Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to contribute to today's debate on behalf of the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee, as you said. Before I turn to the motion before us today, I'd like to thank the Minister for responding to the committee's report in advance of the debate. Having said that, Members will see that there is still a lack of clarity around several key issues, and I'm afraid the response doesn't move things forward in a way that we would have liked to see. 

As a committee, we have been clear that the most appropriate way to legislate for Wales on environmental matters, of course, is through a Bill made by the Senedd. We understand that the Welsh Government plans to bring forward such a Bill to the Senedd, but we also know that that could be some years away. So, we find ourselves in a position of having to choose between the UK Bill or the possibility or likelihood of a delay of two or three years while we wait for a Welsh Bill. It's no wonder therefore that some Members will feel that consenting to the provisions in the UK Bill is the only choice that they have if they want to see important environmental policies on the statute book.

In this Chamber last week, the Counsel General said that it was disrespectful, and I will quote, to announce

'legislation that clearly is going to impact on us but where we do not have any proper engagement on that legislation, on those issues that may affect us, and we are presented with that legislation almost at the last minute, almost as though it is a fait accompli.'

Now, the Counsel General was talking about the way in which the UK Government often treats the Welsh Government, but he could quite easily have been talking about the way in which the Welsh Government uses the LCM process in this Senedd. As a committee, we are concerned that there may be a pattern emerging: the Welsh Government recognises the need for legislation, but is very slow to bring forward its own proposals, if at all. 

Let us consider the issue of environmental governance. The Welsh Government has been aware of the potential for gaps in environmental governance in Wales since the result of the referendum back in 2016. Before long, Wales will be the only UK nation without legislation in place for a bespoke environmental governance system. There will be no environmental governance Bill in year one of the legislative programme of the Government, and that's five years after the referendum. 

Another policy area covered in the UK Bill is clean air, as we heard from the Minister earlier. This is a subject that has cross-party support in this Chamber. Now, the Welsh Government consulted on a White Paper on this subject before the election but, again, there will be no Welsh Bill in the first year of the legislative programme. Minister, where are these important Welsh Bills? The committee recommended that you should commit to bringing these Bills forward in the second year of the legislative programme, if not in the first year. You have accepted these recommendations in principle only, therefore there is no commitment of any sort to do that and we are therefore no further forward, in truth. 

We are concerned that the reason for this may be a lack of capacity in the legal department of the Welsh Government, and we appreciate, of course, the need to balance priorities and manage resources. This must have been very difficult over recent years, first with Brexit and then, of course, more recently with COVID. But that doesn't change the fact that we remain concerned that a lack of capacity may be delaying the introduction of key environmental legislation. But we would be even more concerned if the Welsh Government, because of staffing shortages, chose to use Westminster Bills rather than Welsh Bills to legislate in devolved areas.  

On this matter, the Minister tells us that resources are reviewed regularly to mitigate risks. Apparently, 'There is nothing to see here, and there are no issues with a lack of capacity.' But in response to a later recommendation, the Minister says that other work is on hold due to resource constraints. Again, we are no further forward.

Given the choice before us, we as a committee have recommended that the Senedd consents to the provisions in the UK Bill. But—and this is a very significant and important 'but'—we have been very clear that this should be conditional on a satisfactory response by the Welsh Government to specific recommendations in our report, as a committee of this Senedd. So, let me set out briefly our thinking behind some of those recommendations.