Can I firstly, Cabinet Secretary, welcome the introduction of Stage 3 of the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill? We’ve spent a long time talking about how historic the introduction of LTT was as the first Welsh tax in so many hundreds of years, and this is clearly also historic—the second, and I suppose the Buzz Aldrin to the Neil Armstrong, if you were looking for a space analogy, which you might be, but, of course, you might not be. I can see that Mike Hedges liked that analogy anyway. The Finance Committee has welcomed your close co-operation during the previous stages and, indeed, working with your officials. I’ve had a number of meetings with your officials and yourself—and support staff of the Welsh Conservative group have as well—and that’s been very beneficial. We know that this tax, like LTT, is essential in that, in April 2018, its UK equivalent, which we’ve been operating under to date, and up until April next year, will be switched off. So, there’s no doubt at all that this tax is needed.

Turning to group 1 and the communities scheme, which you rightly say is very important, we will be supporting the lead amendment in the group and, indeed, the second Government amendment as well. But turning to the more controversial amendment—our amendment 52—which you did pay credence to, I recognise that you do think that there are good things within that amendment. You were quite right to say that we did have a fair amount of discussion about this at Stage 2, at the committee stage, and the views that I expressed at that point for placing this on the face of the Bill do remain. I believe that amendment 2 narrows the criteria for applications down slightly on the Bill’s face. There’s no mention of the eligibility criteria themselves on the face of the Bill. Although this will be a scheme separate to the traditional Landfill Communities Fund applied in England and Scotland, which is based on vouchers, there is the need to narrow down the criteria, I feel, for eligibility, which are based in existing legislation and which would guide the committee’s work on the scheme. Currently, Scotland has the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund, which has a number of detailed points about eligibility to the fund, which are outlined under Part 7 of the Scottish Landfill Tax (Administration) Regulations 2015, including protection of the environment, community-based recycling, reuse and waste prevention projects and conservation projects. This amendment also clarifies the position of local bodies when applying for a grant under the landfill communities scheme. Furthermore, when looking at the provision of grants and the ability of smaller local charities to bid, it’s essential that clear guidance is available so that they have an equal playing field. For example, Community Foundation in Wales has provided accessible guidance for organisations, including their financial information and a project description.

As I say, we did have a fair discussion about this at Stage 2, Cabinet Secretary, and I do appreciate your reasons for not wanting your hands tied, as you put it, by putting this on the face of the Bill. I do, however, still believe that it useful for us to have an amendment in this place at Stage 3 so that, firstly, you can make your points forcibly, which you have done, and which I’m sure many Members will agree with, but also so that we can set out our reasons for wanting this information clarified as soon as possible. One way of doing that would be by placing it on the face of the Bill, so I would still like to proceed with this amendment, although I do fully understand the Cabinet Secretary’s reasons for opposing it. If this amendment does fall, then hopefully the Finance Committee can continue with the process of working with you to develop a reasonable, acceptable and sustainable alternative.