I thank the Cabinet Secretary for this statement on the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill. You wait for one Welsh tax for over 700 years, and then two come along at once—funding vehicles both arriving together. We are very grateful for the opportunity, of course. This tax doesn’t raise as much in revenue as the land transaction tax—indeed, the hope is that the revenue will reduce. But this tax does provide important possibilities in securing that goal of creating a waste-free Wales.

Of course, the Government’s aim, as I understand it at present, is to see a waste-free Wales by the middle of this century. Plaid Cymru had set a target of achieving a waste-free Wales by the year 2030, which is an ambitious aim, of course, but Bhutan have also set that as their target, and even New York has done the same. I would ask the Cabinet Secretary to what extent this new tool—this new power to tax—is a means for us to reassess that target. I understand the rationale that you would want to be relatively consistent in terms of the tax framework as compared to England, and we don’t, of course, want to see this ugly phrase, or an even uglier activity, namely waste tourism, happening across our borders. To what extent can we be a little more creative and innovative in thinking how this taxation power enables us to achieve this target of a waste-free Wales more swiftly?

As the Cabinet Secretary explained, of course, this Bill also introduces unauthorised waste disposal—fly-tipping and so on—within the remit of the taxation. That’s an example of the kind of innovation that’s possible, and that’s very much to be welcomed. The explanatory documents note that the Welsh Revenue Authority will be responsible for collecting and managing the tax, along with NRW. This, again, is an innovation—to see these two organisations jointly managing this. Could he tell us a little more about how this will actually work in terms of unauthorised disposals? For example, what expectation will there be on NRW to oversee unauthorised waste disposals regularly, and if so, has the Government considered whether there will be any additional costs for NRW in relation to this? Can we be given some assurance that sufficient resources will be available, so that this new responsibility doesn’t become onerous?