The next item is item 18, a debate on the Finance Committee report on the inquiry into the implementation of the Wales Act 2014 and the operation of the fiscal framework. I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion, Llyr Gruffydd.

Motion NDM7682 Llyr Gruffydd

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the report of the Finance Committee on the implementation of the Wales Act 2014 and operation of the Fiscal Framework, which was laid in the Table Office on 1 February 2021.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Llywydd. I'm very pleased to be speaking in this debate today on the inquiry by the Finance Committee into the implementation of the Wales Act 2014 and the fiscal framework. And I'd like to thank, at the outset, all those who have contributed to this inquiry, and to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd for her response to our report. We made 12 recommendations, and we're very pleased the Minister has accepted 11 recommendations in full, and the other in principle. I'd also like to thank HMRC and the Senedd Commission for their responses to our report.

In 2014, we saw one of the biggest changes ever to the Welsh devolution settlement. The Wales Act 2014 provided for the devolution of powers over taxation, including Welsh rates of income tax, the land transaction tax and the landfill disposals tax. In order to enable the powers in the 2014 Act to be implemented, the Welsh Government and the UK Government reached an agreement in the form of the fiscal framework. The fiscal framework also covers the borrowing limits of the Welsh Government and its tools for budget management, and it also deals with spill-over effects in terms of policy and implementation arrangements. As we approach the end of the Senedd, we felt it was important to reflect on the way in which these powers were introduced and the effectiveness of the fiscal framework.

As part of this inquiry, we extended several invitations to the Secretary of State for Wales and to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to provide evidence. We're grateful to the Secretary of State who has engaged with us on this inquiry and in relation to the financial recovery post COVID-19. However, we are disappointed that the Chief Secretary has refused our requests. The Wales Act 2014 is fundamental to the devolution settlement, and the roles of the Welsh Government and the UK Government are intrinsic to the delivery of the objectives of the Act. While we're grateful to the Secretary of State for his contribution, it was only the questions relating to his responsibility that he could answer, of course. Therefore we were unable to understand the position of the position of the UK Government on a number of significant fiscal issues, including the process of tax devolution and the creation of new taxes, transparency in the process of engaging with the Welsh Government over funding decisions and the means of challenging such decisions, the potential for reviewing the Barnett formula, and also there was no opportunity to consider increasing borrowing powers.

Following that, I wrote to the Chief Secretary on these issues, and we received his response last night. Unfortunately, many of these matters remain unresolved, and the fact that the Chief Secretary refused to attend a meeting has undermined the value of the process of fiscal devolution. His letter also fails to address how the Senedd is supposed to scrutinise the fiscal arrangements of the UK Government for Wales if the Chief Secretary is not willing to attend to answer questions from the Members on that issue.

We started this inquiry during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the evidence that we received, alongside the practical issues that emerged in terms of the funding arrangements throughout the pandemic, have shown that the Welsh Government and the UK Government must review the funding mechanisms urgently. The financial response to the pandemic has resulted in a significant amount of money being spent at a UK level, which has raised a number of issues regarding how the fiscal framework and the Barnett formula operate in Wales.

The committee acknowledges the unprecedented level of uncertainty regarding the UK Government’s budgets and its spending reviews over the past few years as a result of factors such as Brexit, the UK general election and the COVID-19 pandemic. While we understand the difficulties of providing multi-year settlements under the current circumstances, we are concerned that the Welsh Government, for the past three years, has had to produce a draft budget on the basis of a funding allocation for a single year, which of course makes it difficult for the Welsh Government to make funding plans and decisions over the long term. This is an issue that we would have wished to raise with the Chief Secretary. However, we are pleased that the Minister has agreed to our recommendation to continue addressing the need for greater certainty through multi-year funding allocations and clarity on the timing of UK fiscal events with the UK Government.

In 2019, the Public Accounts Committee of the UK Parliament recommended that the Treasury should address the lack of transparency over funding decisions, and the Treasury accepted that recommendation. However, we found that the arrangements for funding Wales are complex and that they lack transparency. We heard about the lack of engagement between the Welsh Government and the UK Government in the period leading up to the spending review. This lack of transparency also makes effective scrutiny more difficult, as it is hard to achieve a clear understanding of the funding available to the Welsh Government. 

We welcome the response by the Minister, who noted that the Welsh Government would fully support increased transparency over funding decisions and that the Government would go even further by suggesting that funding arrangements that are jointly agreed should replace the current system, thereby bringing to an end bilateral deals and agreements and bringing clarity to the fiscal arrangements within the UK. 

In addition to our concerns over how funding decisions are made, we are also concerned that the current process of challenging decisions via the Joint Ministerial Committee is inadequate. Essentially, the UK Government acts as judge and jury in this process, and we believe that there should be an independent adjudication process.

The committee has made a number of recommendations relating to the funding flexibility of the Welsh Government in previous reports during budget cycles. We continue to support calls for flexibility around end-of-year reserves to allow the Welsh Government to be more strategic in its long-term planning. The current pandemic has made the case for this flexibility even more emphatically. The fiscal arrangements for Wales were not designed for a global pandemic, and it's vital that we consider how we can make swift changes to ensure appropriate responses, when this is needed, from devolved governments. Having said that, we are pleased, of course, that the Chief Secretary has agreed to the Welsh Government’s request to carry some of its additional COVID funding forward into the next financial year.

While awareness of fiscal devolution in Wales is increasing, we did hear that awareness of devolved taxes is low among businesses and professionals.  Also, our digital engagement exercise showed that awareness of the fiscal powers devolved to Wales is low among the general public. And that is particularly concerning, the fact that most people weren’t aware of the Welsh rates of income tax, even though most people will be paying them regularly. I reiterate the comments, therefore, that I've made previously in this Chamber, namely that the Welsh Government and the Senedd need to do more to raise awareness of these issues.

And we're pleased that the Minister agrees that it's important to continue raising awareness of Welsh taxes and that she supports the important role that the Senedd has in educating, engaging and informing the Welsh public on fiscal devolution. I am pleased to hear from the Senedd Commission that raising awareness is a part of the communications and engagement strategy of the Commission and that it will continue to work with stakeholders on this issue.

The evidence that we received suggested that there should be a review of both council tax and non-domestic rates, and that now is the opportunity for Wales to put in place tax arrangements that are more progressive. The committee welcomes the work undertaken by the current Welsh Government to explore the feasibility of replacing council tax and NDR with a local land value tax, and its commitment to examining how the revaluation and reform of council tax in Wales would affect the tax base and household incomes in order to make council tax fairer and more progressive.

The 2014 Act provided the Welsh Government with the ability to seek competence to introduce new taxes, and the Welsh Government asked the UK Government for competence over vacant land tax back in 2018, but by the time of the last Plenary meeting of the fifth Senedd today, this competence still has not been devolved. In fact, we heard that the Welsh Government’s experience to date in seeking competence over additional tax powers has not been easy or straightforward. While we recognise the first attempt at seeking competence for a new tax is likely to take longer because of the steps that need to be taken to iron out the process, this is not a particularly controversial tax, and I’m sure none of us here expected the process to take so long.

We did ask the Secretary of State whether the process for devolving competence to introduce new Welsh taxes is fit for purpose, and we appreciate the fact that he is willing to take this matter up with the Treasury, but, in closing, we must emphasise again this is exactly why we were eager to speak directly to the Chief Secretary himself, which is an invitation that he has rejected. Thank you.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

I'm grateful to the Chair for his introduction. I should also say we've been grateful for his leadership as well throughout this Senedd, as, since he took over as Chair, he's led the committee in a way that has, I think, demonstrated the power of the committee system and also the power of his own example as Chair. We're very grateful to him for that, and grateful also to the committee secretariat and research staff for their hard work. I hope they know that it's greatly appreciated.

The Chair, in his introduction, made our points with great clarity, and I think the committee report is clear in its conclusions, and many of the points made in that report and the recommendations agreed by the committee require little further explanation. Like other members of the committee, I'm grateful to the Minister and the Welsh Government for their generous approach to the report and in accepting some of our key recommendations.

The committee congratulates the Welsh Government on the implementation of the new taxes devolved to this place. All the new tax structures appear to have bedded down relatively easily and with little or no disruption. I have seen little or no evidence of difficulties experienced either by our institutions or by taxpayers as a consequence of the changes to the taxation system, and this is important, because this demonstrates that we can change fundamentally the tax structures of the United Kingdom and do so without the disruption that many people fear and that certainly some politicians seek to stoke and to create those fears. It's been done relatively straightforwardly and relatively easily, and done for the first time in that way, and I think that's a fundamentally important point to make.

There is one aspect that hasn't worked, of course, and that is the process that was described by the Chair in the closing part of his remarks over new taxation. It hasn't worked because the UK Government has stopped it working, and I think we need to be very clear about that as well. Some of us, Deputy Presiding Officer, are long enough in the tooth to remember the dreadful days of the legislative consent Orders and motions that we spent time discussing in the 2007 Senedd. I fear that we are returning to those days having learned none of the lessons of those days, and certainly it provides those of a particular disposition with an opportunity to frustrate the will of the people of Wales, the will of the Welsh Government and the will of our Parliament, and I think that is something that we are seeing played out at the moment. But we're planning to participate in this debate.

I also want to turn my attention to the correspondence we received this morning from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. It is in many ways, Deputy Presiding Officer, an extraordinary letter. It is at different times arrogant, superficial, pompous, condescending, disdainful, scornful, bombastic—I could carry on, but I won't test everybody's patience by doing so. But it is, more than anything, an entirely inadequate response to the issues raised by the committee, and in many ways, it underlines the points that were made earlier today by the three finance Ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It makes the case more powerfully than I ever could for a fundamental reworking of the financial framework of the United Kingdom. Deputy Presiding Officer, listen to the language that is used by the financial Secretary in this letter. In paragraph 10, 'Financial flexibility':

'I have provided significant additional flexibility this year' he says—'I have provided'. And it goes on in paragraph 11:

'I provided an unprecedented upfront funding guarantee'.

And he carries on:

'I also agreed the Welsh Government could carry forwards...Barnett-based funding.'

This demonstrates clearly that there is no conversation, no negotiation, no democracy, and little accountability in our financial frameworks and financial structures in the United Kingdom. This has to be unacceptable to anyone who believes in the future of the United Kingdom and the future of democracy and accountability in the United Kingdom. The financial structures of the UK and the relationships between the Governments on these islands cannot be determined by the whim of a single Minister, whoever that Minister believes he might be. In concluding, Deputy Presiding Officer, I hope—I noticed that face—that we will be able—I will be quick—to see this report not as a finishing point, but as a starting point for the financial structures of the United Kingdom and democratic reform and renewal.

In closing, I wish you, Deputy Presiding Officer, a very long and happy retirement. I will miss testing your patience if I am re-elected to the next Senedd.

Thank you very much. Can I say I probably would miss challenging you to stick to time? But there we go; one I think I failed on. Mark Isherwood.

Diolch. As our report states, the Wales Act 2014 provides the legislative framework to devolve tax and borrowing powers to the National Assembly for Wales, as it then was—now Senedd Cymru or Welsh Parliament—and the Welsh Government. These powers provided the Welsh Government with further tools to vary the level of tax and spending in Wales. In December 2016, the Welsh Government and UK Government agreed a new fiscal framework, which in particular supported the devolution of stamp duty land tax, now land transaction tax, landfill tax, now landfill disposals tax, and the creation of Welsh rates of income tax. Our report states that

'evidence to the inquiry, alongside the real life issues experienced with the funding arrangements throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the funding mechanisms need to be urgently reviewed by the Welsh Government and the UK Government.'

Although the Welsh Government's budget of approximately £18 billion a year is primarily funded through the block grant received from the UK Treasury, approximately 20 per cent is now funded from devolved tax revenue, and it is essential that this increases the accountability of the Welsh Government to the people of Wales. As our report states, 

'The Barnett formula is used to calculate changes to the block grant based on increases or decreases in UK Government spending in areas where public service provision in Wales has been devolved' and has

'long been subject to calls for reform'.

It was modified as part of the Welsh fiscal framework agreement to include a needs-based factor, providing the Welsh Government with at least £115 per person for every £100 per person of equivalent funding in England, explicitly recognising the higher-level spending need in Wales. However, the 2020 UK spending review confirmed the Welsh Government will receive £123 per person in 2021-22 for every £100 per person in England, equating to around £1 billion more than the Welsh Government agreed was fair to Wales relative to England. Our report states that

'It was proposed that a periodic review of relative need in Wales would keep the needs-based factor up-to-date to ensure that Wales receives appropriate funding. The potential for reviewing the Barnett formula is an area the Committee intends to consider further with the Secretary of State.'

However, as the Secretary of State for Wales said when we questioned him on this two weeks ago,

'we are currently working to a system that was agreed by Welsh Government, and it's therefore, in our view, unnecessary to revisit. What we're able to do with some of the funds and initiatives that we've been talking about this morning is basically have a lot more on top of what Barnett provides, and, again, I see that as a really positive step forward for Wales' and

'Treasury's made the Barnett consequences available in advance, recognising that not to do that would just put delays in the system and therefore prevent Welsh Government's ability to get money to places that need it urgently.'

In its response to our report, as we've heard, the Welsh Government accepted all but one of its 12 recommendations relating to fiscal devolution and Welsh taxes. However, it only accepted in principle the committee's recommendation regarding the accepted recommendation by the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee that the lack of transparency over funding decisions is addressed, stating that although it would fully support increased transparency over funding decisions, it is for HM Treasury to ensure it meets any commitments made to the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

After I asked the Secretary of State in committee two weeks ago what engagement he had had with the Welsh Government or Treasury regarding those Welsh Government claims that the mechanism for devolving competence to introduce new Welsh taxes is not fit for purpose, he said he'd be very happy to take that up with the Treasury. As the Chief Secretary to the Treasury states in his response to the committee's report, the UK spending framework is

'designed to enable the UK Government to manage spending on a financial year basis, including the impact of Welsh Government spending.'

He said he's provided

'significant additional flexibility this year recognising the challenges faced' and he's

'agreed the Welsh Government could carry forwards into 2021-22 any Barnett-based funding above the guaranteed £5.2 billion as well as any repayments of business rates relief—all on top of the Wales Reserve arrangements.'

As he also states, however, that it's imperative that the Welsh Government uses the extra resource it receives from the needs-based formula effectively, and

'the block grant adjustment arrangements help to increase the Welsh Government’s autonomy and accountability, while being shielded from UK-wide impacts', a key and critical point. Thank you.

There's a great deal to be welcomed in the Finance Committee's report. I would like to put on record that I'm not a member of the committee, and haven't been for some time, but I'd like to thank Llyr Gruffydd for his work in chairing the committee, and the team supporting him. I have missed being a member of that committee.

Given that the 2014 Act has been operational now for five years, and we are looking forward to a rebuilding period post COVID, I think this is a good time to review where we stand when it comes to fiscal powers held by Government. On paper, at least, this has been a very significant period in terms of the development of powers and the fiscal powers of the Welsh Government. It was a very significant step forward that we as a Senedd are responsible not only for spending money in Wales, but also for generating that money, and that's the situation we want to be in, of course.

I do recall that, when the Welsh rates of income tax were first discussed in the Senedd, I and others said that we looked forward to seeing how the Welsh Government would use its powers for taxation, and I think it's fair to say that developments have been limited. To be fair, recent attempts to introduce a vacant land tax have been made more difficult through the unwillingness of the UK Government to engage on the introduction of such a tax.

But if you look at something like council tax, then in reality very little has been done to tackle the unfairness that we know exists with council tax, and this report refers to that. Yes, the Government has taken certain steps to mitigate the impact of council tax on the poorest in society, but very little has been done to review and reform the tax itself. The Minister said last week that any reforms would take a full parliamentary term—and that’s quite true; it’s a huge task—but you have more chance of reaching the end of your journey if you make a start. Yes, there has been some research work, there’s been some mapping done, but the handbrake is still tightly applied. I would remind the Senedd once again of the evidence that exists from the IFS, for example, on problems with council tax—the poorest 10 per cent in society pay some 8 per cent of their income in council tax and the richest 40 per cent pay just 2 per cent. We must tackle this issue as a matter of urgency.

Moving on now, the pandemic has once again highlighted how inappropriate the current fiscal arrangements are. Plaid Cymru and I agree with the committee’s findings that we need to increase borrowing powers and that it would be positive to see greater flexibility introduced in terms of the Government’s opportunity to draw funding down from reserves, for example. I do think that this lack of flexibility, as has been noted on numerous occasions, has been a problem during this exceptional past 12 months and has prevented the Government from taking actions that I know that Welsh Government would have wanted to have done. But also, on the other hand, it’s important to note that even given the limited powers that we have, Ministers at times have failed to use those powers. What we need, I think, more than ever, is a Government that is willing to push the boundaries of the current fiscal arrangements. I see very little evidence that this Labour Government truly wants to push those boundaries.

In looking at recommendation 10 in the report, that places an emphasis on an issue that we’ve been aware of for some time, which has become more prominent recently, namely the need for more multi-year funding settlements. I’m sure we could all agree on the need for clarity on the timing of the UK Government’s main fiscal events. Yes, COVID has thrown a spanner in the works in that regard, but in moving forward this does need to be a priority in order to improve the current situation.

As the report points out, public engagement on fiscal issues is also very important and recent work done to increase awareness of the fact that the Welsh Government does now have the power to vary rates of taxation must continue into the next Senedd, as recommendations 1 and 2 note. To conclude, Deputy Llywydd, in the next Senedd, I think there’s a great deal of work that needs to be done in order to improve the fiscal capacity of the Welsh Government, and as we come out of this pandemic, the next Government will need to be willing to push the boundaries of the current fiscal arrangements and be willing to use the powers where appropriate.

It's been a privilege to sit as a member of the Finance Committee of Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament, and this is especially so when it comes to the piece of work of this committee looking at the Wales Act 2014, which within it saw the biggest changes to the Welsh devolution settlement in over 800 years. I do wish to thank the Chair for his hard work and to my fellow committee colleagues for working together assiduously, despite ideological and political differences, and I do take my proverbial hat off to the Chair in this regard.

It was reassuring to hear evidence that the administration of devolved taxes is working well, including that of the Welsh Revenue Authority, who have played a vital role in the successful implementation of Welsh taxes. However, as has been stated, there are issues that this report seeks to highlight—matters of great importance to Wales. I would like to focus my remarks today to conclusion 5 of the report, namely:

'As well as the need for transparency in funding decisions made by

the UK Government, the Committee believes that there needs to be an independent process for challenging these decisions.'

I note, in reference paragraph 276 of the report it states,

'The Committee is concerned about the mechanism used by the UK Government to make funding decisions and the Welsh Government’s means of challenging such decisions. There needs to be transparency of funding decisions made by the UK Government, and the Committee believes that there needs to be an independent process for challenging these decisions - the current route of challenging decisions via the Joint Ministerial Committee is not satisfactory as it is not an independent adjudication.'

As Welsh devolution matures, 21 years into existence, the need for the UK Government to show greater respect and understanding of the powers of the Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament are all too evident. And briefly, if I may, the UK Secretary of State for Wales—and I do emphasise 'for'—was indeed an affable chap, but comprehensively failed to answer the questions put. Though, in fairness, the chief officer of the Treasury failed to materialise for this committee and further failed to deliver any transparency to our scrutiny from Wales via post, it seems. And at a critical time of EU transition and the UK reclaiming of EU structural funds, this, in my view, is fundamentally an insult to this place, and it strengthens the virement of the former fiscal autonomy of Wales back to Whitehall. This is exemplified—and contrary to the Secretary of State's words—with Caerphilly County Borough Council, formerly objective 1, 2, 3 and 4, not being included in the UK's latest funding rounds. So, it will be a matter that no doubt will feature in the coming election and in the sixth Senedd Cymru, when it is elected—a matter of great importance to Wales.

Thank you. Can I now call on the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd, Rebecca Evans?

Thank you. I welcome the opportunity to support the motion before us. The introduction of Welsh taxes, the extension in borrowing powers, and the implementation of the fiscal framework have been significant developments for this Senedd term. The Finance Committee's report is a timely reflection of what has been achieved to date, and, more importantly, of what remains to be done. The report highlights a range of key and, in many cases, longer term issues. I am pleased to accept 11 of the 12 recommendations and to accept in principle recommendation 11, where delivery is the responsibility of HM Treasury.

Recommendations 1 to 3 address the challenging issue of raising awareness of Welsh taxes among citizens and organisations. While the 14 per cent increase in awareness of Welsh rates of income tax is encouraging, I agree that the Welsh Government should continue to progress this work, engaging, where appropriate, with HMRC and the Senedd.

As reflected in recommendation 4, there are important interrelationships between taxation and other policies, and one of the most critical is the way in which we strengthen the Welsh tax base. A summary of the Welsh Government's recent work in this area is summarised in my latest Welsh tax policy report, published earlier this month. However, this will remain an important consideration for the future.

I am pleased the committee agrees, in recommendation 5, that the Welsh Government should have the legislative powers to act quickly and where necessary to respond to tax policy changes. This flexibility should prevent the loss of tax revenues and distortions of economic behaviour. 

My written response to recommendation 6 provides an update on the work to explore the feasibility of replacing council tax and non-domestic rates with a local land value tax. Further detail is given in my report, 'Reforming Local Government Finance in Wales: Summary of Findings', which I published at the end of February.

I was pleased to set out, in my written response, the Welsh Government's view on devolving capital gains tax to Wales, as requested under recommendation 7. Concerns about unintended consequences, practical challenges, and the possible impact on Welsh revenues, together with our experience to date of the process of devolving new taxes, means that this is not a tax that we propose to seek to have devolved at this particular time.

In response to recommendation 8, we have been working with the UK Government and others on the design of a longitudinal income data set that would enable the tracking of the impacts of Welsh rates of income tax. We expect HMRC to take this forward in the next six months. I have provided a written response to recommendation 9 asking how we review HMRC's work to minimise coding errors. While I've been pleased to have seen the reduction in errors over the past year and a half, this will remain an important issue to monitor. Recommendations 10 and 11 reflect the important role and responsibilities of the UK Government in providing the Welsh Government with clarity and certainty about funding. We are continuing to make the case to the UK Government for multi-year spending reviews and for more certainty and notice about the timing of UK fiscal events, as set out in recommendation 10. I very much agree with the committee's recommendation 11 that there should be greater transparency over funding decisions. However, it is the responsibility of HM Treasury to meet its commitments to the Public Accounts Committee. In response to recommendation 12, I accept that the Welsh Government should publish its calculations about consequentials received from UK Government spending announcements. Although, as highlighted in my written response, lack of clarity from the UK Government can often make it difficult to estimate the impact outside of fiscal events.

I also welcome the five conclusions reached by the committee in its report. I endorse its commendation of the Welsh Revenue Authority, which has played such an important part in the process of introducing Welsh taxes, in particular the success of its technological investment. I am pleased to note the committee's consideration that the Welsh Government's tax strategy has ensured, on the whole, that Welsh taxes are fair to the businesses and individuals who pay them, and this is a key principle for Welsh taxes. I'm grateful for the committee's support for increasing capital borrowing limits, for greater flexibility in using the Wales reserve and for greater transparency in funding decisions made by the UK Government, and these are all areas that we've been pursuing with the UK Government.

I would also like to update the committee that I have yet to receive a response to my letter to the UK Government with regard to the establishment of free ports in Wales, which I sent on 4 February. The letter expressed the Welsh Government's willingness to engage constructively with the UK Government and set out the conditions that would need to be met. These include ensuring our commitments to fair work and that protection of the environment would be upheld and assurance that any free port in Wales would receive the same funding levels as will be provided in England, and I'm disappointed that I've yet to receive a response.

So, in closing, Llywydd, I am very grateful to the Finance Committee for its report and for the thorough and constructive way it has undertaken its role in scrutinising the implementation of the Wales Act 2014 powers over the past five years. Diolch yn fawr. 

Thank you. No Members have indicated that they wish to make an intervention, and therefore, I call on Llyr Gruffydd to reply to the debate. 

Thank you very much. I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to the inquiry, and I'd like to thank every Member who's contributed to the debate, too. I want to give particular thanks to the Minister, not only for her response today, but for the way in which she has engaged with the work of the committee over the past few years. It's certainly enhanced our work and our considerations as a committee. As some Members have referred to the Deputy Presiding Officer, I want to echo those best wishes and my thanks to you for the huge contribution that you've made to the work of this Senedd over many years. Certainly, you will be missed.

If I could just pick up on a few points, briefly, given the time constraints. It is clear that the process of seeking competence for new taxes doesn't work. As I said in opening the debate, three years after requesting competence for a vacant land tax, we're still none the wiser; we are no nearer achieving our goals. And if there are political reasons for rejecting those requests, well, make that clear, UK Government, because one occasionally feels like we're going round and round in circles. If there are problems, if there are valid questions to be asked, then ask them, otherwise, just tell us immediately what your intentions are.

Some Members have referred to the fact that the pandemic has highlighted some of the weaknesses in the fiscal arrangements. So, let us therefore put those issues in order. One of the things that's disappointed me most over the past 12 months is that we have one interpretation of what is allocated to Wales from the UK Government and that there is another very different analysis of what they receive from the Welsh Government. And that doesn't reflect particularly well on either Government, never mind the fiscal framework and the devolution settlement. And, in my view, it all highlights just how inadequate the current arrangements are.

Now, the constitutional significance of the debate and the report, for me, get to the very heart of devolution, and it certainly gets to the heart of the working relationship between the UK Government, the Welsh Government and the Welsh Parliament. I can only emphasise that additional steps will have to be taken during the sixth Senedd in order to support the work of engaging with the UK Government, and we as a committee have suggested, in our legacy report, that the next Finance Committee should work with other devolved Governments and with the Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster to try and encourage the UK Government to engage more effectively on those pieces of work that are relevant to them; we don't expect them to appear before us every time we want to hear from them. But, certainly, when we're addressing the Government of Wales Act 2014 and the fiscal framework, then the role of the UK Government is at the core of our considerations as to how the process and those arrangements work or don't work.

Now, scrutinising fiscal issues is one of our great responsibilities as Senedd Members, and I want to thank every Member who's contributed to the work of the committee over the past five years, and I do that sincerely. It's also been a privilege to chair the Finance Committee. But I keep the last word of thanks and the greatest thanks to those who've worked behind the scenes, those who've worked quietly to support our work as a committee. And the clerking team, the committee's clerking team, led by Bethan Davies, as well as the Senedd research team have given us great support as Members and ensured that the committee's work is of high quality and is always effective. I will conclude, therefore, by telling them, specifically on behalf of all current and former members of the Finance Committee, thank you very much.

Thank you. The proposal is to note the committee's report. Does any Member object? No, I don't see any objections. Therefore, the motion is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.