Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:22 pm on 5 December 2018.
Diolch, Llywydd. Can I welcome the welcome we've just had for my Stage 2 amendment, even though it doesn't appear to go quite far enough? Can I also welcome the fact that we got to group 6, before Henry VIII powers were mentioned within this Chamber? [Laughter.] Now, Government amendments were passed at Stage 2, placing more details about eligible children on the face of the Bill. These made it clear that eligible children must be below statutory school age, but provided the Welsh Ministers with the flexibility to set that specific age range within regulations. Now, the Children, Young People and Education Committee made it very clear in our discussions that it doesn't wish to close down the debate about the age of qualifying children. The Bill, I would argue, as drafted, gives us that flexibility to vary the age of qualifying children in future, should the evidence tell us that that is what we need to do, making amendments 14, 15 and 18 unnecessary and, in that way, unhelpful. But, furthermore, I'd argue that the Bill as drafted provides Welsh Ministers with the power to specify in regulations the type of information a person making a declaration may need to provide. There is, therefore, no need to pass amendment 16 to allow for this to happen.
Now, the Stage 2 amendment was passed and the Bill, as—