Thank you, Presiding Officer. I formally move the motion. I am delighted to introduce the fourth and final stage of the Public Health (Wales) Bill before the Assembly today.

This Bill has had a long journey to reach this point, through various stages of consultation and further refinement. Today marks the culmination of that journey. I’d like to begin by thanking the Chairs and members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, and the Finance Committee, for their diligent scrutiny of the Bill. Similarly, I’d like to thank the wide range of stakeholders who’ve engaged positively throughout the process across each of the areas that the Bill covers. The Bill before the Assembly today continues Wales’s strong tradition of using legislation as an important part of our efforts to improve and protect health, alongside our tailored public health services, programmes, policies and campaigns. It will make a real and positive difference to our communities in a number of ways.

We’ve worked over many years to protect the population from the harms of smoking, particularly our children and young people. The Bill will break important new ground by extending the smoke-free requirements, for the very first time, to certain open spaces. This, together with the Bill’s other provisions on tobacco and nicotine products, will further embed the significant progress we’ve made in this area. People who choose to have special procedures, including body piercing and tattooing, will be better protected against the potential risks of infection, through the new licensing system. Communities across Wales will benefit from the changes to the way pharmaceutical services and access to toilets for use by the public are planned, and from the health impact assessments that will be carried out by public bodies.

Members will be aware that this Bill has already benefitted from full scrutiny in the fourth Assembly and, as a result, comprised a comprehensive suite of measures for further improving and protecting health and well-being in Wales. Nevertheless, the work of this Assembly has led to a number of material changes that have significantly strengthened the Bill. As a direct result of this work, children up to the age of 18 will now be protected from the harms that can be caused by intimate piercing. The smoke-free requirements in open spaces will be extended to cover outdoor childcare settings, further protecting children from the harm of smoking and preventing it from being seen as a normal, everyday activity. And, importantly, the Bill now gives a clear legislative focus to Government action to address the priority public health issue of obesity through the national strategy that will now be prepared.

I’m grateful to Members for the collaborative way in which they’ve engaged with the issues and worked with the Government to improve the Bill in these important ways. Of course, while today marks the end of the Bill’s journey through the Assembly, if passed, it will also signal the start of a critical new phase. I look forward to implementing the various elements of the Bill to realise the many benefits it seeks to achieve for people in Wales, and to the ongoing engagement of the Assembly in that work.

Before I close, I would like to put on record my very sincere thanks to all of the officials who’ve supported the work on the Bill so carefully and so diligently as it’s made its way through the Assembly. Presiding Officer, I commend the Bill to the Assembly.