly, and we stand by this commitment. Today’s statement will inform Members and the public of the areas of public policy in which the Welsh Government will bring forward legislation in the first year. This work will begin in earnest following the summer recess.

The first of these areas is taxation. This represents a new and significant era of devolution for Wales. As Members will know, the Wales Act 2014 devolved power to this Assembly to make primary legislation in relation to certain devolved taxes. We laid the administrative foundations in the last Assembly with the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016, which established the Welsh Revenue Authority, which is now in the process of being set up. The Government will bring forward two Bills to establish the two taxes to be devolved to Wales from April 2018: a land transaction tax and a landfill disposals tax for Wales. Through this legislation we will also seek to establish a general anti-avoidance rule for devolved taxes in Wales. These bills will mark the start of a new relationship between Welsh taxpayers, the Welsh Government and the delivery of public services, strengthening the link between taxes raised in Wales and money spent on devolved public services in Wales. For our part, the Welsh Government will be wholly responsible and wholly accountable for raising certain taxes in Wales; we’ll no longer be solely reliant on the Welsh block grant provided by the UK Government. That, of course, is a significant step forward for the nation. We’ll approach the scrutiny of this legislation with openness and transparency, and by listening carefully to the views of Members and stakeholders. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government will make an oral statement about tax devolution in Plenary next week.

Llywydd, the Bill on the land transaction tax is a long, technical and complex piece of legislation. To assist Members, the sector and the public to familiarise themselves with this Bill, we’ll publish a near-final draft of the Bill before the summer recess, ahead of its introduction in the autumn.

Llywydd, the Welsh Government will bring forward legislation to repeal sections of the UK Government’s pernicious Trade Union Act in devolved areas. The fourth Assembly refused consent for the UK Government to legislate in those areas, but the Government proceeded to impose them on Wales. That is not acceptable. This Government is committed to delivering improved public services through social partnership with trade unions and public sector employers. We’ve always said that significant parts of UK legislation relate specifically to public services that are clearly devolved, and, despite a number of concessions made by the UK Government to secure the Act, key provisions remain fundamentally harmful to Wales. Our legislation will seek to disapply these parts for our devolved public services.

Llywydd, to deliver improvements to people’s health, we will reintroduce a public health Bill. While it was not possible in the last Assembly to reach agreement on provisions relating to restrictions on the use of e-cigarettes, the Bill did contain a great number of proposals on which there was cross-party consensus. We will, therefore, bring forward the public health Bill as it was amended at Stage 3 in the last Assembly, but without the restrictions on the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public spaces.

The Welsh Government will also introduce legislation to provide a new legal framework for supporting children and young people, from birth to the age of 25, with additional learning needs. We consulted on a draft additional learning needs and education tribunal Bill last year. We’ve listened to the feedback from stakeholders, and we’ve carefully considered the responses. The introduction of the Bill will be the next step in reforming the current system and delivering improvements for children and young people with additional learning needs.

Finally, Llywydd, we will bring forward a Bill to abolish the right to buy and the right to acquire. We must safeguard our social housing stock in Wales and ensure it’s available to people who need it and who are unable to access accommodation through home ownership or the private rented sector. We need to build more homes, and this Government is committed to delivering an extra 20,000 affordable homes during this Assembly term, but we must also tackle the pressure on our current social housing stock. This Bill will seek to protect that stock from further reductions. The analogy I’ve used before is that it’s like trying to fill the bath up with the plug out.

In the first year of this Government, we will bring forward six Bills. Our legislative proposals span the establishment of Welsh devolved taxes, improvements in public health, and the reform of support for children and young people with additional learning needs. We are committed to working with Members in this Senedd and with communities and stakeholders, as we take forward our legislative programme this year, to ensure the laws we make in Wales are the best they can be for the people across this nation. Llywydd, I commend, then, this legislative programme to the Assembly.