Thank you. David Melding referred to some of the early concerns that were raised in respect of the amendment power, and it did appear that the concern raised by the stakeholders at the early stages stemmed from a misunderstanding of the exact scope of the power of section 18 of the Bill and a concern that funders, who may not be familiar with the legislation, might perceive an open-ended ability of Ministers to change the functions of the regulator as a risk of indefinite uncertainty, and this was set out in that written evidence from UK Finance. 

However, I can assure you that section 18 does not provide the Welsh Ministers with an open-ended ability to change the functions of the regulator. Section 18 is a narrow power that is limited to making changes to other legislation, changes that are needed to make this legislation operate properly, in light of the specific changes that are made on the face of this Bill. Any changes made using the power in section 18 would therefore have to be closely connected with the changes made by the Bill. So, an example of the type of consequential amendment we are discussing can be found in the land registration rules. These currently set out a form of a restriction that refers to the consent to disposal of land by an RSL, which we are removing. This form will need to be updated to reflect the fact that there will no longer be a requirement for the RSL to obtain consent. It is these types of consequential amendments that need to be made to ensure that the substantive provisions in the Bill operate effectively. 

Discussions have been held with UK Finance following their initial written evidence to discuss the actual scope of the power that I referred to earlier. Following those discussions, UK Finance has confirmed to my officials that they are content with the scope of the power. Members will also note that the title of section 18 has been changed to make that narrow scope clearer within the Bill.

There are some practical difficulties with the proposed amendments. The effect of amendments 14 to 17 is that amendments could not be made to other legislation at all at any point. This would mean that, if other legislation was identified that needed to be amended to make it operate properly, it could not be easily done, which would frustrate the effective implementation of this Bill.

Turning to amendment 18, this has the effect that the consequential amendment power in section 18 of the Bill will lapse as soon as the Welsh Ministers receive confirmation that RSLs have been reclassified. But, I will stress again that this is not a power to make amendments for the purpose of achieving reclassification. The narrow power conferred by section 18 must be able to be used beyond the reclassification decision, which is expected soon after Royal Assent, as at that point there may not have been time to make the regulations. It's also possible that other Acts made or implemented after the date of reclassification will need to be amended. UK Finance has also confirmed to my officials that they are content that there is no provision for the power to automatically lapse in this Bill. For these reasons, I recommend these amendments are not supported.