We move now to item 6: the South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee (Amendment) Regulations 2022. I call on the Minister for Finance and Local Government to move the motion—Rebecca Evans.

Motion NDM7920 Lesley Griffiths

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5:

1. Approves that the draft The South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee (Amendment) Regulations 2022 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 25 January 2022.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion. In March 2021 the Senedd approved the regulations establishing four new corporate joint committees, or CJCs, in Wales. This included the South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee Regulations 2021, which established the south-east Wales CJC.

Members will be aware that the establishment regulations set out the core functions that the CJCs will be delivering. They are: the duty to prepare a regional transport plan; the duty to prepare a strategic development plan; and the ability to exercise the economic well-being function—that is, the power to do anything to improve the economic well-being of their area.

The approach to the development of the CJC model to date has been one of co-development and close collaboration with local government, through a phased approach to both the development of the legislative framework that CJCs will operate in and to their implementation. This included agreement that the core functions would not be commenced until 2022, to provide a period of time for CJCs to put in place the necessary administrative and governance arrangements.

As part of this approach, during the development of the establishment regulations, each region chose when exactly they would want their core functions to commence. The south-east Wales region elected to commence their core functions on 28 February 2022, as part of an ambitious programme to transition this Cardiff capital region city deal activity into the CJC as soon as possible. The other three CJCs elected to commence their core functions on 30 June 2022. However, as part of the preparatory work during the implementation phase, a number of technical issues were identified in relation to the treatment of tax within a CJC, particularly in relation to VAT. The leaders of the south-east Wales CJC have requested a change in the commencement date of their functions to allow time for these technical issues to be addressed.

The regulations we are debating today respond to this request and seek to amend the commencement date of the core functions of the south-east Wales CJC from 28 February 2022 to 30 June 2022. This will bring the south-east Wales CJC in line with the point at which the other three CJCs in Wales start to exercise their functions.

Thanks, Minister, for your statement today and the regulations that have been set out before us as well. As the Minister, I'm sure, is aware, and many people are aware, I'm a keen follower of corporate joint committees. I was intrigued to see them on the order paper here today.

As you've outlined, Minister, the key functions of the south-east Wales corporate joint committee are in relation to economic well-being, transport functions and strategic development, and they're seeking this delay in terms of their start date to end of June 2022. That is a concern, of course, that there have been identified—some of the issues that you noted. And it does play into some of the issues that we have raised on these sides of the benches about concerns around corporate joint committees and the concerns about how valuable they're going to be, or not, here in Wales. But as this request has come directly from councils, it's also clear that it is having some adverse impact on them and on their work that they are trying to complete, and that is worrying.

I would be interested, Minister, to understand the new date of 30 June, not just for south-east Wales but for the other corporate joint committees—. How confident you are with that being a date where CJCs will be able to be in place properly. And you outlined in your statement as well the relationship and the work you are having with councils in implementing these. I'd be interested to know how you feel that relationship is now, in the implementation of CJCs, and to ensure that they are adequately funded, because if these things are going to happen, which they are of course, they need to work as best as possible, and to make sure they are adequately funded and resourced so that they can do the best job possible to serve their communities. 

So, to conclude, Llywydd, as Conservatives over here we have been concerned, and continue to be concerned, with the implementation of CJCs, but we do appreciate that they are there and they do need support to make them work. So, in light of this mix of being concerned about the CJCs but also wanting to support councils in them being properly ready to implement some of these regulations, we will be abstaining on the regulations today, and hopefully we'll see some improvements in this area, sooner rather than later. Thanks, Llywydd.

The Minister to reply.

Thank you very much to Sam Rowlands for his contribution in the debate today, and for confirming that the Welsh Conservatives will be taking a pragmatic approach to the regulations, given that we're not having the debate today about the desirability of CJCs, but responding to a request from one CJC, the south-east Wales CJC, to change the date of commencement. So, grateful for the pragmatic approach being taken there.

CJCs do represent an innovative and powerful way for local authorities in Wales to work in partnership, and in co-developing the legislation that underpins them, we did consult extensively with partners in local government, including with treasurers. However, the need to provide the ability for CJCs to reclaim VAT in the same way as local authorities can was only, unfortunately, raised when we started with the detailed operational planning last summer, but we are working very, very closely with CJCs on this. We've made a request and a business case to the UK Government to ensure that CJCs are able to reclaim VAT in the same way as local authorities do, and it is an uncontentious request to the UK Government, and we do hope that this issue will be resolved quickly.

And I should just add that a small number of other, largely technical, issues have emerged during implementation, but they are also in hand, and they include providing for CJCs to have direct access to borrowing, via the Public Works Loan Board, and also changes in relation to corporation tax and income tax, and legislation to address these similarly uncontentious points is currently being planned. So, just to provide reassurance that these other issues are in hand also. Thank you again for Sam Rowlands's contribution this afternoon.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.] There is an objection, and I will therefore defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.