I'd like, in my opening remarks, to thank my committee members and the clerking team for the attention that they've put to this particular Bill. But I'd also like to thank the Minister for arranging a meeting with me and with the Chair of the Finance Committee last Friday to discuss our respective reports. We thought that was helpful and constructive, and I very much welcome, again, the constructive approach that you adopted both in that meeting and also that you've signalled again in your opening remarks here today to accept some of our recommendations, indeed, that were aimed at improving the Bill. In particular, Minister, your acceptance of recommendation 16 will guarantee that committees have 28 days in which to scrutinise regulations subject to the made affirmative procedure.

We also welcome the Minister's response to addressing one of our biggest concerns with the Bill, namely section 2(1)(c), which permits regulations under section 1 to make provision that has retrospective effect—an issue that was drawn to the attention of the Chamber by my fellow Chair. Whilst we concluded that law having retrospective effect should be made using primary legislation, the Minister's commitment to table an amendment to constrain this power, as she has outlined, does, indeed, improve this current Bill.

There remain, however, some important points that need to be highlighted. We concluded that the Bill does not represent an appropriate legislative vehicle to make changes to the Welsh tax Acts. We considered that the level of delegated power in the Bill is inappropriate and we're not persuaded that the extent of that power has been adequately constrained by the inclusion of the four purpose tests. We do recognise the need for the Welsh Government to act in a timely manner to avoid negative consequences to public finances. However, we consider that the balance in this Bill is tilted too much in favour of the Welsh Government's desire to respond quickly and it risks marginalising the democratic mandate of the Senedd. So, we do believe, as a point of principle, that the Welsh Government should use primary legislation to amend the Welsh tax Acts, for example through a finance Bill, annual or otherwise, or a special purpose Bill, subject to an expedited procedure. We also believe that the Minister has been a bit too quick to discount an approach akin to the use of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968 in the House of Commons, involving a motion of the Senedd, subsequently being given permanent effect by the use of a Bill subject to an expedited or other bespoke legislative procedure. We don't see any reason why the development of an appropriate legislative procedure could not have taken place alongside an accompanying Bill as it passed through the Senedd. So, as our report shows, the Welsh Government adopted such an approach in relation to consolidation Bills. The process of developing a procedure, led by the Business Committee, occurred in parallel with the Senedd's scrutiny of the Legislation (Wales) Bill. An approach used in primary legislation could have been developed in such a way so as to enable the Welsh Government to react quickly to external events and safeguard public finances, as the Minister wants, whilst at the same time respecting the legislative supremacy of the Senedd. It would certainly have been preferable to an enabling Bill, delegating an extensive Henry VIII power to the Welsh Ministers to amend existing primary legislation on tax made by previous Seneddau.

So, for these reasons, our first recommendation suggested that the Minister should table an amendment to the Bill to require a statutory review of the regulation-making power in the Bill within two years of Royal Assent. Our second recommendation suggested the inclusion of an appropriate sunset provision, such that no new regulations may be made under the power in section 1 after July 2027. So, we do welcome the Minister's commitment to table amendments to require the Welsh Government to report on the operation of the Act, as the Minister has mentioned today, and to include a sunset provision, albeit to different timescales. We hope that this will enable the Welsh Government to develop, at the very least, an improved approach to amending devolved tax legislation, potentially linked to the 1968 Act and, hopefully, without the need to extend the sunset provision to 2032.

A key theme of our other recommendations focused around changes to the Bill that would limit the extent of the power provided to the Welsh Ministers to make regulations. So, for example, we recommended that the meaning of 'tax avoidance' should be limited by reference to the general anti-avoidance provision, set out in Part 3(a) of the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016. Without such an amendment, the Welsh Government will gain the ability to decide what it wants to legislate for in relation to any tax-avoidance activity.

I am coming to a conclusion, Llywydd. My apologies for going over slightly. The Bill contains a power for the Welsh Ministers to modify the Welsh tax Acts in responding to 'decision of a court or a tribunal'—the purpose under section 1(1)(d). This purpose is of genuine concern to the committee, not least because we were told that the power was deliberately wide to capture all eventualities, because we can't predict at this point the future scenarios where the provision might be used. Now, we believe the changes to the law that may be needed as a consequence of a decision of a court or a tribunal should be achieved through primary legislation, and we are disappointed, therefore, that our recommendation—that this purpose be removed from the Bill—has not been accepted yet.

In conclusion, I welcome some of the steps the Minister has taken to address our concerns, and I welcome the Minister's offer to write to the committee on our remaining concerns and to work constructively with both committees. We hope that, in the near future, Senedd Members will have the ability to scrutinise primary legislation when changes need to be made quickly to the Welsh tax Acts. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd.