I'm pleased to be here to debate today the Finance Committee's inquiry into the financial estimates accompanying legislation—probably not the talk of bars and pubs across the land, but nonetheless—[Interruption.] Well, maybe in your neck of the woods, Dai Lloyd. Nonetheless an important issue for us to discuss because it does go to the heart of what we do here in terms of forming legislation and ensuring that relevant costs are met. As the Chair said in opening, the aims of the report were to examine the costs of legislation with specific reference to the costs associated with a sample of selected Acts that we looked at. We also were charged with examining the current reporting and monitoring arrangements for legislative costs after implementation, and establishing the effectiveness and the quality of RIAs that have been produced, and how this informs monitoring. RIAs went to the heart of our inquiry. While progress has been made on regulatory impact assessments—and that's to be welcomed—the Finance Committee's report highlights that more work is clearly needed, such as ensuring a summary of financial information to be included in the RIAs for each of the Bills that are introduced.

We also felt that a distinction must be made as to whether costs are capital or revenue, and that was key to recommendation 1. If I can just turn to the issue of transparency, during the passage of the Welsh Government's most recent budget, the evidence several committees received showed the problems in scrutinising proposed changes to grants, changes to budget lines and different calculations included to underline its supposed increase in funding to schools and social care. Those were issues that I raised during the draft budget and the final budget debate, and I hope that the Welsh Government will take them on board to make sure this process is as transparent as possible.

In terms of stakeholders, there was a wider concern—or, I should say, the implications for stakeholders were of a particular concern. They've been hit by higher charges due to issues within regulatory impact assessments. For instance, the committee heard that Residential Landlords Association members were hit by higher charges under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 than those initially outlined by the regulatory impact assessment. These changes, the RLA claimed in evidence, were made without notification, and furthermore, in relation to costing the Rent Smart Wales scheme, Cardiff council, which operates the scheme on behalf of the 22 local authorities, created its own financial model showing that the Welsh Government's RIA had overestimated the total number of landlords in Wales. So, that was one issue that was highlighted by our inquiry. One of the recommendations regarding stakeholders is recommendation 5, and that's that the Welsh Government should thoroughly consider the financial implications for all stakeholders in RIAs, including ensuring that the financial implications for the private sector are fully considered. Not always straightforward but, we felt, very important.

I'm also disappointed—the Chair's already mentioned this—that the Welsh Government has rejected recommendation 10, recommending that summary information in RIAs contain explicit reference to how any costs identified in the assessment will be funded, and by whom. Whilst I see what the Welsh Government is getting at by stating that this is a wider use of the RIA than originally anticipated and that this could pose complexities, well, yes, it is, it may be, but at the end of the day, we felt that this is a good way of bolstering RIAs, making them more meaningful and presenting that information in terms of the finance and the Bills that we feel is essential—it's certainly going to be helpful—in deciding whether that legislation is going to achieve its goals or not.

Simon Thomas also referred to issues that we addressed within the future generations legislation. If Steffan Lewis were here today, I'm sure that he'd be bouncing up and down in his seat and commenting at this point. He had his concerns about that legislation, and those are well versed. I would say if we can't get this right when it comes to more straightforward, simpler legislation, then when it comes to legislation as complex as the future generations Act, then there are going to be serious problems for this Assembly. So, let's look at ways that we can improve this process for legislation across the board.

I think it's welcome, in concluding, Dirprwy Lywydd, that the Welsh Government believes that there is scope to improve processes so that any errors or gaps in analysis are identified before a Bill is laid in front of the Assembly. I think we're all singing from the same hymn sheet on that one. We all want to make this process better. We want it to be an exemplary process that we follow through in the Assembly here, and one that people across the rest of the UK, and indeed the world, can look at and say, 'That's how they do it. We think that's better than the way that we do it. We want to get this right'.

So, I hope that the Welsh Government does take on board the implications. I'm pleased that you've accepted a number of the recommendations that we put forward. I'm sorry that you rejected one of those recommendations in particular, but I hope that the Welsh Government does look at ways that this process can be improved so that we can have a far better way of legislating in future.