Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:59 pm on 20 March 2019.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I first of all thank Mark Isherwood for his contribution and the way that he as well has engaged in this process? You are right: I have, sort of, recognised some of the issues that you raised and hopefully the revised explanatory memorandum, as you referred to, will be borne out to be true to what I believe is the situation and I'm sure that is the case. Can I thank the Minister as well for her contribution and, again, for the co-operation that we've had with Government officials in dealing with this legislation?
In terms of Neil McEvoy's comments, I am disappointed that he's used this opportunity to make some of the points that he has made, although he's perfectly within his right to do that. I won't comment on any individual cases. We know that there are ways and means for people to pursue any of those concerns that they may have. I could not disagree more in terms of his accusation that the ombudsman lacks integrity, lacks accountability, lacks fairness and lacks transparency. My biggest disappointment is that the Member lacked any interest in previous stages of this Bill, where he could have brought forward amendments to change any deficiencies in the law. He chose not to do so. He sat on his hands when he had an opportunity to put forward amendments to this Bill, changes to this Bill, which would have started to maybe address some of the concerns that he has raised. He didn't do so, so, clearly, it wasn't that much of a concern to him. So, I regret his choice to sit on his hands and to come here and grandstand in front of us. And I'm sure we'll all see through that for what it is.