Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Could I start, like other Members who've spoken this afternoon, by thanking Mick Antoniw for bringing forward this proposal? I think all of us who've listened to this short debate today have been quite taken with the level of agreement on all sides of the Chamber. I know that all Members have spoken from real personal and constituency experience on these matters, and were I standing here as a Member for Blaenau Gwent, I would also join in many of those conversations as well. I think it's very clear that not only are there those strong views across the Chamber, but that there is also, as I've noted, strong agreement across the Chamber as well.

I was very taken with Mick Antoniw's description of leasehold as a feudal relic and one that should be designated to history, and it's something that I have great sympathy for, I have to say. I don't have any disagreement with the Member for Pontypridd on these matters. And I know that he's discussed on a number of times with the Minister that these are very real issues for many thousands of people.

But we also know that leasehold is a tenure that does have some relevance where there are sites that include communal spaces and facilities, and I know that Members on all sides of the Chamber recognise that again this afternoon. But we also must agree that there appears to be very little justification for offering new-build houses as leasehold. It is also very clear that many people who have purchased a leasehold property were not fully aware of what leasehold really means and what their obligations and rights are as a consequence of that sort of contractual relationship. A Government-funded leasehold advisory service can help, and it has had over 30,000 visits to its website from clients in Wales in the last year or so. We have already acted to address some of these issues, and I'm grateful to the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan for recognising that and the Minister has already put a number of measures in place. The announcement made in March has already been described, and I hope Members will recognise that the Government is moving to take the actions that we're able to do.

We have removed support through Help to Buy—Wales to new leasehold houses and we are also ensuring that there is an undertaking from the five main developers in Wales that in future they will not offer leasehold new-build houses for sale, except where there are a few necessary exemptions. To ensure that these properties that are legitimately offered through Help to Buy—Wales on a leasehold basis offer a fair deal, new requirement for minimum lease length and restrictions to ground rent now apply to properties purchased through the scheme. Anyone buying a home can chose to use a Help to Buy—Wales accredited conveyancer and be assured that they have been trained to provide the advice that buyers need and require.

Deputy Presiding Officer, this is an extremely complex area of law and this is why the Welsh Government is working together with the United Kingdom Government to support a Law Commission project to simplify and improve leasehold enfranchisement and to reinvigorate commonhold as an alternative to leasehold. Since these matter require some careful consideration, I hope that Members across the Chamber will recognise that the Law Commission is ideally placed to lead this work. In addition to these measures, we are also bringing together a multidisciplinary group to advise on further non-legislative steps, including a code of practice to raise standards and to professionalise property management. The Minister will be issuing a written statement on these matters in the coming weeks. The Minister has also asked for research to be conducted to ascertain the scope and extent of issues with leasehold in Wales so that we'll be in a better position to take the right steps to address the real problems that are being experienced. And let me say this and be absolutely clear: the Government is absolutely clear that there are these real difficulties and we recognise the power of the argument that has been made this afternoon. 

So, in closing, Deputy Presiding Officer, I welcome Mick Antoniw's work to keep this important issue high on the political agenda, and I would like to assure him that the Government has certainly not ruled out future legislation in this area. The planning Minister, of course, the Cabinet Secretary for environment, is in her place and has also listened to this debate this afternoon, and she understands and recognises the issues around the planning system and the planning structures that your legislation seeks to address. 

Without a detailed proposal, we are unable to commit the Government this afternoon to a motion that has been brought forward here, so I will be asking Ministers to abstain on this, but in doing so I will also be giving a very clear undertaking on the record, Deputy Presiding Officer, that we will continue to have a conversation with the Member for Pontypridd and other Members who have raised issues this afternoon to ensure that we are in a position to ensure that we do have the structures in place—legislative if necessary, non-legislative certainly—to ensure that people seeking a home will have protections in place.