Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee discussed the Welsh Government’s LCM in respect of the Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill at our meeting on 1 April.

On 18 April, over the Easter period, the Minister wrote to the committee advising us of her intention to lay a revised LCM, which would seek consent for clauses 3 and 5, in addition to clauses 2 and 4. The revised LCM is discussed here today. As has already been mentioned, the report was laid before the Assembly last week, on 24 April.

We note the Welsh Government's reasons as to why, in its view, making provision for Wales in the UK Bill is appropriate. However, we still believe that it's unclear as to why the Welsh Government was not in a position to introduce its own legislation, and we would ask for further clarification on this point. After all, issues in relation to rivers and land drainage have been devolved to Wales for 20 years, and the Welsh Government should therefore be in a position to introduce its own legislation, without relying on the efforts of the UK Government, which hasn't been responsible for these areas for 20 years. 

We note that the Welsh Government’s view, as expressed in the revised LCM, is that clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Bill require the consent of the National Assembly. We further note that the view of the UK Government is that consent is needed in respect of clauses 2 to 8 of the Bill—that's 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. We, as a committee, agree with the view of the UK Government. We believe that clauses 2 to 8 require the consent of the Assembly to the extent that they are within the legislative competence of this Assembly in accordance with section 108A of the Government of Wales Act 2006. 

I heard what you had to say about the SICM process, because in terms of clause 5 of this Bill, we noted that sub-section 6 permits the amendment of Measures or Acts of the National Assembly via regulations without necessarily coming to this place. We have asked for further clarification as to whether such regulations would engage the statutory instrument consent memorandum process under Standing Order 30A. Because, again, there is a key role for this Senedd, as a legislature for the whole of Wales, to scrutinise the legislation that is passed. It's not just a matter between the UK Government and the Welsh Government. That's not what these processes should be. Thank you.