Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I welcome the opportunity to present this LCM on the Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill to the Assembly, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank members of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for considering the Bill in readiness for today's debate. 

This LCM has been triggered due to the discovery of obstacles to raising the expenses of internal drainage boards covering Wales and England. Natural Resources Wales is the IDB for the whole of Wales. As the law stands, IDBs are unable to vary their rates. The Bill will rectify the situation by introducing a mechanism enabling them to do this and apply the correct levies and drainage rates. The memorandum was laid on 15 March. Since then, we've reconsidered the Bill and concluded there are two additional clauses within the competence of the National Assembly. This is due to a change in the approach taken by the Welsh Government and the UK Government in deciding whether provisions in UK Bills require the consent of the National Assembly, and a revised memorandum was laid on 18 April. 

Consenting to provision being made within the Bill in relation to Wales will allow NRW to calculate the value of non-agricultural land in Wales through an alternative methodology, as they will be able to make use of alternative data for these calculations. They will also be able to use an alternative methodology for calculation of the value of agricultural land and buildings to avoid the potential distortion of the apportionment calculation. 

I'm grateful to the committee for its scrutiny and pleased they found no reason to object to the Assembly agreeing the LCM. In their report, the committee sought clarification on whether regulations referred to in clause 5(6) of the Bill would engage the statutory instrument consent motion process under Standing Order 30A. This is a typical provision conferring power to make consequential amendments. It is the Welsh Government's view that any future regulations made under this provision would need to be assessed at that time to see if they would engage the statutory instrument consent memorandum process under Standing Order 30A. Should such regulations make amendments to primary legislation—including Measures and Acts of the Assembly—that fall within the Assembly's legislative competence, then an SI consent memorandum would be required. How such power could make consequential amendments to Measures and Acts of the Assembly was also made known in paragraph 17 of the memorandum made on 18 April. 

The committee also asked me to clarify why the Welsh Government was not in a position to introduce its own legislation to bring about this change in Wales. The Welsh Government always follows the principle that primary legislation in devolved areas should be enacted by this Assembly. However, there will be circumstances in which it is sensible and advantageous if provision that would be within the Assembly's legislative competence is sought for Wales in UK parliamentary Bills, with the consent of the Assembly. There is no Welsh Government Bill currently before the Assembly, or planned to be introduced in this Assembly year, that would be a suitable vehicle to contain the provisions of the the Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill. I move the motion.