I listened carefully to what Nick Ramsay said and I’ve no difficulty in accepting the thrust of his remarks in that it certainly will be the case that we will want the Welsh Revenue Authority to be able to act collaboratively with other organisations and to share back-room resources with them where that helps the WRA in its duties. The amendment, however, says something, I think, slightly different to that. It’s an amendment that would allow the WRA to issue guidance to a county council or Natural Resources Wales as to the adoption of best practice in the administration of landfill disposal tax. We’ve had lots of discussions during the passage of the Bill about the need for the WRA to provide guidance—guidance to taxpayers on this Bill and in relation to LTTA—and I was pleased to be able to provide the Finance Committee with reassurances that the provision of such guidance had been agreed with the incoming chair of the Welsh Revenue Authority. So, while I am strongly in support of the principle of guidance, I don’t believe that this amendment makes good sense. It seeks to insert a new section to enable the WRA to issue guidance to the NRW and local authorities in Wales in relation to the adoption of best practice in the administration of landfill disposal tax. The problem is that, as set out in the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016, it is the WRA that will be responsible for the administration of landfill disposal tax, not the NRW or local authorities.

Now, I fully agree that both NRW and local authorities will be key players in the landfill arena, but the relationship between them and the WRA, while needing to be strong and mutually beneficial, will not be enhanced by providing guidance to them on something that they do not have responsibility to carry out. No specific power is necessary to allow guidance to be provided, and, quite certainly, it will not be sensible for the WRA to issue guidance to the NRW and local authorities on the basis of amendment 51, as these bodies are not to be responsible for the administration of LDT. So, my problem, I think, Dirprwy Lywydd, having listened to what Nick Ramsay said, is that I’ve got a lot of sympathy with what he had to say about sharing back-office functions and administrative efficiency—I don’t think the amendment, as it’s in front of the Assembly this afternoon, necessarily has that effect, and it doesn’t prevent the WRA from achieving those outcomes with the suite of powers that it already has. I’m therefore going to ask Members not to support amendment 51.