Diolch. I very much want to thank Vikki Howells for bringing this debate forward today, and for David Melding's contribution, with which I completely agree. Holding land for no reason other than to profit from rising land values is clearly unacceptable given a shortage of good land for housing and a number of other beneficial uses that Members have pointed out. The debate today has highlighted some of the consequences of land that could be put to productive use being left idle. Not only does it deny us realising the opportunity the land could fulfil to provide much-needed housing or to contribute to economic prosperity, but it can, as Vikki's film ably demonstrated, further blight communities, contributing to anti-social behaviour as well as mental and physical ill health for those who live nearby. 

The problem we have debated today is not unique to Wales, as everyone's pointed out. This is an issue across the UK, and earlier this month the Prime Minister announced changes to the English planning system in order to improve the supply of housing. The UK proposals stop short of additional specific mechanisms, but we'll be monitoring developments to take full account of any potential cross-border effects. The Chancellor did actually elaborate a little yesterday in some of the things that he said as well. 

In Wales, the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs is currently consulting on a revised draft of national planning policy, which aims to ensure viability and deliverability issues are more effectively incorporated into the beginning of the local development plan process, something that recent research has identified as a critical factor in sites coming forward for development. But we are also going further in looking at levers beyond planning policy to address this issue. The devolution of tax powers provides a real opportunity for us to think innovatively about how tax can be used to help us achieve our objectives for Wales. This can be through change in behaviours, raising revenue to invest in public services, or both. Taxation is an important lever, and it's right we now consider how to make the best use of our new powers over taxation. 

With the first Welsh taxes being collected from April, we've given a lot of time and consideration to ensuring these taxes meet the needs and priorities of Wales. As we develop our taxation system, we need to look beyond the opportunities these first devolved taxes provide. That is why, last year, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance started a conversation with the Welsh public about new taxes in Wales. Since beginning that conversation with a debate in this Chamber, we've been encouraged by how widely the people of Wales have engaged, and the number of new ideas for new taxes that have come forward.

One of those ideas was a vacant land tax, and, last month, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced he would be taking forward this idea to test the Wales Act 2017 mechanism for devolving new taxes, and I know he's had a number of conversations with you, Vikki, about that as well. By increasing the cost of holding on to land that is suitable for development, a vacant land tax could help change the balance of incentives to encourage development. The purpose of a vacant land tax would be to drive behaviour change, rather than to generate additional revenue. In seeking to bring forward development on vacant land, it is right we explore all the levers available to us, including tax.

As Vikki pointed out, the Republic of Ireland has recently introduced a vacant sites levy to address the issues we also want to address in Wales, and provides a useful reference point for how a vacant land tax might work in Wales. Under this model, once an eligible site has been vacant for one year, it's registered by the relevant local authority. If no meaningful development is then undertaken within a further 12 months, the levy is applied and collected annually in respect of the previous year until development begins. In the case of the republic, the vacant sites levy applies to land identified as suitable for development for housing and regeneration. In developing a vacant land tax for Wales, we will want to explore how it could help to deliver both housing and regeneration objectives. Indeed, Vikki, I think you mentioned leisure and tourism objectives as well, which we definitely want to look at.

We are not looking to penalise those who are actively developing within the timescales of the normal process, nor those who are prevented from development by issues such as contamination. We are specifically looking to address the issue we've discussed today of landowners relying on the market to increase prices and cash in on the unearned increase in land value. To achieve our policy aims, we'll need to carefully consider how such a tax would be set and structured, and we're working with stakeholders to design an approach to taxation that will de-incentivise the behaviours we don't want without unintended consequences.

However, we can't consider introducing the vacant land tax without the powers first being transferred to the Assembly. The Wales Act process is, quite rightly, not quick or easy. Now the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has agreed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury—lots of secretaries here—how this process will work in practice. So, he will be writing to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to begin that process. Once competence for a vacant land tax has been devolved, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance will then continue to work with stakeholders to develop detailed policy proposals for scrutiny by this Assembly.

Not all land-banking behaviour relates to vacant sites. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance is embarking on a wider debate about land value tax and whether this way of raising revenue could be applied to existing property taxes in Wales—for example, local taxes. A number of other countries have experimented with local taxes based on some measure of land value, but the administrative implications have in the past prevented progress. 

I have to say that in my own constituency of Swansea it's not often that the land is actually vacant, but it's occupied by buildings that have been allowed to decay to past the point of renovation and are absolute eyesores and have all of the same problems as actual vacant land but have a number of other issues. So, we have a large number of private investors who've invested in old and sometimes historic buildings who then just sit on them, and one such is right in the middle of Swansea city centre and has been for a number of years completely derelict, with all stuff growing out of it, and the investor refuses to sell on the basis that, eventually, it will gain value. So, I have a particular constituency interest in seeing how we can extend that into bringing derelict buildings back into beneficial use as well.

So, over the course of the Assembly, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance is going to test the feasibility of a land value tax as a potential replacement for non-domestic rates. The Cabinet Secretary will look to publish an assessment of this to inform the wider debate ahead of and beyond the next Assembly. It is, as David Melding said, debates such as this that really get these ideas out onto the floor where we can really have a look at them well. Diolch.