Llywydd, I turn first of all to a disposable plastics tax. There has been considerable interest in, and support for, a tax on disposable plastics in Wales, and a number of Assembly Members have made persuasive cases for making a plastics tax our first priority in this exercise. Since the original shortlist was published, however, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the autumn budget that the UK Government will launch a call for evidence about how it will address the issue of single-use plastics, including through the use of tax. Whatever its merits, that announcement creates, I believe, a roadblock in the path of any Wales-only proposal. The risk, I believe, is too high that the UK Government would simply respond to a Wales-only plastics tax proposal by saying that its consideration would have to wait until the call-for-evidence process is complete.

More positively, Llywydd, I have been able to discuss the call for evidence with UK Treasury Ministers and, as a result, we have secured Welsh involvement in that process. We will help publicise the call in Wales, to ensure as much engagement here as possible. We will contribute to the analysis of the findings following the call for evidence, and I have agreed to meet the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury to discuss progress at that point and share Welsh views on the development of policy options.

Wales has the third best recycling rate in the world. We are at the forefront of the waste agenda and have much to offer through our extensive experience and research capabilities. Nevertheless, we will continue to work on a stand-alone disposable plastics tax for Wales. This remains an option and will be informed by the results of an extended producer responsibility study, which the Welsh Government is due to report on shortly.

I turn to the issue of a social care levy. An ageing population brings an increase in the demand for, and the cost of, social care. Paying for care remains an unresolved challenge throughout the United Kingdom, and taxation is one possible response. We will continue to work throughout 2018 to explore whether taxation could be used to fund social care in the longer term here in Wales. This includes Professor Gerry Holtham’s indicative economic analysis of a system of enhanced social insurance, which is due to be available to us in May. The First Minister has agreed that my colleague, Huw Irranca-Davies, will chair an inter-ministerial group to take forward this very important work.

Llywydd, as far as a tourism tax is concerned, the work carried out over the last six months has shown how much tourism varies across Wales. I have concluded that a national tourism tax would not best reflect this breadth of local circumstances. We will now explore ways in which local authorities could be given permissive powers to develop and implement a local tourism tax. In carrying out that work, we will, of course, work with the tourism sector, the Welsh Local Government Association and interested parties to do this.

I turn finally, then, to a vacant land tax. I have concluded that a vacant land tax will be used to test the Wales Act 2014 machinery. Housing is a priority for this Government. A vacant land tax could help to incentivise more timely development by making it more expensive to hold on to land that has been identified as suitable for development.

The Republic of Ireland vacant land sites levy provides a useful starting point for how a vacant land tax could work in Wales. Under this model, planning authorities must establish a register of vacant sites in their areas. Once a registered site has been vacant for a year, the levy begins to apply and is collected annually by the planning authority. The rate is set by the Irish Government as a percentage of the value of the site.

The existence of such a model and the relatively narrow focus of the tax make it the most suitable of the four shortlisted ideas to test the new machinery. We will now move formally to seek a transfer of competence to the National Assembly, and I will write to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to set this in motion.

Llywydd, this is the start of the process of developing a new tax. If the case is successfully made for the devolution of the power to Wales, we will consult formally on the new proposals here in Wales and in the National Assembly. I look forward to keeping Members fully informed as the process we have embarked upon develops.