2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 16 January 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 3:01, 16 January 2018

The final thing, if I may—and I don't even know if this is really for the business manager, perhaps possibly for the Presiding Officer, perhaps possibly for us all as an Assembly, but I think it's important to raise it. As Chair of the Finance Committee, I have for the second year in a row tried to get the Secretary of State for Wales to come to the Finance Committee to give, in open, public session, his account of how the devolution of tax powers is happening in Wales. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance was there last week, we've had the Welsh Treasury there, we'll have the revenue authority there this week, and I think that, as the joint holders of tax devolution set out in the Wales Act—it's clearly defined that it's for the Wales Office and the Welsh Government to produce annual reports on how tax devolution is undertaken, and therefore, they are joint stakeholders and holders of this devolution process—I would like to see the Secretary of State give his time to a committee of this Assembly to explain how this is happening. He has pleaded, on two occasions now, diary commitments. Last week—because social media is a wonderful thing—as we were meeting, I saw that the Secretary of State had to pass us in order to go to Swansea to do his engagements. We would have made every arrangement, as I'm sure you are aware, business manager, to accommodate him on his way to Swansea. So, I think there is a message here that we would like to see, when appropriate and when constitutionally responsible for these actions, the Secretary of State making himself available to a committee of this Assembly.