Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Section 14 of the Bill requires a local housing authority to notify the licensing authority, or each licensing authority if there is more than one, of any conviction of an offence under the Act in respect of a dwelling in its area. This ensures an appropriate link between the Bill and the exercise of enforcement functions in relation to landlord and tenant registration and licensing. My amendment 17 introduces a new subsection, subsection (3) to section 14. The effect is that a local housing authority will not have to give a licensing authority notification of a conviction if the proceedings were brought by the licensing authority. This amendment reads across the amendments in group 9, which provide for the licensing authority to be an enforcement authority under the Bill. If we do not make amendment 17, the Bill would require a local housing authority to undertake action that is entirely unnecessary. I trust Members will support the amendment.

Amendment 45, submitted by David Melding, seeks to require a local housing authority to notify the licensing authority once a fixed-penalty notice has been paid. At Stage 2, we rejected a very similar amendment because section 36 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 already places a duty on local housing authorities to pass on any information to the licensing authority necessary for the purposes of exercising its functions under Part 1 of the Act. This will apply to any information that has been obtained by a local housing authority in the exercise of its functions as the local housing authority. 

This amendment, as well as not being required, also puts a weighting of importance onto whether or not a fixed-penalty notice has been paid. However, it is the fact that a fixed-penalty notice has been issued that is of most interest to an enforcement authority. This along with prosecutions are the matters that are most relevant to Rent Smart Wales in their consideration of whether someone is a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

My amendment 21 provides for the necessary permission for a licensing authority and local housing authority to share information as part of their enforcement work. As mentioned, section 36 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 already allows for information to be requested by a licensing authority from a local housing authority to help them exercise their functions under Part 1 of that Act. This amendment provides a comparable power in connection to enabling enforcement authorities to exercise their functions under the Bill. It will improve the effectiveness of collaboration between enforcement authorities, and I hope that Members will support this change. I therefore urge Members to support amendments 17 and 21 and reject amendment 45, which is just not needed, although I am sorry to disappoint David Melding in this regard.