Thank you very much, Llywydd. I’m very pleased to contribute to this debate to outline the Finance Committee’s recommendations in relation to the financial implications of this Bill this afternoon. We have made, as a committee, nine recommendations and I'm pleased that the Deputy Minister has agreed to accept seven of these recommendations in full and has accepted two others in principle. And I will focus, in my contribution, on our key findings.

The majority of costs associated with the Bill, of course, relate to awareness-raising activity to be undertaken by the Welsh Government. During evidence sessions, we heard that similar legislation was being considered by the Scottish Parliament, and in contrast to the Welsh Government’s approach, the Scottish Bill places a duty on the face of the Bill requiring Scottish Ministers to promote public awareness and understanding of the impact of the Bill. Now, given that the campaign will be integral to the Bill’s implementation, we feel the same approach should be taken in Wales. And I'm very pleased now, of course, that the Deputy Minister has accepted our recommendation 1 and a similar recommendation by the Children, Young People and Education Committee, and will be tabling an amendment to that effect.

We are also pleased to hear that the Deputy Minister has given her approval for a high-intensity campaign, allocating around £2.2 million over approximately six years, and will be publishing further details about the awareness-raising campaign, in particular how it intends to reach relevant individuals. We look forward to seeing this information included in a revised explanatory memorandum at the end of Stage 2.

During the evidence session, we heard that the costs to social services were currently unknown at present due to a lack of baseline data. Now, as the defence of reasonable punishment currently exists, social services in Wales do not specifically collect information on physical punishment. Given the lead-in time for the development of this Bill, we believe that more progress should have been made in establishing a baseline cost for referrals to social services. However, we're pleased that the Deputy Minister has agreed to prioritise this work and that Welsh Government officials are now working with local authorities to try to obtain an estimate of numbers of current referrals to social services.

Now, it's estimated that there are likely to be 274 referrals per annum to the police relating to the removal of the defence at a unit cost of £650, which gives us a total cost of £178,000. The Deputy Minister has said that the number of cases proceeding to prosecution would reduce over time as a result of the awareness campaign. The Deputy Minister also told us that prosecutions would only take place if it’s in the public interest and in the child’s interest, and that she would like to explore community solutions such as diversion schemes and some of the issues that Leanne Wood raised earlier. We're pleased that she has accepted recommendation 5 from the Finance Committee and that work is being undertaken on the cost implications of diversion schemes.

We're also pleased the Deputy Minister has agreed recommendation 6 and that further work will be undertaken to provide data that show a clear link between the numbers of cases referred to the police and the number of resulting prosecutions.

I just want to close by talking about the implementation group. This appears to have a key role to play in assessing the activities that will be required to successfully deliver the Bill. However, the regulatory impact assessment does not include costings for the resourcing of the group. The committee believes that the time professionals spend as members of the group is an opportunity cost and therefore the group must provide value for money. We are therefore pleased that the Deputy Minister has agreed recommendation 8 and will be publishing a high-level work plan for the implementation group. And therefore, with that, I thank you for listening. Thank you.