Legislation Committee

Prynhawn da, bawb. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's meeting of the Legislation Committee. We've received apologies from Peter Fox. Any declarations of interest before we proceed? No. Thank you. The meeting is being broadcast on Senedd.tv and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual. Please put your mobile phone devices in silent mode, and a reminder to everyone that the Senedd operates through the medium of both the Welsh and English languages and that interpretation is available during today's meeting.

Moving on to instruments that raise no reporting issues under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3, the first one is the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2026. The papers start on pack page No. 1. This Order brings section 9 of the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Act 2026 into force on 5 October. Section 9 requires the Welsh Ministers to have regard to the need to protect the independence of the Office of Environmental Governance Wales. Senedd lawyers have identified no reporting points. Do Members have any comments or observations? Thank you. Are we content to agree the report? Thank you.

Next, the Non-Domestic Rating (Description and Value of Differential Multipliers) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2026, papers start on page 2. These regulations expand the application of the lower multiplier from retail hereditaments only to also cover selected food and drink hospitality, visitor accommodation and leisure hereditaments. The regulations also provide for an increase to the value of the higher multiplier from 2.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent above the standard multiplier. The higher multiplier will continue to apply to most hereditaments with a rateable value above £100,000. The changes made by the regulations will apply from 1 April 2027. Senedd lawyers have identified no reporting points. Do Members have any comments or observations? Are we content to agree the report? Thank you.

Next one, the Scallop (Amendment of Minimum Conservation Reference Sizes) (Wales) Regulations 2026. In your pack, starting at page 3, you have the draft report and the written statement dated 5 October 2026. These regulations amend the assimilated European Union legislation, which defines the size of king scallop and queen scallop that may be lawfully removed from the part of the UK's 200 nautical mile from shore exclusive economic zone, which is adjacent to Wales, known as the Welsh zone. The regulations increase the legal minimum conservation reference size for the king scallop from 100 mm in shell diameter to 110 mm and queen scallop from 40 mm in shell height to 55 mm. Senedd lawyers have identified one merits reporting point and I would be grateful if Kate took us through it today.

Thank you. The merits reporting point is raised under Standing Order 21.32 as a matter likely to be of interest to the Senedd. It identifies concerns about the accessibility of the bye-laws of the former North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee, which are amended by regulation 3 of these regulations. In particular, there's no information accompanying the regulations to direct the reader to a current copy of the bye-laws, and the version shown on the Welsh Government website appears to be outdated. We therefore asked the Welsh Government to confirm what steps they would take to rectify this. In response, the Government acknowledges the point and notes that this is also an issue for the bye-laws of the former South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. The Government explains that it has clarified its webpages to make it clear that the version shown is that saved by the the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 commencement Order, and it does not include later amendments. The Welsh Government does intend to revoke the instruments in their entirety once their provisions have been replaced, but, for now, they intend to prepare and publish illustrative documents as soon as possible to assist the reader to understand how the amendments have been made to the instrument.

Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3 previously considered. This is a standing agenda item, but there are no instruments to consider under this item today.

So, moving on to papers to note, outgoing correspondence, we are talking about the correspondence that we discussed last week. I'll go through it. A letter to the Cabinet Minister for Finance, the Council Tax (Discounts, Disregards and Exemptions) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. The letter is dated 15 October. Next is a letter to the Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, the draft Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Regulations 2026. The letter is dated 15 October 2026. Next is a letter to the Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability about Welsh ministerial consent to the UK Government making the Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) Regulations 2026. The letter is dated 15 October. And next is a letter dated 15 October 2026—a letter to the Counsel General on errors in the subordinate legislation prepared outside the new software for Welsh statutory instruments. These are the outgoing letters that we requested last week. Are Members content to note the outgoing correspondence? Thank you.

And the incoming correspondence: the first one is a letter from the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy on the supplementary legislative consent memorandum No. 2 on the Commercial Payments Bill. The letter is dated 12 October. The document notifies us that engagement continues between the UK and Welsh Governments and that the Cabinet Minister remains unable to make a recommendation on consent. The letter acknowledges and aims to address the errors within memorandum No. 2, which were flagged by the committee, and notifies us that the relevant Welsh Government officials have been asked to review their quality assurance processes. Of note, this letter is relevant to item 8.

The next one is a letter from the Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health on the statutory instrument consent memorandum for the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Display of Tobacco Products) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026. The letter is dated 12 October 2026. This is the Deputy Minister's response to the committee's questions about how any political commitment between the Welsh and UK Governments relating to the statutory instrument consent interact with the Senedd's Standing Order 30A process. This letter is relevant to item 7.

The next correspondence is a letter from the Welsh Government on the response to the committee's report on the Welsh Government's legislative consent memorandum on the Armed Forces Bill. The Welsh Government's response is dated 12 October 2026. This was previously circulated to Members and the debate on the consent motion was held last week, on 13 October.

In accordance with Standing Order 17.42(vi) and (ix), I invite the committee to resolve to exclude the public from the rest of today's meeting. Do Members agree? Thank you.