Thank you very much, Llywydd. As this is my first contribution to today’s proceedings, I would like to make some general remarks, with your permission.

Our aim as a committee in this Bill, of course, is to strengthen the role of the ombudsman in order to protect the most vulnerable in our society, to improve social justice, and to drive improvement in public services and complaint-handling. On behalf of the Finance Committee, I am very grateful to those who have been willing to engage with us and to contribute to our thinking as the Bill has developed.

I would like to thank all Members of the Assembly, particularly the members of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for their scrutiny of the Bill to date. The Finance Committee was pleased to be able to accept almost all Stage 1 amendments and, where necessary, I brought forward Stage 2 amendments to address the issues raised. I would like to place on record my thanks to the Welsh Government for its engagement with us and for their contribution to the Bill’s development.

Therefore, in turning to the specific amendments in this first group, I move amendment 22 and speak to all amendments in the group.

At Stage 2, I tabled amendments to change the drafting style in the Bill to ensure terms in the new provisions were gender neutral. Those amendments applied only to the new provisions being inserted, not to restate the 2005 Act. I indicated that, should those amendments be agreed, I intended to table amendments at Stage 3, so that the whole Bill is gender neutral, and this is what I'm doing here. So, this does ensure that the new provisions and the restated provisions meet with the Assembly’s legislative drafting style of being non-gender specific. And I would urge, therefore, Members to support that by supporting all amendments in this group.