Diolch, Llywydd. I'm speaking in my capacity as Chair of the committee—the Local Government and Housing Committee, as you said, Llywydd. We've laid two reports on the legislative consent memoranda for the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill. We reported on the initial LCM, supplementary memorandum No. 2 and supplementary memorandum No. 3 in December last year. We reported on supplementary memorandum No. 4 on 13 January. Llywydd, as I explained in a letter to the Business Committee, regrettably, we did not have sufficient time to report on the most recent supplementary memorandum, No. 5, which was laid on 15 February—the day before the only meeting at which we were able to consider it.

We note that the Welsh Government states that provisions will apply to the approximately 530 social housing properties in Wales that are owned or managed by English-registered providers and that the vast majority of social housing properties in Wales will not be affected. We also note that the Welsh Government states that the Bill will bring positive changes for those Welsh tenants who will be impacted. But we believe that the short amount of time allocated to the legislative consent process is insufficient to enable us to fully understand the impact of provisions on the lives of people in Wales. And we're concerned that legislating in this way can disadvantage people in Wales as they have fewer opportunities to feed in their views to those making the legislation and we do not have the opportunity to test the provisions with Welsh stakeholders.

The committee is very frustrated that we were unable to scrutinise the provisions in memorandum No. 5 and report our views to the Senedd ahead of this debate. As it was laid the day before our meeting, we were only able to consider the provisions very briefly. Members feel strongly that having only one meeting to consider and report on an LCM is insufficient. Twice, Llywydd, I have written to the Business Committee on behalf of the committee to outline our concerns around the increased use of UK Bills and the legislative consent convention to legislate in devolved areas.

Despite these concerns, most members of the committee feel that they can recommend the Senedd gives its consent to legislate on the devolved matters in the initial memorandum and memoranda Nos. 2 to 4. One member of the committee, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, disagrees with the majority view and believes that consent should not be granted. Given the time available for the scrutiny of supplementary memorandum No. 5, we are not in a position to come to a view on whether to recommend to the Senedd that it gives or withholds legislative consent in relation to the provisions included in the latest memorandum.

Llywydd, I would like to conclude by repeating previous pleas that the Welsh Government should ensure that committees have the necessary time and information to be able to play a meaningful role in the legislative consent process. Diolch yn fawr.