5. Statement by the First Minister: The Legislative Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 15 July 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:23, 15 July 2020

I thank the Member for those questions. I'll come back at the end, if I may, Dirprwy Lywydd dros dro, to the points about EU legislation, because I just think there's some important information that I can provide to the Senedd.

Can I agree with what the Member said about Mick Antoniw's committee and the very hard work that they have carried out in that area? In relation to the implementation of the curriculum scheduled for September 2022, I was in Ysgol Llanhari yesterday speaking to the head there. I think her view was that they very much wish to ensure the curriculum is implemented in September 2022. They're very keen not to lose the momentum, the enormous amount of work that they have put into preparing for the new freedoms that the new curriculum will provide to them. 

I recognise the point that the Member makes that there are sometimes individuals who call for more freedom, and then, when offered it, turn out not quite to know what it is that they're going to do with it and want to be told what they ought to do with the freedoms that they've got. But I don't think that that is true of the education sector in Wales; I think they've worked very hard, they want to do it and we want it to happen. Can I rule out categorically the possibility that we may have to delay it? Well, given what we know about the coming winter, if everything were to be adverse and the impact that that would have on schools and teachers as well as everybody else, we have to be pragmatic enough to say we'll keep it under review, but our ambition remains the same: we want to see it in for September 2022, and I think that the sector wants to see that as well.

I share the Member's disappointment at the Bus Services (Wales) Bill's withdrawal. We agonised long and hard about it, but in the end, it simply wasn't possible to corral together the policy and the legislative input that would be needed for it, given everything else that is happening. One of the reasons why we're not publishing it in draft, as the others, is that we want to return to the taxis element of the original Bill, which the Member will remember was a Bill that was going to encompass both aspects. I hope to return to that if there's an opportunity to do so.

Commencing the 2016 Act does depend upon us passing the Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Bill. The 2016 Act is a major Act of this Senedd, with really profound reforms for people who rent their homes. It's why, when choices had to be made—and the bus Bill and the other Bills we're not able to take forward were in the mix—this Bill was the one that we had decided to come forward with because of its impact on being able to commence the 2016 legislation.

As far as leasehold reform is concerned, my understanding is that the Law Commission will publish its final recommendations on 21 July. I couldn't agree more with the Member about the fiendishly complicated nature of leasehold and reform, and I don't claim at all to have a full grasp of it. We are waiting to see the final recommendations of the Law Commission and they will have a shaping influence on our ability to bring forward reform in that area.

I'm grateful for the Member's support for the use of secondary legislation in relation to third-party puppy sales.

Personally, I wish we could have gone further with the smoking ban legislation in this Senedd term; we can't now do that. It's interesting, reading reports overnight, that there are people who are now experiencing outdoor hospitality where smoking is allowed, and calls for smoking to be banned now in those places. Because people are so used to smoke-free environments indoors, finding yourself having to put up with people's smoke out of doors is not a pleasant experience, and people understand why it's important to take action there. Sadly, we won't be able to do that in this term. We'll prepare ahead.

And finally, on LTT, well, we're using the provisional affirmative; it's the procedure that this Senedd endorsed. It has its limitations, as the Member has said. It's part of why my colleague Rebecca Evans will be talking very soon about the possibility of a taxes Bill that we will be able to bring forward in order to discharge these responsibilities in a different way. But, in the circumstances, with the time that we had, given the announcement in England last week, we thought it was important to come forward with specific proposals and that's what we have now done.