Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Members will know that these regulations were laid last Thursday and came into force on Friday. We considered the regulations at our meeting yesterday morning and our report has been laid before the Senedd to inform this afternoon’s debate. Our report contains one technical point and three merits points. The technical reporting point highlights what we consider to be a superfluous provision in the regulations at regulation 3(2). We have asked the Welsh Government to explain why this saving provision is necessary.

Our first merits point relates to human rights matters. These regulations engage a landlord’s rights under article 1, protocol 1 of the European convention on human rights. Although the explanatory memorandum states that these regulations are made in response to a public health emergency, it fails to refer specifically to the fact that these regulations engage human rights and how they deem the provisions to be justifiable and proportionate in the context of the human rights of both tenants and landlords. We have asked the Government to provide this justification.

Our second merits point notes that there has been no formal consultation on the regulations. While we accept that there is no statutory requirement to consult, we have asked the Government to confirm if they were able to engage in any capacity with relevant stakeholders before making these regulations. Our third merits point notes that the Government has not prepared a regulatory impact assessment for these regulations. But we have acknowledged that the explanatory memorandum does set out a summary of the potential impact of these regulations, which does provide qualitative assessment of their impact. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.