Minister, I think I'm right in saying that we still have not received a formal written response to the three recommendations we made in our second report to better inform this debate today. But I do thank you for the detailed opening remarks you've already made, which turned some of our remaining concerns and, indeed, I have to say, some of your outstanding concerns, as you just phrased them—. And I hope that you may be able to respond further to the points that I'll now put to you. 

As a committee, we've been closely following the Welsh Government's approach to legislating to reform procurement law as it applies in Wales, including this Bill, the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill and, more recently, the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill. This Bill legislates extensively in devolved areas. The first memorandum covered 103 clauses, which I believe is the most number of clauses in a single UK Government-proposed Bill that makes provision in devolved areas by a good margin. 

Now, the Welsh Government accepted the UK Government's offer to include provisions for Wales in this Bill. However, from our perspective as the Legislation Justice and Constitution Committee, we believe that this decision has led to an approach to legislating on procurement law in Wales that is less than ideal. It's sub-optimal in terms of Senedd scrutiny and the ability to amend and shape legislation here in this Siambr. As we stated in our first report, there was a clear alternative available within the Welsh Government’s legislative programme, which has passed now, in the form of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill, whereby we could legislate in parallel with the UK Government on the processes underpinning procurement, whilst also including provisions on the outcomes of procurement. Now, taking such an approach would have ensured a far more accessible statute book in both English and Welsh, and more opportunities for detailed Senedd scrutiny of provisions on procurement processes. It would also have allowed the Welsh Government, I have to say, to fully reflect its values in legislation on procurement that applies in Wales.

Now, it would have also avoided this unsatisfactory position, where we find ourselves today, where Members of the Senedd are being asked to give consent to some of this Bill’s provisions whilst withholding consent to others. Now, Members will know that this has happened before. This does not provide the UK Parliament with an unequivocal decision of whether or not the Senedd has given its consent to legislate in devolved areas.

Now, we know that the Minister has expressed concerns with the drafting of powers that allow for the addition of international agreements to the list in Schedule 9 to the Bill, and for the making of regulations to deal with the procurement consequences of a trade dispute under an international agreement. The Minister indeed first raised concerns with the UK Government in respect of the power to allow for the addition of international agreements back in May 2022. However, it's our understanding that that provision continues to be included in the Bill. So, we've asked you on several occasions, Minister, at which point you would use the inter-governmental relations dispute avoidance and resolution process, which has now been set out, to resolve any of these concerns. You've told us it's not anticipated that would be necessary. But, Minister, in the circumstances, I would be really grateful, on behalf of the committee, if you could update us on whether these concerns have now been raised through that process, and, if not, your reasoning for not doing so.

Minister, for a while, you had also expressed concerns about the absence of commencement powers for the Welsh Ministers within the Bill. You've touched on this in your opening remarks. In memorandum No. 5, you said that you were now content with the position in respect of commencement powers, as UK Ministers' commencement of devolved Welsh aspects of the Bill will now be subject to the consent of Welsh Ministers. But we have to ask the question of why this position is satisfactory, as the Welsh Ministers continue to have no powers whatsoever to commence the Bill's provisions in Wales. So, again, Minister, I would be very grateful if you could just explain to us why you are now, therefore, content with this position.

Finally, Minister, you also say within memorandum No. 5 that if the Welsh Ministers refuse to provide consent to UK Ministers' commencement of the Bill's provisions in Wales, the UK Government would be able to amend the Act resulting from this Bill so that it no longer applies in respect of devolved Welsh procurement. Now, it seems to us to be highly unsatisfactory that a disagreement on when to commence powers might result in the UK Government disapplying the provisions in the Act as they apply to Wales. So, Minister, as we have highlighted and recommended in our report, it would be really helpful if you could set out in your response the Welsh Government’s assessment of the implications of a refusal to consent to the UK Government's commencement of the Bill's provisions in relation to Welsh contracting authorities, and also the Welsh Government's assessment of the implications of a subsequent decision by the UK Government to remove those provisions from the Bill. And I look forward to your response, Minister. Diolch yn fawr.