Amendment 2 tabled in my name is intended to address a concern that was raised at the Stage 2 proceedings. Currently, the power available to the Welsh Ministers to extend the life of the regulation-making power could mean new regulations may be made under that power for up to 10 years from the date of Royal Assent. That could mean that the longer term architecture for making changes to the Welsh tax Acts may not be brought in until the eighth Senedd. This amendment demonstrates my continued responsiveness and openness to work alongside the committees in the development of this Bill and, ultimately, the future arrangements for making changes to the Welsh tax Acts. The amendment sets out that the extension of the life of the power cannot go beyond an end date of 30 April 2031. It is intended to provide reassurance that the new arrangements will be brought in during the next Senedd term. However, this is still the maximum period. Ministers can still choose to make the extension shorter if they wish to do so.

Amendment 10 tabled by Peter Fox provides that draft affirmative regulations laid before the Senedd in relation to extending the life of the regulation-making power in section 1 of the Bill cannot be put to a vote before a minimum period of 28 days have passed from the date they were laid. A Government amendment was agreed at Stage 2, which implemented the committee's recommendation to introduce a minimum time of 28 days before made affirmative procedure regulations made under section 1 of the Bill could be voted upon. Peter Fox's amendment seeks to impose a similar rule in relation to regulations laid to extend the Welsh Ministers’ ability to use the power in section 1 beyond the five-year sunset date.

However, the two positions are very different; the amendment at stage 2 reflected the fact that there is no minimum period made affirmative regulations must lay for, and I agreed, in this instance, that it was appropriate that there should be, to reflect the fact that, where necessary or appropriate, and where urgent, substantial changes could potentially be made to the Welsh tax Acts through the use of made affirmative regulations. However, the established laying period of 20 days for draft affirmative regulations is sufficient for the purposes of this legislation. The reason I says this is because draft affirmative regulations do not come into force until they're voted upon. As such, in my view, they do not raise the same procedural concerns, and therefore do not require the same level of safeguard as made affirmative regulations. In light of this, I am not able to agree to this amendment.FootnoteLink