Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:29 pm on 14 December 2021.
Diolch, Llywydd. I thank all the Members for their contributions on this. Just to answer one of the particular things that was raised that I didn't cover in my opening remarks, I do understand the frustration of Members on the timing of the supplementary LCMs. We originally thought that we could table a single, supplementary LCM in relation to this Bill that covered all the amendments made to it, which would have been much more useful to Senedd Members than multiple supplementary LCMs dealing with different amendments at different times. However, unfortunately, there was a much longer delay in the tabling of subsequent UK Government amendments than had been expected at the outset. In the end, they did not happen until 30 November, by which point I had already decided to issue the delayed supplementary LCM, so it was just caught up in the timescale. I’m very happy to work, as Huw suggests, with the committees on the process to make it more streamlined and to understand from the committees whether a stream of individual LCMs on each individual amendment is more helpful in the end than attempting to consolidate them.
In terms of the three regulation powers that Members have mentioned, excluding those relating to amendments that have not been delegated, I am content that they are not critical in any way to the effective operation of the legislation. The three are a non-delegated power for the prescription of notices to be used in relation to the exemption of business leases from the legislation. It is very difficult to understand how we would ever prescribe a different notice in Wales for this purpose. It’s a very technical matter. The second is for regulations to be made amending the definition of home finance plan leases, which are exempted from the Bill. There are no current plans to use this in England, and there’s no reason why we ever would in Wales. And the last one is the power to make consequential amendments. That’s not at all unusual, and when legislation's made by the Senedd, it often includes the power for Welsh Ministers to make consequential changes to other non-devolved UK legislation. So, I don’t think that’s of any real significance, far from the significance accorded to it by occasional Members.
In the end, Llywydd, I appreciate very much the concerns that Members have raised, particularly about the amount of time for scrutiny. We will certainly want to work with the committees to ensure that they have the maximum amount of time available to them. But, in the end, this Bill is fundamentally good legislation that addresses obvious unfairnesses in the system. There is, of course, much more to do, and, just in answer to one question from John Griffiths, we understand that the UK Government intends to bring forward the next leasehold reform Bill in the next parliamentary session. There is much more to do, but this is a vital first step in securing fairness for leaseholders in Wales, and I urge all Members to support the motion. Diolch.