Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the amendment in the name of our business manager, who kindly tabled this amendment, in the name of the Welsh Conservative group today, to the motion, and therefore I have the pleasure of speaking to it.

As a member of the standards committee, I do think that it is very important—on the points of standards, and obviously upholding public faith and confidence in this institution and the Assembly Members—that the public do have faith and confidence that all actions are undertaken with the best interests of the people of Wales and democracy at heart. That goes without saying. But the previous standards committee, before I joined it, did look at this particular issue and made a series of recommendations back in I think it was January 2018. The Llywydd has responded to some of those recommendations. But I do think, as our amendment points out, it would be important now for an update on how the Commission is taking these actions forward. Because, ultimately, as a Conservative, I'm most probably someone who always errs on the side of caution when it comes to legislation and actually much prefers a voluntary approach to many of these matters. But if we do find that legislation is required, and the standards committee will be looking at this in its legacy work, I understand, then, obviously, the Assembly will be in a position to bring forward that legislation.

In the 12 years that I have been an Assembly Member, I can genuinely say that I have not come across any malpractice when it comes to lobbying. I appreciate other Members will come across it in different forms. But I have to say, generally, in 12 years of work in this Assembly, both in committee work and standing as an AM, and as former leader of the Welsh Conservative group, I can genuinely believe and stand here with integrity in saying that all the interactions that I've had with lobbyists, with constituents, have always been in the best interests of what those individuals and organisations are seeking to promote.

Indeed, as AMs, we promote the people we're meeting via our social media and via our activities, because it's in our own interest to promote what we're doing. And as the opener of the debate highlighted today, in the series of events that she pointed to that did indicate that there was a need for a register, all that information is out there anyway. I have to say, I don't think I've received one single e-mail demanding a register for lobbyists. I haven't receive one single e-mail on that front in the last 12 months. I appreciate there was a campaign some time ago that did point to other moves in other legislatures to create this statutory register, and it might be the case that the evidence that the standards committee does take does point us in that direction. But I think, at the moment, with the work that the standards committee has done to date—and that's a cross-party committee that recommended that, obviously, we leave it in the hands of the Commission to look at this and report back and provide the evidence—the work that's been undertaken to date is robust, does have public confidence, and that's a sensible approach to approach this particular aspect on, when you think of the work that we've got to do between now and the dissolution of the Assembly.

But it is vital that we do uphold the best principles possible, and, actually, I have no problem at all in publishing all the meetings that I undertake. In fact, I think it's a positive sign for Members to be doing that, and it promotes the work that we're doing as such, then, it does. I find it bizarre that Members would want to keep certain meetings secret or not disclose those contacts.

So, I would urge Members to vote for the amendment to the motion today, which seeks, obviously, to work with the Commission, build on the work of the standards committee back in January 2018, and actually move this important agenda item forward, in the evidence that is presented to us, rather than just put something in place that, whilst the mover of the debate today said it could be at minimal cost, and I appreciate the Westminster model would be a larger type of model, that's still £120,000 that you're looking to put on the table to fund this type of work, and as I said, at the moment I don't get any groundswell of public demand for this particular initiative. So, I'd hope that the Senedd this afternoon will promote—and see, Rhun, I did use the word 'Senedd' rather than 'Parliament' that time round, so hopefully I'll earn some platitudes from Plaid Cymru. It's not very often I get them. He looks in disgust at me, he does. [Interruption.] That's what I like to see. [Laughter.] But I do hope that the Assembly this afternoon does find confidence in our amendment and actually supports the amendment, so that we can move forward, via the standards committee, in promoting the integrity of this institution and the actions of our Assembly Members.