Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a huge pleasure to open this afternoon's debate on the Legislation (Wales) Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to make Welsh legislation more accessible, clear and simple to use. It makes provision on the interpretation and implementation of Welsh law and makes it a requirement that the Counsel General and Welsh Ministers take steps to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. In one aspect, this is a very technical Bill, and traditionally such a Bill would be considered as a Bill simply for lawyers. Certainly, the Bill does include a series of detailed principles on the way in which legislation works and how it should be interpreted. It's not always clear why these rules should be relevant to the citizen, but the rules and the Bill more generally are important, and there are a number of reasons for that.

First, we need these when problems arise. Their purpose is to explain the meaning of certain aspects of legislation when there is ambiguity. And by legislating for this once, we don't need to complicate other legislation with similar provisions time and time again. In addition to this, the Bill places requirements on the Government in the long term to improve the accessibility of law here in Wales. This is something that we intend to do, among other things, by developing comprehensive codes of the law on a subject-by-subject basis. Our objectives in this regard are ambitious and radical. It's also important to appreciate that the Bill symbolises the maturity of our legislature and is part of our wider vision for the governance of this nation. This includes enhancing our capacity to develop a Welsh legal jurisdiction.

I'd like to thank all the stakeholders for their assistance throughout this process, most recently for the response to the consultation of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee. I'd also like to thank that committee and the Finance Committee for their comprehensive reports on the legislation. I will be writing to both committees, responding in detail to their reports, but I will also be discussing some of the recommendations today.