Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. We laid our report as a committee on this LCM yesterday afternoon. Leasehold reform is an area of interest for the committee, and the Welsh Government's plans for reform were something that we raised with you, Minister, during our scrutiny session on 22 September.

We welcome the decision to set ground rent on new leases to a token one peppercorn per year, effectively restricting ground rents to zero financial value. We note that the Bill does not apply to existing leases. We also note that the Bill does not address other weaknesses in the leasehold system, such as service charges and other issues faced by leaseholders. Minister, are you able to give an update on the next steps for the programme of leasehold reform and the programme for government commitment to enact the recommendations of the Law Commission?

Our committee first considered the LCM on 22 September. However, that LCM was out of date because amendments conferring powers on the Welsh Ministers to make delegated legislation were made to the Bill on 20 July, but a supplementary LCM was not laid. We wrote to the Minister on 24 September, asking when a supplementary LCM relating to those amendments would be published. Unfortunately, the Minister did not lay one until 26 November, four months after the Bill had been amended. Of course, the Senedd's Standing Orders provide that a supplementary LCM should be laid normally no later than two weeks after amendments are tabled.

The four-month delay in laying the supplementary LCM has considerably restrained our ability as a committee to scrutinise the amendments in a timely manner. We are disappointed that we had very limited time to consider the further supplementary LCM laid on 3 December, though we are grateful to the Business Committee for extending the reporting deadline to this morning. But, of course, the timescales were still extremely tight. Minister are you able to commit in future to laying a supplementary LCM no later than two weeks after relevant amendments to a Bill are tabled? Can you also commit to providing committees with sufficient time to consider and report on LCMs?

We are also concerned and disappointed that the Welsh Government does not have any control over when the Act comes into force. Instead, the Act confers powers on the Secretary of State to make commencement Orders. Likewise, the Welsh Ministers do not have any powers to make consequential amendments that may be necessary under the Bill. These powers are conferred on the Secretary of State only. Welsh Ministers should have the power to make delegated legislation in Wales in devolved areas, not the Secretary of State. So, Minister, are you able to seek amendments to the Bill so that Welsh Ministers have equivalent powers to the Secretary of State to pass secondary legislation?

We are further concerned that the law on leasehold reform will not be as accessible to the people of Wales as it should be. Minister, you told the committee that the Bill represents the first, but significant, step towards the implementation of broad-ranging reforms for leasehold as a tenure, and that another UK Bill dealing with reforms will be introduced. You also told us that some other important areas of leasehold reform will be taken forward on a Wales-only basis in the planned building safety Bill during this Senedd term. Surely, making these reforms through multiple pieces of legislation will reduce the accessibility of Welsh law. So, Minister, are you able to outline how you will ensure that the law in Wales is as accessible as it should be?

Llywydd, despite these concerns that I have just outlined, most members of the committee see the benefits of applying these reforms to Wales as soon as possible, and of having an England and Wales approach. But, as I mentioned, the absence of scrutiny did mean that we were not able to put assertions to the test as we would have liked to have done. I would therefore encourage the Welsh Government to ensure that committees have the necessary time and resources to be able to play a meaningful role in the legislative consent process. Diolch yn fawr.