Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. This debate draws us one step nearer to agreeing transitional arrangements for the agricultural sector in Wales. It has been a long journey. Scrutiny of the UK Agriculture Bill has been a central plank of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee's work on Brexit. Our first report in relation to a UK Agriculture Bill was published back in January 2019. In the last 18 months, we've had the first UK Bill fall due to prorogation, and another introduced in the wake of the UK elections. We have reported on three separate occasions on a UK Agriculture Bill.

Three key issues have dominated our scrutiny of this Bill. Firstly, the use of the consent procedure to legislate on significant policy matters in devolved areas. As a committee, we've always recognised that legislation was necessary to continue to provide financial support to the agriculture sector immediately after Brexit—the last thing anybody would want is to turn the money off. But we have always said that the most appropriate way to legislate on a subject as significant as the long-term future of agriculture in Wales is a Welsh Bill. We have been told again and again by the Welsh Government that this was impossible because of a lack of time.

We have witnessed first-hand the limitations of the consent procedure. There is, more often than not, limited consultation with Welsh stakeholders, limited scrutiny of Welsh provisions—certainly nothing like the Senedd Bill process. We have reported on provisions that have been inserted, only to be taken out at subsequent amending stages. In some cases, whole Schedules have been removed. Even today, the Senedd is being asked to give its consent while the Bill is still in the amending stage in Parliament.

Second, there's been a worrying trend of LCMs including provisions that confer considerable powers on Welsh Ministers while placing very few duties upon them. We have consistently argued that this imbalance will severely limit the Senedd's ability to scrutinise the Welsh Government's support for agriculture at a time when effective scrutiny is vital. 

Third, the Welsh and UK Governments have struggled to develop effective working relationships to deal with the challenge of Brexit. This is something that is understandable; this is something that is new to us all. The structures and frameworks that are necessary to work collaboratively have not been needed before now. We've been consistent in saying that leaving the EU will necessitate new inter-governmental relationships at a UK level. As Governments focus on developing these new inter-governmental relationships, the question for Parliaments in the four constituent nations in the UK is where we sit in this new landscape. Will we simply rubber-stamp consent motions so that Parliament can legislate on our behalf? Will we agree that Parliament can confer powers on Welsh Ministers, bypassing the Senedd altogether? These are key questions.

But moving on and focusing on the positives, the Minister and officials have engaged constructively and positively with the committee throughout this process. In our three reports, we have made many recommendations, and the Minister responded constructively. We've seen the Minister take action as a result of these recommendations. The Welsh provisions in the Bill look very different today than at the start of this process. The Minister has secured the removal of what was then Schedule 3, which gave significant long-term legislative powers to Welsh Ministers. What remains are largely transitional powers that will be supplanted by a future Welsh Bill.

The Minister has committed to publishing a White Paper on agriculture before the end of this Senedd, with the intention of bringing forward a Welsh Bill in the next Senedd. The question for the Senedd is whether the provisions are appropriate to facilitate a smooth transition to any new system of support for agriculture after the UK leaves the EU. The committee has identified many matters of detail in the Bill that were unsatisfactory—some have been addressed, some remain. But I very much welcome that the future of agriculture policy will be determined in Wales by the Senedd, in the form of a Welsh Bill, subject to amendments tabled from Members across this Senedd, and on which Welsh farmers and stakeholders will be consulted extensively.