Dirprwy Lywydd, in terms of primary legislation, other important development work is under way and will be available to the next Government and Senedd. That includes White Papers on clean air and agriculture, and work on reforms to residential leasehold and commonhold. All of that will be published before next year's election. And we continue, formally, to request the UK Government to devolve legislative competence for a vacant land tax, so that a Bill for that purpose can be prepared for Senedd scrutiny. Finally, in terms of primary legislation, the next Government will be under a duty to have a programme of consolidation and codification of its legislation, work for which is under way in the historic environment and planning fields.

Gadeirydd, the crisis has also required a radical recasting of our secondary legislative programme. Priority has been given to measures which respond to the COVID crisis, relate to EU exit and transition, or are essential for legal or other unavoidable reasons, such as to implement a pay award. Now, amongst that list, there are a large number of relatively minor but necessary measures, ranging from miscellaneous amendments to the student finance regime in Wales to seed potato amendment regulations to a new Senedd Cymru letters patent and proclamations Order. All of the above are subject to the negative process, but each one, quite rightly, requires careful drafting and reporting to Members here. 

In the very constrained capacity that remains, we will target our resources on changes that make the biggest impact for our citizens. So, we will therefore go ahead with extending the smoking ban to outdoor areas of hospitals, school grounds and local authority playgrounds, the implementation of the socioeconomic duty and completing the implementation of the new additional learning needs system, as well as ending commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens.

Dirprwy Lywydd, in some areas where secondary legislation has now had to be postponed, there can be interim measures put in place to make progress on our policy agenda. For example, independent schools will still be encouraged to ensure that their teaching staff register voluntarily with the Education Workforce Council until we are able to make this mandatory. And our aim will be to publish the results so parents can take that into account in making decisions. We will work with our local authority partners on the use of their existing powers to increase 20 mph coverage in Wales. Such interim action is not always an option, and we have very reluctantly concluded that it will not now be possible to complete some planned work, such as home education statutory guidance and database regulations.

Dirprwy Lywydd, this is a slimmed-down programme, but the demands on the Senedd will remain high. A significant body of EU-related legislation will still be required during the autumn of this year. This includes work to implement EU law coming into force during this year, to ensure retained EU law works at the end of the transition period, and to implement new regimes arising from our withdrawal from the European Union. 

Dirprwy Lywydd, even if, as we hope, coronavirus remains under control, it will not have gone away. In these best of circumstances, there will be real challenges in responding to the speed and complexity of Brexit-related legislation in an autumn where the Senedd will still be dealing with health and economic consequences of the pandemic, the annual budget process and the demands of even the slimmed-down legislative programme that I have set out this afternoon. But that is the best of prospects. If the autumn sees a resurgence in coronavirus and an aggressive form of seasonal flu, then managing Brexit legislation alongside everything else will be a challenge of a very different order.

Gadeirydd, I intend to offer all party leaders here, and relevant spokespeople, an opportunity to discuss the options for the autumn as they currently appear to the Government. The Brexit debate itself is over, but there will be a shared ambition, I hope, to see the consequential legislative responsibilities of this Senedd discharged in as orderly and effective a way as circumstances allow. I have set out a non-exhaustive list of the legislative consequences, both primary and secondary, of the public health crisis.

With all the caveats I have set out, the remaining legislative programme has been designed to respond to our current challenges and to deliver for the future, and I commend it this afternoon to the Senedd.