Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m delighted to say a few very short words here today. I made the mistake on the committee of acknowledging some familiarity with the Farriers Registration Council, and, for my sins, the Chair graciously said, ‘Well, you can say a few words.’ He’d be more than capable himself. But I only want to touch on a few things.

As we’ve just heard, this is very much a modernisation, and a long-overdue modernisation, of the Farriers Registration Council. The CCERA committee, chaired by Mark Reckless, found no reason to object. We discussed this and found no reason to object. We discussed this legislative consent motion at the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on 16 March. It does amend the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975, which sets out the statutory responsibility of the registration council, the regulatory body for the farrier profession in Great Britain. And the arrangements, as has been said already, for the regulation of farriers, as set out in that Act, are out of date, so this is a welcome updating and modernisation.

This will allow for the updating of the constitution of the council and, importantly, for its investigating and disciplinary committees, for it have a real relevance to its members and those who come before those committees. They make them fit for purpose and in line with the regulation of other professions that have modernised in this way over the years, and some quite some time before. It will also make it easier to make other changes in future.

So, as I mentioned, amongst it is altering the membership of the statutory investigating committee and the disciplinary committee. So, instead of those being constituted from members of the council, the reverse will apply. Membership must not be members of the council, which has in previous years caused some concern. This is to achieve the necessary separation of powers, ensuring that those who set standards for the profession are not the same as those who investigate and adjudicate upon potential breaches of those standards. And it also does other measures, such as introducing fitness-to-serve requirements for all members of the council and the statutory committees, as is the practice in other regulatory bodies.

So, this has had approval by frankly everybody that it has come in front of—the original Bill moved by Byron Davies in Westminster, the committees that have looked at it, the Welsh Government itself who consulted on it, the Scottish Government who consulted on it, DEFRA itself, and of course the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee here, which looked at it—so there’s no reason not to approve this—and by the CCERA committee. So, it therefore finds everybody’s blessing. It’s no surprise at all. It’s a long-overdue modernisation, and I wish them well in putting these new measures that we bring forward here within this LCM, and within Byron Davies’s Bill, into practice because I think it will be welcomed by those who come in front of the Farriers Registration Council.