Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 17 January 2023.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We laid our report on this LCM immediately after our meeting yesterday afternoon. The Minister will know we had very little time to consider the memorandum, given that it was laid on 8 December 2022, and we were asked to report by 16 January 2023. That period only included 11 days when the Senedd was sitting, but we've managed to turn it round. We do acknowledge what's been explained to us, that the UK Government's lack of engagement with the Welsh Government on this Bill has contributed to this, and we're disappointed with that, clearly. However, we remain to be convinced that the lack of inter-governmental engagement on this can fully excuse or fully explain the near seven-month delay in the Welsh Government laying the legislative consent memorandum before the Senedd. It has resulted in the time available for meaningful scrutiny to be severely restricted. So, not surprisingly, we've concluded that the delay in laying the memorandum was unacceptable, and it regrettably has prevented Members of the Senedd from undertaking fully the legitimate scrutiny functions in a reasonable period of time, including potentially taking evidence from the Minister and from stakeholders.