The next item on the agenda is the Landfill Disposals Tax (Administration) Regulations 2018, and I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to move that motion—Mark Drakeford.

Motion NDM6629 Julie James

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5

1. Approves that the draft Landfill Disposals Tax (Administration) (Wales) Regulations 2018 are made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 12 December 2017.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am pleased to put forward the Landfill Disposals Tax (Administration) Regulations 2018.

Can I put on record my thanks to both the Finance Committee and the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for their work in considering these regulations? They are made under sections 17, 54 and 93 of the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Act 2017, and both relate to the administration of that tax.

The regulations cover two main areas. Part 2 sets out the requirements additional to those in the Act that must be met in order for waste fines to qualify for the lower rate of tax. Waste fines are small fragments of material produced by a waste treatment process that involves mechanical treatment. Requirements included in the regulations include carrying out loss on ignition testing on waste fines, and the arrangements for doing so. They confer powers to enable the Welsh Revenue Authority to set out the detail of these requirements in a legally enforceable notice, and if these regulations are confirmed by the National Assembly this afternoon, they will assist landfill operators to determine the correct amount of tax chargeable.

Part 3 establishes a customer insolvency credit. This provides landfill site operators with an entitlement to a tax credit where their customer becomes insolvent before having paid the operator for carrying out a taxable disposal. Members of the Finance Committee will recall, from their consideration, that this was a matter of some controversy during the passage of the Act, with different respondents to consultation promoting very different approaches: some arguing for complete abolition of the tax credit, others for a very generous level of retention.

In the event, the regulations before the Assembly today broadly follow the approach adopted in Scotland. They retain a tax credit in this area, but narrow the conditions that give rise to an entitlement. The credit is only available under these regulations where the operator's customer has become insolvent. The primary aim of the regulations is to protect revenues, and then to provide stability to operators.

I ask Members to support these regulations this afternoon.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Simon Thomas.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I have no further comments as the Cabinet Secretary has answered everything that was raised by the Finance Committee and by others.

Wow. Jane Hutt.

Llywydd, I do welcome these Landfill Disposals Tax (Administration) Regulations 2018, and I support the Cabinet Secretary unreservedly as a member now of the Finance Committee. I'm delighted to see the first tax for 800 years, not just on the statute book, but ready for implementation from April 2018. I'm glad I was able to play my part as a former finance Minister to pave the way for this new day for Wales, bringing forward the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Bill, which received Royal Assent in 2016.

But for the record, in this centenary year of women's suffrage, I'm conscious of the role women have played in this Assembly—in Government as finance Ministers, Edwina Hart and Sue Essex, before my six-year term in the post, and in the Assembly, Jocelyn Davies, as the former Chair of the Finance Committee, which scrutinised the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Bill. I'm delighted that the Welsh Revenue Authority, which will be collecting this tax and the land transaction tax, is chaired by a woman, Kathryn Bishop. In 1918, women got partial suffrage, and that was the time when the Women's Tax Resistance League, whose slogan was, 'No Vote, No Tax', was disbanded because, finally, women were getting the vote. So, let's mark this historical day, in the spirit of Hywel Dda, to promote equality in all aspects of devolution, including in the delivery and management of our new taxes in Wales.

I call on the Cabinet Secretary to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd. Can I say to Jane Hutt how much I agree with her on the very significant part that women Members of this Assembly have played throughout the development of these new responsibilities? She will be interested to know, because I was asked this question in front of the Finance Committee very recently, that, in the Welsh Revenue Authority, over half the appointments that have now been made to the authority are women, and that women are represented at every level of responsibility within this new body, thus continuing the work that she and others have pioneered in this field.

Can I thank Simon Thomas for recognising that I've been able to respond to the points that the Finance Committee were interested in? Although technical in nature, Llywydd, the aim of the regulations is to provide a consistent, clear and fair set of requirements that taxpayers can follow in identifying when the lower rate of tax can be applied to qualifying mixtures of fine materials, and also in determining their entitlement to the consumer insolvency credit. I hope that Members will feel able to support them this afternoon.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.