Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Today marks another historic step in our nation’s law-making journey. This is the first consolidation Bill brought forward as part of the Welsh Government's programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. With this legislation, we continue the process of creating a Welsh statute book. As a consolidation Bill, this Bill marks the beginning of an ambitious project to bring order to our legislation. This is a long-term programme, but I hope all involved will see that the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill illustrates the many benefits that producing modern, bilingual legislation bespoke to Wales will deliver.

Consolidation involves bringing the pertinent legislation on a topic together, clarifying its structure and adopting more understandable forms of drafting and language. Here, the main Acts on the historic environment have been brought together, along with provisions from other relevant Acts and secondary instruments. The law has been re-presented within a logical structure and, wherever possible, restated in simple, everyday language. Furthermore, the Bill and its supporting documentation are fully bilingual in Welsh and English.

The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill includes around 200 pages, and it's one of the largest pieces of legislation introduced to this Chamber to date. This represents a considerable achievement.