Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. As has been mentioned, we took evidence from the Counsel General on the proposed Order on 14 December 2020, and we published our report on 14 January 2021. By way of background to this draft Order, and providing some context, which has been partly outlined by the Counsel General, Members will know that the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provided UK Ministers and Welsh Ministers with regulation-making powers to amend retained EU law, whether derived from domestic primary or secondary legislation, or, in fact, from direct EU legislation, in order to correct deficiencies in retained EU law that may arise following the UK's departure from the EU. So, ahead of the EU withdrawal Bill becoming an Act, in the inter-governmental agreement between the UK and Welsh Governments, the UK Government committed not to act in devolved areas without agreement of the Welsh Ministers. 

Standing Order 30C put in place a notification process, whereby the Welsh Ministers would alert the Senedd to regulations made by UK Ministers in devolved areas under the 2018 Act. In the course of work scrutinising these statements, we became aware that a consequence of the UK Government legislating in devolved areas was the creation of concurrent and concurrent plus functions, which had the effect that we were concerned about of reducing the Senedd’s legislative competence, albeit often in very narrow fields. Now, the Counsel General has dealt with the issue of concurrent functions, but just to outline that these are functions that can be exercised in relation to Wales by both the Welsh Ministers and a Minister of the Crown acting independently of each other—that is, they're both given the same power. So, in the case of a concurrent plus power, before the Minister of the Crown can exercise the power, the consent of the Welsh Ministers is required.

Under the Government of Wales Act 2006, the Senedd cannot remove or modify the UK Ministers' side of a concurrent function without Minister of the Crown consent. Therefore, the more concurrent functions that are created, the more things that become outside the legislative competence of the Senedd, because the Senedd cannot modify or remove the Minister of the Crown's side of those concurrent functions.

So, the Order before the Senedd today, as well as correcting errors in the 2006 Act, which has been described by the Counsel General, removes these new restrictions on the Senedd's legislative competence. So, we therefore very much welcome the Order. Our report did, however, express hope that any future corrections to the statute book in the sixth Senedd as result of EU exit should be made by Welsh Government legislation.

We made two recommendations in our report and we welcome the response of the Counsel General in his letter to us of 20 January 2021, which he's referred to. We therefore acknowledge that a further section 109 Order will be required as a consequence of the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, and we're grateful that the Counsel General has indicated that he will keep us updated with those developments. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.